La Paroisse (The Parish) You are now looking at La Basilique Notre-Dame, known as La Paroisse, or the Parish, in the time of Marguerite Bourgeoys. Today, it faces west on rue Notre-Dame. Did you know that this street was once the city's busiest commercial artery and the first to have wooden sidewalks? In 1657, the Sulpicians arrived in Montreal to establish a parish. Five years later, the cornerstone of the first Église Notre-Dame was laid and the Parish was created in 1678. One of Marguerite Bourgeoys' fondest wishes was to have her companions attend mass with the parishioners rather than in a chapel. It was in this church that Montrealers assembled for Marguerite's funeral on January 13, 1700, and it is also where she was buried. La Basilique Notre-Dame, as you see it today, was built between 1823 and 1829, to welcome Montrealers whose numbers had continued to grow. Return to the map