L'église Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, the church that Darrell Morrisey painted

L'église Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, this is  approximately where Darrell
Morrisey painted the church almost a century ago.

L'église Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is located on the corner of avenue Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Boulevard Decarie in Montreal. This is the church that Darrell Morrisey painted in the 1920s; the painting, discovered about a year ago, is on the reverse of another of her paintings, one of a hay cart in Quebec. Seeing this painting, right away, I thought there was something familiar about this church, I Googled the image of the church and found L'église Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and recognized it; I used to live at 4100 Av Northcliffe just a block from the church, I used to wait for a bus across the street from the church and then proceed to work on Montreal’s South Shore. That was from 1976 to 1979. 

Written above the church entrance:
"Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum" is Latin for
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee." 

Darrell Morrisey's painting of L'église Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (1927-1930)

The bell tower, on the far right, was constructed in 1927; 
this helps us date Darrell Morrisey's painting of the
church, it is between 1927 and 1930, the year in which she died.

The entrance to the offices of St. Augustine Catholic Church
on the east side of the church, the bell tower was added in 1927.

The offices of L'église Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
are on the west side of the church.

                  

                                                                    Note the Sulpician logo on front of church


The Sulpicians have a long history in Montreal. This interests me because two of my great great uncles were educated at the Grand Séminaire de Montréal by the Sulpicians; the Sulpicians admitted into the seminary these two working class boys, Martin Callaghan, who became the first Montreal born pastor at St. Patrick's Church, and James Callaghan, a future pastor at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Griffintown; sons of immigrant Irish parents, the Sulpicians opened the doors of education, religion, and society to them. They were educated in Rome and Paris, and they were celebrated at home where they were respected and well known. While I am not deeply religious, I am interested in the churches of Montreal, churches of all faiths, and I am interested in my family history which is closely associated with the history of Montreal. The architect of L'église Notre-Dame-de-Grâce was John Ostell, interior stained glass windows are by Guido Nincheri, and the church is a part of the Sulpician history of Montreal. 

Note: Montreal and Saint Sulpice

NEWS

 

 11 JANUARY 2018

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A Long History Celebrated

 

Last year, during the celebration of the 375th anniversary of the founding of the city of Montreal, a group of faithful Québecois devoted to the early founders came to France to trace the French heritage that first arrived in Canada in 1642.

The Sulpicians became intimately tied to the city of Montreal—then named Ville-Marie—when the Sulpician founder, M. Jean-Jacques OLIER, who was part of the founding Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal interested in establishing firm Christian roots in New France, joined in sending a contingent of French missionaries to Montreal in 1657, the year of his own death. Arriving in August 1657, the Sulpicians found the city on the verge of collapse. They immediately set about plans to stabilize and restore the city. They organized the streets, gave them names that endure to the present (such as, rue Note-Dame, rue Saint-Mathieu, rue Saint-Paul, etc.), and basically saved the city, which now survives as a thriving multicultural metropolis in Canada.

The Sulpicians consequently became known as the “lords of Montreal,” having been granted a “seigneury” by the King of France. Olier thus entered Montreal’s history, along with Paul de Chomedey de MAISONNEUVE, Jeanne MANCE and Jérôme Le Royer de la DAUVERSIÈRE, as a heroic figure of the past whose influence endures today. Only a few years ago, during renovations at the first Grand Séminaire Saint-Sulpice in Old Montreal, vestiges of the original city walls were discovered and have now been preserved for future generations.

During the summer of 2017, the Superior General, M. Ronald D. WITHERUP, PSS, welcomed a small group of pilgrims from Quebec at the Generalate in downtown Paris, where he was interviewed to comment on Olier’s incredible missionary vision and his desire to participate in the sending of missionaries to Montreal and New France. The group included Sylvie TRUDELLE, Clément FORTIN, Pierrette ROY, and Roger BÉDARD. Upon their return to Canada, they created a 36-minute video available on Facebook, which includes two short segments of the interview with Father Witherup.

Source: https://www.generalsaintsulpice.org/en/news/64-montreal-and-saint-sulpice

Eglise Sainte-Catherine-de-Sienne Catholic Church, 25 April 2025

Eglise Sainte-Catherine-de-Sienne Catholic Church is on Somerled Avenue near Coronation Avenue, it has a mostly Italian congregation and services are in Italian and French.

Kensington Presbyterian Church, 21 April 2025

I visited Kensington Presbyterian Church because the polling station for the 28 April 2025 Federal election was located there; I thought this church had closed long ago but I see, in their website, that although the congregation is smaller now it is still very active; "We are a Christian community worshipping in the heart of NDG — since 1896! The community of NDG has changed a great deal since then, and so have we." The church, the place of worship, is now Knox Centre for performing arts. The church is located at 6225 Godfrey Avenue, in NDG

 

Saint-Raymond-de-Pennafort Catholic Church

A walk on St. Jacques on 14 April 2025. Here is Saint-Raymond-de-Pennafort Catholic Church, a mostly Italian congregation, located at 5765, rue Saint-Jacques Ouest. 

St. James United Church in downtown Montreal

Just a few blocks east of Phillips Square, adjacent to Ste. Catherine Street, where Morgan's Department Store (now The Bay) was located, you will find the prestigious Saint James United Church, pictured below. For many years the front of the church was lost to view when buildings for stores were constructed here; however, a few years ago these buildings were demolished so that the original front of the church was restored to view. And what a view it is! It is a magnificent building in downtown Montreal.

Interior

Historical photographs of St. James United Church

In this photograph you can see how the front of the church 
was lost to view when buildings housing stores were constructed;
these buildings have all now been demolished.

St. James Church was hidden behind these stores; they brought
in needed revenue but they were also an eye sore.

Out walking this January morning

 

Trinity Memorial Church

I was in the area yesterday and took these photos of what used to be Trinity Memorial Church, closed a few years ago despite great protest by the parishioners. My parents were married here in 1940; about fifteen years ago I went to Christmas services at Trinity; and in the mid-1970s I lived just up the hill from Trinity on Northcliffe Avenue. 

This reminds me that Anglican churches in Montreal, in the 1950s, used to show movies and host dances in their church basements. Unfortunately, those days are long gone, the parishioners have moved away, the churches are closing, and we live in a secular society. A friend who grew up on Chesterfield Avenue, in Westmount, remembers going to dances at Trinity; he added that he and his Westmount friends were afraid to go beyond Decarie Blvd or Girouard Avenue because kids in Notre Dame de Grace were tough and would beat them up... 

My parents outside of Trinity Memorial Church on 30 March 1940, just after their wedding.

Northcliffe Avenue entrance to Trinity Memorial Church.

The "For Sale" sign is an unhappy conclusion to this place of worship.

Front door of Trinity Memorial Church, on Sherbrooke Street West near Decarie.

Windows on Northcliffe Avenue side of building.

St. James Anglican Church, Quebec

St. James Anglican Church, built in the early 1800s, is located in St. Jean sur Richelieu, Quebec (near Lacolle, which is a border crossing from Quebec's Eastern Townships to New York State). When the church was constructed there was a large English-speaking population in the Eastern Townships (including members of my paternal grandmother's family who attended the church over 125 years ago), but for various reasons the English-speaking population has dwindled over the last fifty or sixty years. For more information, visit: http://www.morrisseyfamilyhistory.com/.