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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PARISH CHURCH OF MONT-CARMEL
Researched and compiled byNormand Richard
Technical help from Marilyn Balderston
March 1, 2007
Hello, my name is Normand Richard and I have written this document to share historical information about our Mont-CarmelParishChurch. I hope that asyou read this document you will find the information as interesting as I do!Last summer I received an opportunity to work at the Mont-CarmelChurch fora summer work project and I really enjoyed my work.The parishioners and the community seemed to really enjoy my work as well.Church visitors askedme so many different questions.At the end of the summer, I had the chance to take an educational program that assists participants to increase their employability skills. I accepted the opportunity because I knew it would increase my knowledge as well as improve my English writing and reading skills.
As I had worked as a guide at the Mont-CarmelChurch, my assignment was to create a document telling about the history of the Parish of Mont-Carmel. Theresearch for the document will be helpful to me if I am able to work at the church again as a guide because it gives me more information to share withthose who come to visit our church and our community. When visitors ask me questions, I will be able to share all the interesting facts that are outlined within this document. Visitors and parishioners alike can learn more about our church and community history.
The Acadians came from Malpeque to the community of 15 Point in 1812. They landed at Grand-Ruisseau on Lot 15 and because of that, it was named 15 Point.The first two families who arrived at the parish of Grand-Ruisseau in 1812 were Paul Arsenault and Jean-Baptist Gallant. In the next year, three otherfamilies arrived including Herman Gallant, Charles Richard and Thomas Richard. They came from Malpeque to the parish of Grand-Ruisseau.Due to accountingproblems, they wanted to hide from the landlord, Colonel Compton, as well as their newly arrived English neighbours.
Between 1812 and 1820, the families of the parish Grand-Ruisseau wanted to go to a Celebration Mass. They had to go by boat or across the woods to the communityof Big Rock. Big Rock was changed to Egmont-Bay before the first Church was constructed in the parish of Grand-Ruisseau in 1820.
On June 23, 1820, Thomas Richard and Susan Aucoin gave land to the Parish of Grand Ruisseau where a church, rectory and a cemetery were constructed. Thefirst church was constructed in the parish of Grand-Ruisseau in 1820.The church was constructed piece by piece, like a log cabin, and was used for sevenyears before a second church was constructed in 1827. In 1844, an extension was added to the second church.A third church was constructed in 1898 becausethe first two churches were too small for the growing needs of the community.After building the third church, the second church was used as the ParishHall until it was destroyed by a fire in 1968. In 1969 a Parish Centre was constructed across the road from the Church of Mont-Carmel.
In 1892, the parishioners were already talking about constructing a third church. They were so happy when Father Pierre Paul Arsenault arrived in the parish of Grand-Ruisseau in 1896.The parishioners could not decide whether to build the church using wood or brick.Father Arsenault organized a meeting withthe parishioners, but it was he who decided that the church would be constructed of brick.He told the parishioners that he had decided to construct a huge church like a cathedral. The parishioners would not regret this decision and they were really proud of their beautiful huge brick church. The churchwould become the community's main tourist attraction. Father Arsenault went to Quebec to find an architect and he found Rene P. Lemay. He was told by peoplein Quebec that Lemay was known as one of their best architects in designing big, beautiful churches.Father Arsenault chose him to design the ParishChurch.
In 1898, Father Arsenault started the construction of the ParishChurch with only six thousand dollars in the bank. The first Mass was celebrated on January1,1899.
It was also in 1899 that Father Pierre Paul Arsenault and the parishioners wanted to change the name of the parish from Grand-Ruisseau to the Parish ofMont-Carmel. This was done and the community of Mont-Carmel was made up of Mont-Carmel, St. Timothy, St. Raphael, UnionCorner and CapeEgmont.
Father Arsenault was quite an organizer and he organized many activities such as picnics, lotteries and many special collections. He accepted many giftsand donations from a variety of people. Father Arsenault had another trick, and it was that he would sell bricks to the parishioners for five cents each.The parishioners who donated money to construct the church would have their names engraved on plaques placed in the interior of the church. As anotherway to raise money for construction, Father Arsenault asked the farmers to bring different kinds of crops, the fishermen to bring different kinds of fishand the women to bring different kinds of handicrafts to be sold.
Father Arsenault, with the help of the community, succeeded in paying the debt of the ParishChurch in approximately thirty years. It cost $75,000 to construct the church in 1898 and it took 450,000 bricks to construct the exterior of the church. The local men, youngand old alike, gave many hours of free labour to help construct the ParishChurch.Gregoire Gallant donated the brick clay from his land, which was approximatelytwo and a half miles from the ParishChurch. John McLure was the bricklayer and the brick was manufactured right in the Parish of Grand-Ruisseau.Stonefrom Wallis, Nova Scotia, was also used in the construction of the Church.
The interior of the church was finished nine years later. Clovie Arsenault constructed the church altar. The pulpit and the windows were donated by theparishioners. In 1908, the parishioners donated the beautiful chandelier. In 1921, the Way of the Cross was donated by the parishioners.Twenty yearslater, the interior of the church was painted by Scott Young and two members of his company from Nova Scotia.All the pillars were made of solid cementand the exterior of the pillars was painted to look like marble with a special technique using bird's feathers.These Master Painters were from Italyand they locked all the doors of the church when they were working to keep their special paint technique a secret.Most visitors are surprised and amazedthat the pillars are still looking as beautiful today as the first day they were painted.
It was in the early 1800’s that parishioners wanted to install a statue forty feet high behind the church so that the community fishermen would have a landmarkto guide them because they didn't have a compass at sea. In 1867, they succeeded in collecting enough money to purchase their special landmark. In 1881,the statue fell during a big storm and was then put in a storage room until Father Arsenault found it in 1901.Father Arsenault asked the children ofthe parish to collect enough money to help place this statue in a new location, on top of the church. On July 4, 1949, the community organized a celebrationto honour and to bless the Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel statue.
In 1902 Father Arsenault and the parish of Mont-Carmel decided to construct a Church Rectory. It was made of brick just like the Church and placed besidethe Church. The same architect and bricklayer who built the Church were chosen to construct the Rectory. Two hundred and fifty thousand bricks were used to constructthe Rectory.
The first resident Priest in the parish of Grand-Ruisseau was Rev. Sylvain-Éphrem Poirier (1869-1879) and the other resident Priests who came to the parishof Grand-Ruisseau before the Church rectory was constructed in 1902 were: Rev. Eugene V. O'Neill Boyd (1887-1888), Rev. John McGrath(1893-1894), Rev.Pierre-Paul Arsenault(1896-1927). Since 1902, the Parish has had the following resident priests who lived in the Rectory: Rev. Théodore Gallant (1927-1937),Rev. J. Nazaire Poirier (1937-1946), Rev. Jean-François Buote (1948-1967), Rev. Emmanuel Richard (1967-1975), Rev. Charles Gallant (1975-1989), Rev. NazaireGallant (1989-1995), Rev. Malo (1996-1997) and Rev. Eddie Cormier (1997-2003).
In 1923 Father Arsenault wanted to construct three arched structures around the land of the ParishChurch.He asked the farmers to bring stones from theirfields and he asked the fishermen to bring stones from the shore.A local bricklayer, Cagetain Arsenault, offered his time to construct the three structures.The Arch that was built between the church and the cemetery was in memory of Thomas Richard, one of the founders of the parish who had donated the landfor the church, rectory and cemetery. Another Arch was constructed in front of the church but was situated behind the Sacred Heart Statue. The third Archwas created as a triple arched structure in front of the cemetery, and it was in memory of the World War I Soldiers who gave their lives, including thosespecial soldiers from the Parish of Mont-Carmel.
When Father Pierre Paul Arsenault died in 1927, the Parish debt was fully paid. The Parish of Mont-Carmel wanted to construct a special monument in memoryof Father Pierre Paul Arsenault because he played such an important role in the Parish of Mont-Carmel and in other communities as well.
In 1928, the Parish of Mont-Carmel asked Cagetain Arsenault if he would construct a small brick chapel above Father Pierre Paul Arsenault's grave. It wouldbe a tribute to his memory, and its purpose would be to provide a safe and sacred space for those who died during the winter months and were awaiting burialin the spring.
Electricity was installed in the Mont-CarmelChurch in 1954.There was a new bell installed in the church in 1960 and it came all the way from a church in Boutouche, New Brunswick.
In 1962, the population of Mont-Carmel was 702. At present, there are approximately 690 people who are residents of Mont-Carmel.
The last resident Priest who lived in the Church Rectory was Father Eddie Cormier, who left the parish of Mont-Carmel in middle of June, 2003. The Rectoryhas not been occupied by a priest since that time.
The parishioners couldn’t decide what was going to happen to the Rectory. The parish of Mont-Carmel received an offer in the spring of 2005 by the EvangelineTourist Association who wanted to rent the Rectory for the summer to make a Tourist Information Centre and the parish of Mont-Carmel accepted the offer.In the spring of 2006, the parish of Mont-Carmel decided to keep the Rectory to form La Coopérative de développement culturel et patrimonial de Mont-Carmeland then they would be able to keep the Rectory open as a Tourist Information Community Centre.
From June, 2003 to the end of June, 2006 the parish of Mont-Carmel had been covered by the parish priest of Egmont-Bay. At the end of June 2006, the parishof Mont-Carmel received a new parish resident Priest; his name is Father Éloi Arsenault who has decided to live in his cottage instead living in the parishRectory.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading my document as much as I have enjoyed researching and sharing information with you about the history of our ParishChurch. I was really surprised last summer to see so many people coming to visit our beautiful church. Visitors are really amazed at how we can keepour beautiful church in such good condition because it costs a lot of money to operate such a big church in such a small community. I was really impressedto find so much interesting information about our Church and the Parish of Mont-Carmel.
In addition to wanting to learn more about my parish church, I wanted to prove to myself that a visually impaired person can do as much as a person whohas full vision. I found it is easier to work as a team instead of as one person alone. It has been a really good experience and a really good challengefor me to write this document about the Mont-CarmelChurch, and I hope you have learned new things about our beautiful Churchas a result of reading this document.I have enjoyed sharing them with you.
A note of thanks to all who so willingly answered my questions and volunteered information for this document. Thanks to RDÉE Prince Edward Island for paying the copying of this document.