June 2024 visit to Urgel Bourgie Cemetery, Montreal

This cemetery used to be called the Montreal Memorial Gardens, now it is owned and run by Urgel Bourgie Cimetiere Jardin & Complexe Funeraire and is located adjacent to Montreal in Ville St-Laurent. It is not hard to find but there is a lot of traffic, especially just before entering the cemetery. Planes landing at Trudeau International Airport can be seen overhead. All of the headstones lie flat on the ground; for assistance enter the main complexe building and the workers there are very hospitable and helpful. 

The grave of my great grandmother, my mother's grandmother, Bessie Richards Parker; 
born in the UK she died in Montreal in 1948

The grave of my mother's father, John Parker, born in Blackburn, England, died in Montreal; and his wife, Bessie Chew Parker, also born in Blackburn and died in Montreal

I think some people have their ashes left around or under a large rock, as this person has done;
a bit of humour, he writes "I crawled back under the rock I came from from"

June 2024 visit to Cote des Neiges Cemetery, Montreal

Cote des Neiges Cemetery is still overgrown with weeds, grass, etc., 
because of a prolonged strike in 2024

On the right is Thomas D'Arcy McGee's mausoleum, he was one
of the Fathers of Canadian Confederation

This is where many members of my family are buried 

Note: Cote des Neiges Cemetery is located on Mount Royal; CDN Cemetery is adjacent to Mount Royal Cemetery. They are the largest cemeteries in Canada. Mount Royal Park is a huge park in downtown Montreal, it was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted who designed other famous parks in North America.

Pictures of my grandmother’s home

On this day in 2009, it was 14 May 2009, I visited my grandmother's home at 2226 Girouard Avenue for the first time since 1969. My grandmother died in 1965, just a few days before my fifteenth birthday, she was one month short of her 90th birthday as my Auntie Ivy told my mother that morning when she phoned to tell her that my grandmother had died. For years, when driving passed the Girouard Avenue flat on my way to work, I would look up at her living room window remembering the many memories of my grandmother. It wasn't until 2009 that the flat was being sold and I had the opportunity to take these photographies. It was the last time I would visit my grandmother's home, where she had lived since the mid-1920s. 

Walking up the stairs to the flat

In the living room facing the Girouard Avenue

Entrance to the flat from the stairs.

In the living room.

The bathroom with the original
claw foot bathtub.

This was my Great Aunt Essie's bedroom,
she was my grandmother's sister.

The back porch facing the lane.

The kitchen.

This room off the kitchen, at the 
rear of the flat, was where my grandmother's
father slept after he moved to Girouard Avenue.

To the left was my Auntie Mable's bedroom,
to the right was the living room.

The living room, facing Girouard Avenue.

Entrance to the foyer from the living 
room; in this room, to the right was a maroon 
couch covered with a white sheet, the springs
touching the floor; to the left in this room
is where an upright piano stood.

The stairs and front door.

The upstairs is 2226 Girouard Avenue.

Biography of Father Martin Callaghan

A drawing of Father Martin Callaghan when young

Father Martin Callaghan in 1903

Photo montage of the pastors at St. Patrick's Church, Montreal

Father Martin Callaghan

Father Martin Callaghan was born on 20 November 1846 in Montreal. He attended the Petit Seminaire du College de Montreal (1860-1868) and he studied at the Grand Seminaire from 1869-1872. He was ordained a priest in 1872 and the following year he asked his Bishop to be allowed to enter the Sulpician Order for further training. The Sulpicians are a secular order, dedicated to training priests, but are not allowed to recruit priests to their order. Sulpician priests are referred to as "The Gentlemen of St. Sulpice" and are addressed as 'Monsieur'. Father Martin served as an auxiliary professor at the College de Montreal from 1872-1874. He served as vicar at St. Patrick's Church from 1875-1902; from 1902-1908 he was the pastor at St. Patrick's. He resigned from St. Patrick's in 1908 after thirty-five years service and was designated confessor of the Freres des Ecoles chretiennes. He also served at Notre Dame Church from 1908 to 1915 where he occasionally worked as a minister. Father Martin was dedicated to helping the poor and the working class, the class from which he came. He was also renowned for converting people to the Catholic faith; a church biography of Father Martin states, "par le nombre des convertis estimes par les statistiques les plus moderees a 3,000," which includes "protestants, juifs, Negres, Chinois".

In 1915, upon returning to Montreal from Baltimore where he assisted at a funeral for another priest, Father Martin fell ill; this soon developed into congested lungs. Father Martin died on 10 June 1915 in his sixty-ninth year. His brother, Father Luke Callaghan, sang the mass at Father Martin's funeral. One booklet describes the funeral: "A large cortege of mourners accompanied his remains to their last resting place beneath the chapel of the Grand Seminary on Sherbrooke Street."

Father Martin was also an authority Canadian on folklore and for a number of years he was the owner of the Fleming Windmill, an historical landmark located in Ville LaSalle.

His obituary, published in the Montreal Star of 11 June 1915, states that, 'Father Martin,' as he was affectionately known to many, 'was a true Irishman in warmth of heart and breadth of sympathy. His gifts to charitable movements were countless, and many of his benefactions were known only to himself. The poor and needy always found him a ready listener to the story of their troubles.'

The streets adjoining St. Patrick's Basilica, Montreal

This is what's left of Hermine Street, where my great grandmother, Mary Callaghan, lived, only a block from St. Patrick's Church where her two brothers, both priests, served the congregation. Father Martin Callaghan was the first Montreal-born pastor of St. Patrick's. Of course, we are reminded that he was always "interim" pastor, retired from that position for a younger man who happened to be the son of a past mayor of Montreal . . . It was the act of nouveau riche Irish not wanting to be associated with a priest from the working class, a man who lacked being born into the social position that the other, younger man, had been born into. Father Martin's brother, Father James Callaghan, also served at the church and there is a weather-damaged plaque paying homage to him stored in the basement of the church. I took photographs of the plaque when I visited there with my son about ten years ago (around 1999). Hermine isn't much of a street anymore, not residential at all. It's a half block from St. Patrick's and the street has been cut in two, by the Ville Marie Expressway. This photo faces south and that's a below ground section of the Ville Marie Expressway at the end of the street. Hermine was once residential, now it's a wasteland. Here is a photo of a business that was once located on Hermine:

This is on St. Alexander Street--rue St. Alexandre--looking south towards Hermine. St. Patrick's is just to the right of this photograph.

This is rue St. Alexandre looking north, with St. Patrick's on the left.

You can see a little of this red door, on the right, in the previous photograph. I believe it was where Father Martin Callaghan and Father James Callaghan lived when they were priests at St. Patrick's. Check it out at the Morrissey family history website.

Here (above) is St. Patrick's from rue St. Alexandre.

Looking down at LaGauchetierre (it runs perpendicular to Hermine and St. Alexandre) from St. Patrick's Church. There's a memorial park in the foreground with the foundation of some old buildings that were associated with the church and then some buildings on the other side of the street. Same view below, from circa 1915.

Other historical photos of St. Patrick's Church:

This would be the entrance from Sherbrooke Street West

This is looking from LaGauchetierre, south and parallel to Sherbrooke Street West

This is taken looking up at one of the buildings across the street from St. Patrick's on rue St. Alexandre. This whole area is being redeveloped, lofts and condos are bringing in new people which has a great location to the downtown of Montreal. When I first began walking in this area it was quite run down, and St. Patrick's wasn't in great shape, that was in the early 1970s. I think if there is a single place of deep spirituality in Montreal, this is important, or in any of the many churches in Montreal, it is at St. Patrick's. When I'm downtown I'll sometimes go to St. Patrick's.