© Fondation du patrimoine religieux du Québec 2003
The Seigneurie de Saint-Denis, on the shores of the Richelieu River, was ceded to Louis de Gannes de Falaise in 1694. He named his seigniory after his wife, Barbe Denys, who had died there shortly before that.
| Louis de Gannes, sieur de Falaise Louis de Gannes, sieur de Falaise, a military man, was born in 1658, in Buxeuil (France). He married his first wife, Barbe Denys, in Contrecoeur in 1691. He married his second wife, Louise Le Gardeur, in Montreal in 1695. That union produced no offspring. In 1700, he married Marguerite Le Neuf in Acadia. Thirteen children resulted from that union. He died in 1714 in La Rochelle (France). Close this window |
In 1739, the colonists asked the bishop and the seigneur to build a chapel. In 1740, a modest wooden structure with 23 pews was built. That is essentially all that is known about that chapel.
Work to be a stone church started in 1764. It was completed in 1767 and Mass was celebrated there until 1796. This building was located in front of the current church. It was built according to the Récollet plan.
| Récollet Plan Plan named after the community which built several churches in New France. These churches had large transepts but no naves, which became smaller at the choir so as to create interior chapels. The nave ended with a flat or semi-circular chevet. The Récollets, who were also called Franciscans, were the first missionaries in North America, arriving here in 1615. Close this window |
Since the population grew quickly and more space was needed, the settlers decided to build a new church rather than expand the first one. François Cherrier, the parish priest, drew the plans for the current church. It is believed that he was inspired by European architectural writings. The work, which was started in 1793, was completed in 1796. The church was built in the shape of a Latin cross. On each side of the façade, there is a bell tower. These towers give the building a monumental character.
| François Cherrier François Cherrier, priest and architect, was born in 1745, in Longueuil. He was the priest for Saint-Denis, from 1774 to 1809. He drew the plans for the parish church as well as for the Cherrier home in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu. He was the uncle of Louis-Joseph Papineau, Monsignor Jean-Jacques Lartigue and Côme-Séraphin Cherrier. He died in 1809. Close this window |
| Patriotes The name given to those who took part in the rebellions of 1837-1838 in Lower Canada. Close this window |
| Colonel Charles Stephen Gore Charles Stephen Gore, a military man, was born in 1793. He took part in the War of 1812 (1812-1814) as an aide-de-camp for Major General James Kempt. General Colborne appointed him to put down the 1837 rebellion. He was pushed back by the Patriotes at Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, but won the battle of Saint-Charles, on November 25, 1837. He died in 1869. Close this window |
| Wolfred Nelson Wolfred Nelson is a physician who was born in Montreal in 1791. He served as an elected member of the Lower Canada legislative assembly for William Henry, for the Parti patriote, from 1827 to 1830. He then served as the elected member for Richelieu in the Parliament of the Province of Canada, from 1851 to 1854, then as mayor of Montreal from 1854 to 1856. A patriote, he was one of the leaders of the 1837 rebellion. Arrested in December 1837, he was imprisoned for six months, then exiled to Bermuda in 1838 by Lord Durham’s proclamation. In one of his many speeches, he apparently said, “It is time for us to melt our spoons to make bullets”. He died in Montreal in 1853. Close this window |
| Two-tiered The church has a second floor consisting of galleries above the lateral spans of the nave. From the outside, two superimposed levels of windows are visible. In the Église Saint-Denis, the side galleries were installed in 1807, but the windows were made in the years from 1793-1796. Close this window |
Based on old photographs, we know what the Église Saint-Denis looked like. It was changed significantly in 1922. That year, the nave was extended at the front of the church. The current façade is in the Beaux-Arts style.
| Beaux-Arts (1890-1930) The Beaux-Arts model of architecture, which was widespread in Quebec between 1890 and 1930, was based on three principles: the clarity of the plan, the balance of the proportions and the character, which was to reflect the vocation of the building and its importance in its setting. Close this window |
Father Cherrier started work on the interior décor in 1804. The high altar and the tabernacle from the first church were used. The tombs of the side altars, the altarpiece and several decorations were sculpted at the Quévillon workshop. The pulpit and the baptistery were made by Urbain Brien dit Desrochers in 1818.
| Quévillon Louis-Amable Quévillon was a sculptor, a master carpenter and an architect who was born in 1749 in Sault-au-Récollet. He was responsible for the decoration of several churches in the Montreal area. He employed about 15 sculptors, gilders, and carpenters in his shop in Montreal. Close this window |
| Urbain Brien dit Desrochers Urbain Brien dit Desrochers was a sculptor and cabinet maker working in the Montreal region in the XIXth century. He was responsible for the chandeliers and a crucifix in the Église du Précieux-Sang in Bécancour, the pulpit and the baptistery in the Église de Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, the interior decoration of the Église de Saint-Sulpice (with René Saint-James) and the liturgical furniture for the Église de L'Assomption. Close this window |
The church in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu has an excellent collection of paintings. Several of them come from France. During the French Revolution, these works were seized from churches, convents and the partisans of the former regime, who emigrated.
To learn about the Église La Visitation de la Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie du Sault-au-Récollet, we invite you to return on March 6, 2007.
Sources
NOPPEN, Luc. Les églises du Québec (1600-1850), Québec, Fides, 1977,
p. 210-213.
COURNOYER, Jean. La mémoire du Québec de 1534 à nos jours, Montréal, Stanké, 2001, 1861 p.
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