Residence of Sir William C. Van HorneResidence of Sir William C. Van Horne
Residence of Sir William C. Van Horne
Residence of the Hon. Dr. James J. Guerin, Ex-Mayor of MontrealResidence of the Hon. Dr. James J. Guerin, Ex-Mayor of Montreal
Residence of the Hon. Dr. James J. Guerin, Ex-Mayor of Montreal
“Ravenscrag,” residence of Sir Hugh Montagu Allan“Ravenscrag,” residence of Sir Hugh Montagu Allan
“Ravenscrag,” residence of Sir Hugh Montagu Allan
Montreal residence of Lord Strathcona and Mount RoyalMontreal residence of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal
Montreal residence of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal
Residence of the late Hon. Sir William Hales HingstonResidence of the late Hon. Sir William Hales Hingston
Residence of the late Hon. Sir William Hales Hingston
Residence of the late Charles M. Hays, Esq.Residence of the late Charles M. Hays, Esq.
Residence of the late Charles M. Hays, Esq.
On May 1st there was held the first meeting of the Corn Exchange in its newly erected building. On the 23d Montreal was visited by the tornado which passed over the province, but without much injury or death.
On June 8th, Villa Maria, belonging to the “Congregation” Sisters, one of the largest educational structures on the American continent, was destroyed by fire.
On June 19th the three caravels, intended as the facsimiles of the ships of Columbus, were at Montreal on their way to the World’s Fair at Chicago. In the summer of 1914 one of them, the Santa Maria, reappeared at Montreal on a long tour in preparation for the Panama Exhibition at San Francisco in 1915.
The harbour also saw in July the arrival of the warship Etna. July witnessed a great convention of many thousands of an unsectarian body named the Christian Endeavourers. This year the railways of Montreal were flourishing and the fact that 132 trains were daily entering by the Canadian Pacific and Grand Trunk railways show the steady growth of the population and commerce. The earnings of the Canadian Pacific Railway had increased by almost five million dollars since 1887.
On October 30th the city mourned the loss by death of a great Montrealer, the late Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, K. C, M.G., a former mayor of the city and a prime minister of Canada. His burial took place on November 2d and his remains were followed by his successor, Sir John Thompson, and by many hundreds of the leaders of Canada.
The most important event closing the year of 1893 was the inauguration of the Royal Victoria Hospital in honour of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria.
On November 27th, Montreal experienced a shock of earthquake which was felt over Canada with no loss of life and little of property.
In 1894, Sir William Van Horne, the president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and one of its pioneers, was knighted.
This year closed on December 31st with one of the greatest windstorms ever recorded in the history of Montreal, the velocity of the wind reaching eighty miles per hour, so that much damage was done.
In 1894, the first attempt towards a public portrait gallery, a museum of antiquities and the securing of the Château de Ramezay as its permanent home originated with the members of the Antiquarian Society of Montreal, the idea of the picture gallery arising with Mr. de Léry MacDonald, that of saving the Château from passing into private hands, with Mr. Roswell Lyman, and the employment of it as a public historical museum by Mr. W.D. Lighthall, which was promoted by a petition to the mayor and aldermen organized by Mr. R.W. McLachlan and others and signed by about three thousand principal citizens. The agitation was successful and the first reception was given in the Château de Ramezay on November 11, 1897.
The next year, 1895, was marked with the inauguration of other public movements. On June 6th the statue of Sir John A. MacDonald was unveiled in Dominion Square by Sir Donald A. Smith and the Maisonneuve monument by Phillipe Hébert was unveiled on the Place d’Armes on Monday, July 1st, by the Hon. J.A. Chapleau, lieutenant governor of the Province of Quebec, the president of the committee being M.S. Pagnuelo and the secretary being the Vicomte H. de la Barthe. This was followed on October 8th by the inauguration of the newedifice of the Montreal branch of Laval University, but recently established in the city.
In 1896, Sir Donald A. Smith, later Lord Strathcona, was appointed High Commissioner for Canada. Another prominent Montreal citizen, Mr. Charles M. Hays, was appointed general manager of the Grand Trunk Railway.
Among the notable city events of 1897 were the meeting, in Montreal, of the Behring Sea Commissioners on June 16th, the celebration of the first day of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the consecration on June 30th of His Grace, Archbishop Bruchesi, by the Apostolic delegate, Mgr. Merry del Val, and the great meeting of the British Medical Society on August 31st.
In 1898 the public benefactions of a notable citizen, Sir William C. MacDonald, were rewarded by a knighthood.
January 1, 1899, is memorable as the day when the reduction of the 3 cent postage stamp to 2 cents came into force.
This year also marked the progress of the movement for the higher education of women by the opening of the Royal Victoria College for Women, being endowed with a gift of $1,000,000 by the chancellor of the University of McGill, Lord Strathcona.
This year being that of the beginning of the Boer war, Montreal again shared in the Imperial burden by providing a considerable part of the Canadian contingents for service in South Africa, it being represented in the first contingent by Company E, which sailed on October 30, 1899, and more largely in the second contingent which departed on January 4, 1900. The famous Strathcona Horse of three squadrons with 597 of all ranks sailed on March 1, 1900. During the progress of the war the citizens were actively engaged in promoting the patriotic fund and in works of providing comforts for the soldiers and those left behind by them.
During the course of 1900 the statue of Queen Victoria by Princess Louise was unveiled by the Governor General, Lord Minto.
The year 1901 was ushered in by the disastrous fire which destroyed the Board of Trade and many other commercial buildings on St. Paul Street to the extent of $2,500,000 loss. The new building was raised on the same site and was taken possession of on May 1, 1903.
On September 18, 1902, Montreal was honoured by the royal visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, who are now happily reigning as King George V and Queen Mary. The loyalty of the city was manifested as on previous royal visits, the city being magnificently decorated and illuminated.
The growing importance of Montreal as a factor in Imperial commerce was demonstrated in the following year, 1903, when the Chambers of Commerce of the Empire met in the city.
The destruction by fire of the Mount Royal Club, frequented by the wealthiest and most important citizens, taking place this year is another sidelight calling attention to the growth of club life since the old Beaver Club days. Other clubs had, in the meantime, been established in great numbers to cope with the growth of its needs.
In 1905 the first turbine steamers to cross the Atlantic, the Virginian and Victorian, of the Allan Line, were placed on the St. Lawrence route, a fact showingthat navigation methods at Montreal have always kept abreast with the times. This same year the value of new buildings erected was $5,590,698.
The year 1904 opened with a terrible conflagration at St. Cunégonde on January 18th.
On June 4th, Lord Dundonald, on military service in Canada, made his famous arraignment at the Windsor Hotel of his government, for which he was recalled on June 14th. The harbour this year showed the prevalent great commercial development when an elevator capable of holding 1,000,000 bushels was erected. On the 22d of August the Manufacturers’ Association held a great banquet at the Windsor Hotel. In November, Patti made her last appearance in the city to be followed on January 5, 1905, by Rejanne, both of these latter appearances chronicling the position of Montreal as a musical and dramatic centre. Since then great singers, such as Calvé, Albani, Caruso and others have each triumphed here, as have the leading instrumental artists.
The Russo-Japanese war was the occasion of a subscription for a Japanese loan being started on March 31st. On August 22d Royalty again visited Montreal in the person of Prince Louis of Battenberg.
In 1906 the Labour party in Montreal elected a labour representative, M. Alphonse Verville, for Maisonneuve. This year St. Helen’s Island was secured for the people of Montreal by a purchase by the city from the Federal Government for $200,000.
In this year the advent of the automobile era is recorded at Montreal by the first fatality occurring, on August 11th, in the death of one named Toutant.
In 1907 the early months saw the burning of the Protestant school at Hochelaga and the civil engineering and medical buildings of McGill University. On April 1st the old Theatre Royal, which had fallen from the high palmy days into flagrant spectacles of a low class of vaudeville, was interdicted by the Archbishop Bruchesi and its final doom occurred a few years later.
The Bremen, one of the first German cruisers to visit this port, arrived on August 25, 1907. A significant sidelight of a phase of the continued growth of Montreal is the signing, on November 7th, of the contract for the building of the new city prison at Bordeaux. This year the temperance movement was greatly forwarded by the foundation of the Anti-Alcoolique League on December 29th.
International trade expansion was demonstrated in Montreal on February 5th, when the Marconi commercial telegraph service was installed.
The eclipse of the sun of 1908 was visible at Montreal on July 22d.
In 1909 a great accident took place in the Windsor Station by a train running off the tracks causing damage to the extent of $200,000, but with the loss, however, of only four lives.
The shipping in the port this year was increased by the advent of the White Star Liners, S.S. Laurentic on May 7th, and S.S. Megantic on June 27th. On the 27th of August the steamship Prescott was burnt in the harbour. The “Back to Montreal” movement recalled citizens to their homes for the week beginning September 13th, while the following day saw the closing of the civic investigation into aldermanic scandals at the city hall to be followed by the “Cannon Report.”
On September 23d the Witness Building was gutted by fire. In October the Royal Edward Tuberculosis Institute, the first of its kind in Canada, wasopened by telegraph from England by His Majesty, King Edward, who gave the name to the building. The last day of the year ended with a gas explosion at Viger Station with the loss of thirty-eight lives.
The year 1910 is memorable for the triumph of civic reform and the establishment of the Board of Control, owing to a change in the city charter, as the outcome of the referendum to the people in 1909, to stop which an aldermanic delegation to the Provincial Legislature had been fruitless.
In the year in question the electors were asked to vote on these two vital questions:
Do you approve of the creation of a Board of Control?
Do you approve of one alderman a ward instead of two?
The answer given to both of the queries was overwhelmingly in the affirmative. The following figures prove this beyond the question of a doubt:
SUMMARY OF THE VOTE
There was not a single ward, throughout the city, which did not favour the proposed changes and no less than 34 per cent of the entire vote was polled on this memorable occasion.
On May 6th, His Majesty, King Edward, died and loyal Montreal grieved as a city with majestic and magnificent emblems of sorrow over all the public buildings. On the occasion of the royal funeral in Westminster Abbey the city was represented by His Worship the mayor, Dr. J.J. Guerin. In preparation for this event the high commissioner of Canada, Lord Strathcona, in London, protested against the inferior position given to the representatives of autonomous colonies of the Empire and his timely intervention was generously acted upon.
The Montreal trade fleet again was reinforced in 1910 by the advent on May 11th of the Royal Edward from Bristol, the first of the Canadian Northern Railway steamers. On the 28th, of the same month, transportation was effected by the inauguration of the electric tramway between Longueuil and McGill streets via the Victoria Bridge.
In June the Herald Building, facing Victoria Square was destroyed by fire with the loss of thirty-three lives. During this month M. de Lesseps, of aviation fame, was received in the city hall, while on November 27th the city was visited by the Marquis de Montcalm, a name honoured in the city from the general who made Montreal his headquarters under the French régime.
In October a flight, however, has to be recorded—that of the plausible financial gambler, Sheldon, who had ruined many widows among his dupes. He was, however, captured in the following year and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
But the Eucharistic Congress of 1910, held in Montreal, at the choice of the Catholic world, was an event before which all others of a social character have paled during recent years. It was prepared for long in advance as a great civic occasion, irrespective of its denominational character. The railway and steamship companies, the civic authorities and public bodies fitly put forth all their strength to make Montreal realize its now acknowledged position as a world city, which its choice connoted.
All was in readiness when Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli, at the end of August, came to Quebec on the Empress of Britain, to represent His Holiness, Pius X. There in the old City of Champlain the eminent visitor was honourably and worthily entertained. After this the Government tugboat, the Lady Grey, and the Government steamboat Montmagny, with prominent members of the legislature and leading citizens, accompanied by other vessels, eighty yachts, motor boats, etc., went down to meet the delegate on the way up the river. Meanwhile great crowds were gathered to receive the party on the wharf, but the flotilla entered the port on Saturday afternoon, September 3d, in a downpour of torrential rain. At the foot of McGill Street, on the wharf, a splendid kiosk, topped with a handsome cupola, was crowded with the civic functionaries, who shortly left on receiving the Cardinal and the whole party were forced to adjourn to the city hall, where the ceremony of further reception by the mayor, Dr. James J. Guerin, was more worthily and comfortably performed. The rain, however, had not prevented the ringing of church bells and the shrill whistling of half a hundred steamships and numerous factories and the crowds of the expectant citizens from voicing a welcome. From the city hall, the Papal representative proceeded to the residence of Archbishop Bruchesi, who had organized the congress, to be held in Montreal, the first place in the new world to be so honoured by this national event, a sign of the growing recognition of the place of Montreal in the cities of the world. The Archbishop’s house was to be the home of the Minister for the week.On Tuesday evening the formal opening of the congress took place in St. James’ Church on Dominion Square, amid picturesque religious ceremonies and brilliant ecclesiastical functions that surpassed anything previous on this continent. The delegate opened his remarks by a recognition of the enthusiastic reception given him by the provincial and municipal authorities, as well as by all classes. Archbishop Bruchesi, in his address of welcome, recognized the kindly feelings which other creeds had manifested towards the congress, how many prominent non-Catholic citizens, such as Lord Strathcona, had given their help in various practical ways in demonstrations of a high spiritual belief in the Unseen which the congress portended for all. Various telegrams were sent to Pius X at Rome and to George V in London expressing gratitude for the recent modification made by him in the form of the royal declaration which had continued till then to contain obsolete and obnoxious discriminations against a loyal part of his subjects.It may also be noted here that at the luncheon given that day at the Windsor Hotel by Sir Lomer Gouin, prime minister of the Province of Quebec, the Cardinal, proposing the health of the King, congratulated the Canadians on the liberty that had been assured them under the British King who had shown how he could respect the legitimate susceptibilities of his Roman Catholic subjects throughout the Empire.In the evening of this day, September 7th, the representative of the Federal Government, the Hon. Charles Murphy, Secretary of State of Canada, gave his official reception, which was attended by the largest throng of citizens that ever had entered this hotel. That night, midnight high mass was celebrated at the Notre Dame Church, which commenced when the great bell in the west tower, weighing 24,600 pounds, pealed out the hour of midnight, and the files of thousands of the representatives of the secular clergy and of the religious orders, and the laity, with prelates of a dozen different nations, assisted at a memorable occasion.The practical work of the congress began on Thursday, September 8th. There were thirteen sessions held in the various large halls of the city, and in addition there were three general meetings held, two at Notre Dame Church and one in the Arena, at which three the Cardinal Legate presided. On two successive evenings, September 8th and 9th, 15,000 people crowded into the great entrance of Notre Dame to hear the most distinguished French andEnglish speakers of the congress. Among those who spoke were His Eminence, Cardinal Logue, Primate of Armagh, Ireland; Archbishop Bourne, of Westminster, England; Archbishop Ireland, of St. Paul, Minnesota; Monsignor Heylen, of Namur; Monsignor Touchet, of Orleans; Monsignor Rumeau, of Angers; Hon. Judge O’Sullivan, of New York; Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir Lomer Gouin, the Hon. Thomas Chapais, and the Hon. C.J. Doherty, Henri Bourassa and J.M. Tellier, members of the federal and provincial governments of Canada. The sacred edifice, capable of seating 15,000, was crammed to the utmost, hundreds upon hundreds standing for two or three hours.The enthusiasm was intense and the sacred edifice rang with unwonted applause. The sanctuary and the stalls were filled with brilliant ecclesiastical costumes and gay uniforms and the church was a mass of colour. Perhaps the most electrical moment of the evening was after the plea of the Archbishop of Westminster advocating, before this vast audience which was for the most part composed of French-Canadians of the Province of Quebec, a more general adoption of the English language to meet the changing conditions of Greater Canada, when Henri Bourassa, who had already been appointed to speak at this point, took the psychological opportunity of the occasion so temptingly offered him, to voice the aroused thoughts of his compatriots to whom their language, religion and racial traditions seemed inseparably bound. His words were punctuated with thundering applause and the waving of hats and hands amid a scence of vibrant national and religious feeling, the while the people hung upon the word of the speaker, who for the nonce was but the mouth-piece of their individual thoughts made a scene which the writer will never forget as an instance of a clever orator speaking under the best and most popular surroundings.The third meeting, at the Arena, was composed of about eight thousand young men who were addressed by the Cardinal, Archbishhop Langevin, of Manitoba, and by Mr. Henri Bourassa on “Noble Ideals and Inspirations.” Both speakers urged them to hold to their traditions and national rights. There was plenty of room for English and French in Canada. Both could work out a noble destiny in this young and growing country.Another, but one of the most appealing spectacles of the congress, was the procession of 30,000 school children who, wearing picturesque dresses and bearing emblems and banners, passed constantly before the Legate who was seated on the steps of St. James’ Cathedral and received their individual courtesy, the while he bestowed his blessing amid the thousands of spectators assembled around Dominion Square, the whole making a magnificent and unusual sight lasting for three hours, during which time all traffic in the neighbourhood was absolutely blocked.The historic Mount Royal has witnessed many picturesque scenes but none more so than the great open air mass celebrated on Saturday, September 10th, at the foot of the mountain on the great open space below Mount Royal Avenue, where a superb and ornate altar, open to the winds of heaven, had been placed. Around it were 100 bishops, 2,000 priests in their picturesque costumes, and 200,000 of the faithful. A choir of 1,000 voices responded to the chaunts of the celebrant, Monsignor Farley, Archbishop of New York. Monsignor O’Connell, of Boston, and a Dominican priest, Father Hage, preached to all who could hear their voices. During the solemn celebration the Cardinal Legate arrived at St. Patrick’s Church, where another function was being held, and on his way to the altar he had to walk over a path carpeted with flowers, and there pausing, he bestowed his blessing on the kneeling multitude.The supreme moment of the congress was to come in the great procession the following day. For weeks the long route from the Church of Notre Dame to the foot of Mount Royal, where stood the altar already described, had been given over to architects and workmen; tall handsome arches, things of beauty, had been raised here and there along the route, one of them being made of wheaten sheaves sent from the Western Canadian prairies. Thousands of Venetian columns, obelisks, pedestals and flag poles lined the streets; flags of all nations and innumerable electrical signs adorned the housefronts.The forenoon of Sunday was spent in completing the details of the procession and precisely at 1 o’clock files of men, six abreast, began to move past the doors of Notre Dame and, like the corps of an immense army, then swung into the route of the procession. Long before the route had been densely thronged, and the mountain slopes thickly covered with expectant onlookers, for the various railways centering in Montreal had reduced theirpassenger rates in every direction within a radius of hundreds of miles and trains laden with humanity had followed each other at close intervals and unloaded their thousands all day Saturday and during the early hours of Sunday. It is estimated by the railway authorities that 200,000 strangers entered Montreal in twenty-four hours to witness the procession. For hours before it began the whole route was lined with people patiently waiting, while at the foot of the mountain near the altar of repose at least 75,000 had gathered, 20,000 of whom had been there from early morning. It was an extraordinary spectacle to look from the top of the mountain and see the mass of human beings moving in every direction over the immense sward, all eventually turning towards the handsome repository with its overtopping dome, the whole a design of great architectural beauty. Downtown at 1 o’clock began the greatest demonstration of any kind, civic or religious, that Canada ever witnessed. During four hours and a half, between fifty and sixty thousand men marched silently and prayerfully between at least half a million spectators lining the route. The demonstration was international in its widest extent. Citizens of the United States and Canada, together with Lithuanians, Chinese, Syrians, Iroquois Indians in their tribal costumes and feathers, Italians, Poles and a dozen other nationalities besides, carrying their distinctive banners and religious emblems, marched in one solid phalanx and in perfect order.But the most imposing spectacle of all was that following the lay sections at 4 o’clock, when 1,000 choir boys, clothed in red cassocks and surplices, followed by the Christian Brotherhoods, hundreds of seminarians and the various religious orders of the city took their place in the great procession; then came 2,000 priests in sacerdotal vestments, followed in order of precedence by 100 bishops and archbishops, in cope and mitre. In the rear of the papal officers and chamberlains came the huge golden baldachino under which walked the tall majestic figure of Cardinal Vannutelli, carrying the Sacred Host and accompanied on both sides by ecclesiastical guards of honour and soldiers, with children busily swinging censers and strewing flowers in his path, the while the dense multitude, irrespective of creed, bowed in the reverential awe of the moment. Behind the baldachino walked Cardinals Logue and Gibbons, the prime minister of Canada, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the speaker of the House of Commons, members of the federal and provincial governments, members of the legislative council, the mayor of Montreal, the chief justice and judges of the Superior Court of Canada, all in their robes of office, members of the city council and a long line of men belonging to the liberal professions. When these last bands accompanying the Legate arrived it was already growing dusk and the electric lights on the waiting altar glowed in the gloom. A thousand voices entoned the Tantum Ergo, the Cardinal ascended the steps, took the remonstrance containing the Sacred Host and, raising it aloft over the 200,000 men, women and children kneeling on the grass, gave the benediction of the congress.The congress was over. Lights went out and the bishops and their attendant clergy retired to the neighbouring convent of the Hôtel Dieu to doff their robes, marching down Pine Avenue chanting the Gregorian “Te Deum,” which sounded like the war song of the priests, and gradually the vast multitude dispersed to their homes.
All was in readiness when Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli, at the end of August, came to Quebec on the Empress of Britain, to represent His Holiness, Pius X. There in the old City of Champlain the eminent visitor was honourably and worthily entertained. After this the Government tugboat, the Lady Grey, and the Government steamboat Montmagny, with prominent members of the legislature and leading citizens, accompanied by other vessels, eighty yachts, motor boats, etc., went down to meet the delegate on the way up the river. Meanwhile great crowds were gathered to receive the party on the wharf, but the flotilla entered the port on Saturday afternoon, September 3d, in a downpour of torrential rain. At the foot of McGill Street, on the wharf, a splendid kiosk, topped with a handsome cupola, was crowded with the civic functionaries, who shortly left on receiving the Cardinal and the whole party were forced to adjourn to the city hall, where the ceremony of further reception by the mayor, Dr. James J. Guerin, was more worthily and comfortably performed. The rain, however, had not prevented the ringing of church bells and the shrill whistling of half a hundred steamships and numerous factories and the crowds of the expectant citizens from voicing a welcome. From the city hall, the Papal representative proceeded to the residence of Archbishop Bruchesi, who had organized the congress, to be held in Montreal, the first place in the new world to be so honoured by this national event, a sign of the growing recognition of the place of Montreal in the cities of the world. The Archbishop’s house was to be the home of the Minister for the week.
On Tuesday evening the formal opening of the congress took place in St. James’ Church on Dominion Square, amid picturesque religious ceremonies and brilliant ecclesiastical functions that surpassed anything previous on this continent. The delegate opened his remarks by a recognition of the enthusiastic reception given him by the provincial and municipal authorities, as well as by all classes. Archbishop Bruchesi, in his address of welcome, recognized the kindly feelings which other creeds had manifested towards the congress, how many prominent non-Catholic citizens, such as Lord Strathcona, had given their help in various practical ways in demonstrations of a high spiritual belief in the Unseen which the congress portended for all. Various telegrams were sent to Pius X at Rome and to George V in London expressing gratitude for the recent modification made by him in the form of the royal declaration which had continued till then to contain obsolete and obnoxious discriminations against a loyal part of his subjects.
It may also be noted here that at the luncheon given that day at the Windsor Hotel by Sir Lomer Gouin, prime minister of the Province of Quebec, the Cardinal, proposing the health of the King, congratulated the Canadians on the liberty that had been assured them under the British King who had shown how he could respect the legitimate susceptibilities of his Roman Catholic subjects throughout the Empire.
In the evening of this day, September 7th, the representative of the Federal Government, the Hon. Charles Murphy, Secretary of State of Canada, gave his official reception, which was attended by the largest throng of citizens that ever had entered this hotel. That night, midnight high mass was celebrated at the Notre Dame Church, which commenced when the great bell in the west tower, weighing 24,600 pounds, pealed out the hour of midnight, and the files of thousands of the representatives of the secular clergy and of the religious orders, and the laity, with prelates of a dozen different nations, assisted at a memorable occasion.
The practical work of the congress began on Thursday, September 8th. There were thirteen sessions held in the various large halls of the city, and in addition there were three general meetings held, two at Notre Dame Church and one in the Arena, at which three the Cardinal Legate presided. On two successive evenings, September 8th and 9th, 15,000 people crowded into the great entrance of Notre Dame to hear the most distinguished French andEnglish speakers of the congress. Among those who spoke were His Eminence, Cardinal Logue, Primate of Armagh, Ireland; Archbishop Bourne, of Westminster, England; Archbishop Ireland, of St. Paul, Minnesota; Monsignor Heylen, of Namur; Monsignor Touchet, of Orleans; Monsignor Rumeau, of Angers; Hon. Judge O’Sullivan, of New York; Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir Lomer Gouin, the Hon. Thomas Chapais, and the Hon. C.J. Doherty, Henri Bourassa and J.M. Tellier, members of the federal and provincial governments of Canada. The sacred edifice, capable of seating 15,000, was crammed to the utmost, hundreds upon hundreds standing for two or three hours.
The enthusiasm was intense and the sacred edifice rang with unwonted applause. The sanctuary and the stalls were filled with brilliant ecclesiastical costumes and gay uniforms and the church was a mass of colour. Perhaps the most electrical moment of the evening was after the plea of the Archbishop of Westminster advocating, before this vast audience which was for the most part composed of French-Canadians of the Province of Quebec, a more general adoption of the English language to meet the changing conditions of Greater Canada, when Henri Bourassa, who had already been appointed to speak at this point, took the psychological opportunity of the occasion so temptingly offered him, to voice the aroused thoughts of his compatriots to whom their language, religion and racial traditions seemed inseparably bound. His words were punctuated with thundering applause and the waving of hats and hands amid a scence of vibrant national and religious feeling, the while the people hung upon the word of the speaker, who for the nonce was but the mouth-piece of their individual thoughts made a scene which the writer will never forget as an instance of a clever orator speaking under the best and most popular surroundings.
The third meeting, at the Arena, was composed of about eight thousand young men who were addressed by the Cardinal, Archbishhop Langevin, of Manitoba, and by Mr. Henri Bourassa on “Noble Ideals and Inspirations.” Both speakers urged them to hold to their traditions and national rights. There was plenty of room for English and French in Canada. Both could work out a noble destiny in this young and growing country.
Another, but one of the most appealing spectacles of the congress, was the procession of 30,000 school children who, wearing picturesque dresses and bearing emblems and banners, passed constantly before the Legate who was seated on the steps of St. James’ Cathedral and received their individual courtesy, the while he bestowed his blessing amid the thousands of spectators assembled around Dominion Square, the whole making a magnificent and unusual sight lasting for three hours, during which time all traffic in the neighbourhood was absolutely blocked.
The historic Mount Royal has witnessed many picturesque scenes but none more so than the great open air mass celebrated on Saturday, September 10th, at the foot of the mountain on the great open space below Mount Royal Avenue, where a superb and ornate altar, open to the winds of heaven, had been placed. Around it were 100 bishops, 2,000 priests in their picturesque costumes, and 200,000 of the faithful. A choir of 1,000 voices responded to the chaunts of the celebrant, Monsignor Farley, Archbishop of New York. Monsignor O’Connell, of Boston, and a Dominican priest, Father Hage, preached to all who could hear their voices. During the solemn celebration the Cardinal Legate arrived at St. Patrick’s Church, where another function was being held, and on his way to the altar he had to walk over a path carpeted with flowers, and there pausing, he bestowed his blessing on the kneeling multitude.
The supreme moment of the congress was to come in the great procession the following day. For weeks the long route from the Church of Notre Dame to the foot of Mount Royal, where stood the altar already described, had been given over to architects and workmen; tall handsome arches, things of beauty, had been raised here and there along the route, one of them being made of wheaten sheaves sent from the Western Canadian prairies. Thousands of Venetian columns, obelisks, pedestals and flag poles lined the streets; flags of all nations and innumerable electrical signs adorned the housefronts.
The forenoon of Sunday was spent in completing the details of the procession and precisely at 1 o’clock files of men, six abreast, began to move past the doors of Notre Dame and, like the corps of an immense army, then swung into the route of the procession. Long before the route had been densely thronged, and the mountain slopes thickly covered with expectant onlookers, for the various railways centering in Montreal had reduced theirpassenger rates in every direction within a radius of hundreds of miles and trains laden with humanity had followed each other at close intervals and unloaded their thousands all day Saturday and during the early hours of Sunday. It is estimated by the railway authorities that 200,000 strangers entered Montreal in twenty-four hours to witness the procession. For hours before it began the whole route was lined with people patiently waiting, while at the foot of the mountain near the altar of repose at least 75,000 had gathered, 20,000 of whom had been there from early morning. It was an extraordinary spectacle to look from the top of the mountain and see the mass of human beings moving in every direction over the immense sward, all eventually turning towards the handsome repository with its overtopping dome, the whole a design of great architectural beauty. Downtown at 1 o’clock began the greatest demonstration of any kind, civic or religious, that Canada ever witnessed. During four hours and a half, between fifty and sixty thousand men marched silently and prayerfully between at least half a million spectators lining the route. The demonstration was international in its widest extent. Citizens of the United States and Canada, together with Lithuanians, Chinese, Syrians, Iroquois Indians in their tribal costumes and feathers, Italians, Poles and a dozen other nationalities besides, carrying their distinctive banners and religious emblems, marched in one solid phalanx and in perfect order.
But the most imposing spectacle of all was that following the lay sections at 4 o’clock, when 1,000 choir boys, clothed in red cassocks and surplices, followed by the Christian Brotherhoods, hundreds of seminarians and the various religious orders of the city took their place in the great procession; then came 2,000 priests in sacerdotal vestments, followed in order of precedence by 100 bishops and archbishops, in cope and mitre. In the rear of the papal officers and chamberlains came the huge golden baldachino under which walked the tall majestic figure of Cardinal Vannutelli, carrying the Sacred Host and accompanied on both sides by ecclesiastical guards of honour and soldiers, with children busily swinging censers and strewing flowers in his path, the while the dense multitude, irrespective of creed, bowed in the reverential awe of the moment. Behind the baldachino walked Cardinals Logue and Gibbons, the prime minister of Canada, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the speaker of the House of Commons, members of the federal and provincial governments, members of the legislative council, the mayor of Montreal, the chief justice and judges of the Superior Court of Canada, all in their robes of office, members of the city council and a long line of men belonging to the liberal professions. When these last bands accompanying the Legate arrived it was already growing dusk and the electric lights on the waiting altar glowed in the gloom. A thousand voices entoned the Tantum Ergo, the Cardinal ascended the steps, took the remonstrance containing the Sacred Host and, raising it aloft over the 200,000 men, women and children kneeling on the grass, gave the benediction of the congress.
The congress was over. Lights went out and the bishops and their attendant clergy retired to the neighbouring convent of the Hôtel Dieu to doff their robes, marching down Pine Avenue chanting the Gregorian “Te Deum,” which sounded like the war song of the priests, and gradually the vast multitude dispersed to their homes.
The events of the succeeding year of 1911 recall the general federal elections on July 11th on the question of a renewal of reciprocity with the United States when, as has been said, it was rejected by an overwhelming majority of the electorate, notably in Montreal.
Harbour development was signalized this year by the signing of the contract with the Canadian Vickers Company for the new dry docks at the east end, and on October 4th in fitting recognition to a great harbour builder, the monument of the Hon. John Young was unveiled on the water front by Earl Grey. Meanwhile the general city development and expansion had been steadily increasing since the annexations of 1883. Its population and religions were becoming increasingly cosmopolitan and domestic troubles among the Mohammedans of the city on July 10th sufficiently indicate this.
The year 1912 is memorable at Montreal through the sorrow caused in the city by the loss of the White liner S.S. Titanic, a huge vessel with a displacement of60,000 tons, which struck a submerged iceberg off Cape Race on April 14th with the loss of 1,600 souls on board. While the whole world thrilled with horror at the new revelation of the dangers of the sea to modern leviathans, Montreal had its particular grief in the loss of some of its respected citizens, Charles M. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Railway system, Markland Molson, Thornton Davidson, Vivian Payne, Q. Baxter, R.J. Levy, Mr. and Mrs. H. Allison and daughter, and Albert Malette.
The churches of the city universally mourned this world-wide disaster at the services of April 21st.
The month of October is memorable as the occasion of the great educational Child Welfare Exhibition held for a fortnight under the auspices of the humanitarian societies of the city in the Craig Street Drill Hall, and drawing immense crowds.
The year 1913 was remarkable for the extraordinary activity in building operations. As elsewhere related in the special chapter on City Improvement, Montreal gave more evidences of being a modern New York rather than the Ville Marie of old. It may be called the year of the great real estate boom.
But the last weeks of this year will stand out in civic history as a serious warning of the possibility of a city being deprived of its water supply for a long period with the additional terror of fire and disease. For 193 hours, beginning with Christmas night, the greater part of Montreal was deprived of water by the breaking of the concrete conduit at Lachine. Its story is told elsewhere.
The year 1914 has been one of the greatest gloom. Shortly before 3 o’clock early in the morning of May 29th the disquieting news was flashed from Quebec to Commander J.T. Walsh, superintendent of the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company, that about 2:30 o’clock its greatest steamer, the Empress of Ireland, had been struck about thirty miles east of Farther Point, but without further information. Shortly another report told that it had been struck by the Storstad, a Norwegian collier bound for Montreal, and was sinking rapidly in sight of Rimouski. At first the news was not credited as possible, but it was too true. The ship sank almost immediately, being struck in the bowels and filling straightway with water. Montrealers felt the disaster most keenly, as its sister ships have their headquarters here and its officers were men personally known on the St. Lawrence and the Montreal route. Of the total 1,367 souls on board, 959 lives were lost and less than four hundred saved. The disaster was faced with courage and sympathetic humanitarianism by the many officers of the company who journeyed down to Quebec and spared no effort by night or day to make the tragedy less painful to the relatives of the survivors. The sailor institutions of Montreal on this occasion were glad to cooperate with those of Quebec and supervised the sad task of identifying the drowned and burying the bodies of the sailors as they were rescued from the waters or the shores of Rimouski and taken to the mournful morgues at Quebec.
Towards the end of July, 1914, war was declared between Austria and Servia. This involved Germany on the side of Austria, and Russia and France on the side of Servia, and on August 30th Great Britain because of Germany breaking the neutrality of Belgium, entered what was to be the most devastating war in the history of nations. Canada at once declared her loyalty to the Motherland in a very practical way. The Federal government presented 3,000,000 bags of flourand raised a contingent of 33,000 of her best men. The Provinces vied with each other in contributing huge quantities of wheat, flour, apples, and in the case of the Province of Quebec, 2,000,000 pounds of cheese. A National Patriotic Fund was started with branches in every municipality throughout the Dominion—Montreal’s contribution totalling $2,000,000, in addition to which a Montreal citizen, A. Hamilton Gault, gave $500,000 to raise a regiment to be composed of veterans. This regiment of 1,000 picked men was named after the daughter of the Governor-General, the Duke of Connaught, the “Princess Patricia Light Infantry” and joined the first contingent, which left Canada on October 2nd, in thirty-one transports, principally vessels trading to Montreal, and under eleven convoys. This armada, which was the largest that ever sailed the Atlantic seas, reached Plymouth, October 16th, and the contingent was immediately entrained to Salisbury Plain to complete its training. Montreal contributed 3,200 men towards this first contingent. Their arrival in England was the occasion of much popular satisfaction at this great spectacle of Imperial union.
HOMES OF PROMINENT MONTREAL CITIZENS
“Rokeby,” the residence of A. Hamilton Gault.“Rokeby,” the residence of A. Hamilton Gault.
“Rokeby,” the residence of A. Hamilton Gault.
Residence of the Hon. Sir George A. Drummond, K.C.M.G.Residence of the Hon. Sir George A. Drummond, K.C.M.G.
Residence of the Hon. Sir George A. Drummond, K.C.M.G.
Summer residence of Hon. J.A. Ouimet, St. Anne de BellevueSummer residence of Hon. J.A. Ouimet, St. Anne de Bellevue
Summer residence of Hon. J.A. Ouimet, St. Anne de Bellevue
Country residence of Sir Rodolphe Forget, M.P., at Ste Irénée on the St. LawrenceCountry residence of Sir Rodolphe Forget, M.P., at Ste Irénée on the St. Lawrence
Country residence of Sir Rodolphe Forget, M.P., at Ste Irénée on the St. Lawrence
“Villa des Epinettes,” summer residence of Isaie Prefontaine, Belle Isle“Villa des Epinettes,” summer residence of Isaie Prefontaine, Belle Isle
“Villa des Epinettes,” summer residence of Isaie Prefontaine, Belle Isle
Whatever doubts there might have been in the minds of some people as to the responsibility of Canada in the Boer war there was absolutely none in this crisis. The spontaneity of the Canadian people in rising to their privileges as British citizens has never been so pronounced. Every man and every woman in the Dominion, irrespective of national origin, wanted to do something to aid the Motherland. And Montreal was in the van.
Immediately the first contingent embarked the government decided on raising a second and recruiting started afresh. While the French-Canadians of the country had contributed 2,146 to the first contingent, being the more notable contribution of Canadian born subjects, the majority of the volunteers were those who were British born. But now the French-Canadians of the city determined to raise a regiment composed entirely of their compatriots to be called “Le Régiment Royal Canadien” and over three thousand men applied for admission. The Irish-Canadians, too, raised a regiment for home defense named the “Fifty-fifth Irish Canadian Rangers” with the Minister of Justice, the Hon. Charles J. Doherty, as Honorary Lieutenant Colonel. The neighbouring city of Westmount, under the direction of the mayor and council, raised the “Westmount Rifles” and even the suburban town of Outremont raised an artillery battery of 105 men. A number of prominent citizens of Montreal, on the initiative of Mr. J.N. Greenshields, K.C., equipped and are sustaining a “Home Guard” of 3,000 at their own expense. Towards the Patriotic Fund the local councils contributed as follows: Montreal, $150,000; Westmount, $5,000; Outremont, $5,000; Maisonneuve, $2,000; Verdun, $3,000; and the smaller municipalities lesser but proportionate amounts. These funds are being augumented daily.
The war affected Montreal in another way, industrially and financially. On the declaration of war the banks called in their loans and though the government came to their aid in the negotiation of their collateral the fact of the stoppage of capital from Great Britain disorganized the industrial machinery of the country and thousands were thrown out of employment. In addition to this the forcible internment of the Germans and Austrians, of which 3,400 were in Montreal alone, caused much anxiety to the authorities, for none would employ them. A delegation from Montreal waited upon the acting premier, Sir George Foster, November 2d, asking for the cooperation of the Government in alleviating thegeneral distress. This Sir George promised as far as the interned enemies were concerned, but thought each municipality should take the responsibility of looking after its own unemployed.
Montreal at this period was like a huge garrison town. Recruits, with and without uniforms, university professors and students, rich and poor alike, were being drilled in every open space and many public and private halls. For barracks the dismantled Protestant High School on Peel Street and other buildings were used for the young men of the second contingent.
Not only were the canals, bridges, wharves and public buildings patrolled by soldiers in uniform, since the first news of the outbreak of the war, but the streets of Montreal and the suburbs have been the constant scenes of much militarism. A lasting memory will survive in numerous streets and avenues, either being opened or bearing names already employed elsewhere, being appointed henceforth to bear the names of generals and towns connected with the war, such as Joffre, Pau, Liège, Namur and Aisne.
About the city committees of devoted women of all national origins and of all the numerous charitable associations, were patriotically visiting the wives and dependents of volunteers for the front and administering the allowances granted by the Patriotic Fund, the headquarters of which were in the new Drummond Building at the corner of St. Catherine and Peel streets. And in this central room a busy committee was engaged all day on the careful systematic organization of the relief fund. Over the city in church, school, club and private rooms, groups were busily knitting and sewing and fashioning all sorts of comforts and necessities for those who had heard the call to fight for the maintenance of the Empire. The city has become a busy loom of patriotic charity.
All honour to the loyal women of Montreal in this moment of the world’s greatest war.
CANADIAN AID FOR BELGIAN SUFFERERSCANADIAN AID FOR BELGIAN SUFFERERS
CANADIAN AID FOR BELGIAN SUFFERERS
UNDER ENGLISH RULEPART IISPECIAL PROGRESSCHAPTERXXIVTHE CATHOLIC CHURCH.XXVOTHER RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.XXVISCHOOL SYSTEM OF MONTREAL BEFORE THE CESSION.XXVIISCHOOL SYSTEM OF MONTREAL AFTER THE UNION.XXVIIIUNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT.XXIXLITERATURE—DRAMA—MUSIC—ART.XXXNATIONAL SOCIETIES AND POPULATION.XXXIFIRE, LIGHTING, WATER.XXXIILAW AND ORDER.XXXIIIHOSPITALS.XXXIVSOCIOLOGICAL MOVEMENTS.XXXVBEFORE THE UNION.XXXVISINCE THE UNION.XXXVIIBANKING AND INSURANCE.XXXVIIISHIPPING: EARLY AND MODERN.XXXIXTHE PORT AND HARBOUR.XLRAILROADS.XLIPOST ROADS AND STREET RAILWAY.XLIIFROM THE CESSION.XLIIIUNDER THE UNION.XLIVSINCE CONFEDERATION.
SPECIAL PROGRESS
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS
I
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
EARLY CHAPELS AND CHURCHES—THE FIRST PARISH CHURCH—OTHER CHURCHES STANDING AT THE FALL OF MONTREAL—NOTRE DAME DE VICTOIRE—NOTRE DAME DE PITIE—THE “RECOLLET”—THE PRESENT NOTRE DAME CHURCH—ERECTION AND OPENING—THE “OLD AND NEW”—THE TOWERS AND BELLS—THE ECCLESIASTICAL DIOCESE OF QUEBEC—THE BISHOPS OF MONTREAL—THE DIVISION OF THE CITY INTO PARISHES—THE CHURCHES AND “RELIGIOUS”—ENGLISH-SPEAKING CATHOLICS—ST. PATRICK’S, IRISH NATIONAL CHURCH, ETC. NOTE: THE “RELIGIOUS” COMMUNITIES OF MEN AND WOMEN.
The history of the Catholic Church in Montreal is largely that of its churches and its religious orders or congregations.
Its history commences with the date of the first mass on the common on September 8, 1642, in the open air, the day of the arrival of M. de Maisonneuve and the first colonists, though mass had already been said on the island as far back as 1615 in Champlain’s presence at the Rivière des Prairies, by the first Recollect fathers, Joseph le Caron and Denis Jamay.
From 1642 to 1657 the Jesuit missionaries served the small group of colonists, at which dates these were succeeded by the priests of the congregation of St. Sulpice, founded in Paris by M. Jean Jacques Olier, at Vaugirard in January, 1649, a main purpose of which was to supply priests for the mission founded at Montreal by the Compagnie de Notre Dame de Montréal.
The first chapel “of the fort” was one of bark, which was succeeded shortly by a frame building which served adequately till 1656. In this year a new chapel building in wood was adjoined to the Hotel Dieu at the corner of St. Paul and St. Joseph (St. Sulpice) and served as the church of St. Joseph for the hospital and the citizens till 1678 on the completion of the first parish church of Notre Dame, begun in 1672.
This church was regarded as a wondrous monument in its time, and as it was standing at the time of the fall of Montreal, and was not entirely demolished till 1843, its history forms part of that of Montreal under British rule, serving to connect the two regimes.
It stood on the top of St. Sulpice Street, then St. Joseph, and its front was placed on the axis of Notre Dame Street and Place d’Armes, in front of the site of the modern Notre Dame church. It was raised by subscriptions assisted by the Gentlemen of the Seminary.
The original church begun in 1672 was gradually enlarged. From 1720 to 1724 there were discussions among theMarguilliersor church wardens on the building of an imposing bell tower capable of holding four bells, as well as on the construction of a portail as an imposing entrance facade to the church. In 1722 discussions arose as to whether it should be placed southeast or northwest of the church. The new tower on the northwest was built about 1725. This served as a belfry for various bells cast in Montreal till that named Thomas Marguerite came from London in 1773, being one of the old ones recast, and was blessed on July 4th by M. Montgolfier, superior of the seminary. It received its name after Thomas Dufy Desaulniers and Marguerite, probably the name of Madame Le Moyne, the other godparent. The belfry proper was erected in 1777, the iron cross surmounting it in 1778, the copper gilt cock bought in London being placed in 1782.
Before relating the history of the Notre Dame church of today it will be proper to account for the other churches of Montreal erected before the capitulation in 1760, and bridging over the two periods of rule.
The Church of Notre Dame de Bonsecours was not standing on the arrival of the British. The first church of this name was built in wood by Marguerite Bourgeoys, the first stone being laid in 1657 by the famous Jesuit missionary among the Onondagas, Father Simon Le Moyne, the building being finished in 1659. The second building, also erected by Marguerite Bourgeoys, was the first stone church in Montreal. It was given to the Fabrique in 1678. It was reduced to ashes in the fire of 1754 and the third church was built between 1771 and 1773. In 1847-48 the church was decorated and on October 6, 1840, there was held a procession of the boats on the river and there took place, with Bishop Bourget presiding, the solemn translation of the new statue of Our Lady of Bonsecours specially destined for voyagers and sailors and placed on the exterior to dominate the port. It had been known as the Sailors’ Chapel, being on the quay. It was remodeled in 1889, according to critics, at the expense of many of its Breton-like attractive features. On the apse of the chapel is a colossal statue of the Blessed Virgin with outstretched arms to protect the sea-going vessels and sailors. On the roof is another chapel, a facsimile of the Holy House of Loretto. The church itself possesses a miraculous statue of Our Lady. The sanctuary is all marble, there are handsome stained glass windows and many historic pictures and votive offerings.
Until recently there stood off Notre Dame Street at the northwest entrance to the garden of the “Congregation” the quaint and picturesque church of Notre Dame de Pitié. Its original predecessor was commenced in 1693 and finished in 1695, principally through the benefactions of the recluse, Jeanne LeBer, daughter of the famous merchant, Jacques LeBer, who dwelt for twenty years (from 1694 to her death in 1714) in a little cell behind the altar. After the cession it was burnt down on April 11, 1768, and was rebuilt many years afterwards, the first mass being said in 1786. In 1856 this church of the “Congregation” (60 feet ×30) was demolished to make room for the Notre Dame de Pitié (108 feet ×46). This was built to receive a wooden, miraculous statue of Notre Dame de Pitié, whichoriginally was placed in the Church of St. Didier in Avignon, France, in the fourteenth century. In 1789 this church was demolished during the French revolution and the statue came into the possession of a Madame Paladére, who gave it to the clergy. In 1852 it came into the hands of the Rev. M. Fabris, who, at the request of the Abbé Faillon, the historian, gave it to the Congregation at Montreal. It reached Montreal on July 1, 1855, and, pending the completion of the Church of Notre Dame de Pitié, was kept in the convent hard by, its solemn transference to the church, by Bishop Bourget, taking place on August 15, 1860. In 1912 it was demolished to make room for the projected extension of St. Lawrence Main Street to the wharves, at which time the adjoining historic convent of the Congregation nuns also suffered the same fate.