(St. Catherine and St. Denis Streets.)
In 1822-25 the first church of St. James (St. Jacques le Majeur) was built by Mgr. Lartigue, who became the first bishop of Montreal on January 21, 1821. He was a sulpician and lived until 1849. This church served as the Cathedral until 1852 when it was destroyed by the terrible fire which consumed a great portion of the City. Bishop Bourget, his successor, definitely left the neighbourhood of St. James and took up his quarters on Mount St. Joseph. In 1855, the Priests of the Seminary were placed in charge of the parish. The church was scarcely built in 1857 when it was destroyed by another fire. As the walls were uninjured the damage was easily repaired, and, in 1860, the new church was opened to the public. It is Gothic in style and the interior consists of three naves. It has the form of an irregular cross. The pulpit is a handsome design with its statues and turrets. In the transept are four paintings, the work of E. Cabane, a French artist: “Our Lady of the Rosary,” “The Education of the Virgin,” “The Death of St. Joseph,” and “The Holy Family.” The steeple is the bequest of the city and contains a very fine chime of bells. The entrance on St. Catherine Street is a splendid piece of architectural work and looks spacious in its framework of trees and terraces.
When the parishes were created in 1866 to supplement the Parish of Notre Dame, mother to the sole parish church, St. James became the second parish church.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES
(St. Catherine Street)
Close by the Church of St. James is the chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin of Massabielle. It is a charming specimen of Canadian religious art. It was built under the supervision of the late Father Lenoir, with the generous cooperation of the Seminary of St. Sulpice and the Catholics of the City. The style of architecture is Byzantine and in art it is of the Renaissance order. The gallery is divided by an exquisitely beautiful rose-window. A nicely gilt statue of the Blessed Virgin has been placed on the dome and the crown of stars on its head is brilliantly lighted up at night by means of an ingenious electrical device. The alternate layers of white marble and grey stone give the front an attractive look. The central dome, thirty-five feet in diameter and 120 feet in height, looks down upon the nave and transept. There are two chapels in the church. One is in the basement and is a good reproduction of the Grotto of Lourdes, with an altar where Mass may be celebrated. The upper chapel is very richly decorated. Mr. N. Bourassa, the artist, has embodied in a series of beautiful tableaux the arguments of Catholic belief in the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Among the subjects treated, there is a fine scroll above the high altar, at the first arch, representing “The Annunciation;” there are also two tableaux in the arcades at each side of the altar: “The Crowning of the Virgin,” and “The Assumption;” the large compositions of the transept: “The Adoration of the Magi” and “The Visit of St. Elizabeth;” finally, “The Proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception,” which takes up the whole interior of the dome.
Mass is celebrated and a sermon preached in this chapel every Sunday of the academic year for the benefit of the students of Laval University.
This chapel is the meeting place of four sodalities of men, women, and young men and young women.
RELIGIOUS CHURCHES
THE GESU