On August 30, 1950, Monseigneur Joseph-Arthur Papineau, Bishop of Joliette, sanctioned the contruction of what was then called the English Catholic parish of Mascouche.
During the 1920s and 1930s, the southwest of Mascouche saw a rapid development of a community for vacationers. The promoters of Terrebonne Garden sold many lots on the streets adjacent to Chemin des Anglais. Many of their clients came from the south-west of Montreal, from an English-speaking background, and mostly from the Anglican faith. It is no surprise that this community soon organized itself to establish their own place of worship.
In 1948, the area had about twenty English-speaking Catholic families wishing to have a school and a parish. Under the initiative of the John Théberge and James McCune families (neighbors and brothers-in-law), steps were taken to accomplish this goal. Thus, on June 2, 1948, Father Raymond Fitzgerald, a Redemptorist from Ottawa, celebrated the first Catholic Mass in James McCune's home on Brompton Street. An army tent was later used as a provisional place of worship. The new mission was inaugurated with a retreat at the beginning of the summer that attracted 165 faithful. In September 1948, a small temporary school opened on Joy Street.
On November 30, 1948, the Bishop of Joliette agreed to set up a committee of trustees to next build a chapel. Supervised by the curé Caillé, parish priest of Saint-Henri-de-Mascouche, MM. John Théberge, J.D. Stuart, Pat Murphy, Alfred Tessier, and C.G. Goughlin got to work. It was decided that it would be necessary to borrow $10,500 from various parishioners in Saint-Henri-de-Mascouche at an interest rate of 3%, for a period of two years.
Construction of the church began on September 12, 1949. The work progressed so quickly that a Mass was delivered by Father W.J. Cassidy on Christmas in the basement of the church. Father Cassidy had served as a missionary since 1948. On July 2nd of the following year, the first Mass was celebrated in the church itself, which was then blessed by Bishop J.-A. Papineau on August 13.
The parishioners welcomed their first parish priest on August 31 1950, and the following summer was used to erect the presbytery. At the end of the summer of 1952, the interior of the church was winterized. Eventually, in December 1956, a plot of land was purchased from Mr. Raoul Chartrand to develop the parish cemetery. Only during the year 1958 was the interior of the church given its finishing touches: decoration, tiles, etc. The benches were installed in March 1959, and in September 1963, the bell tower was erected and was blessed in May 1965, on the 15th anniversary of the parish.
Photo: Collection Société d'histoire de Mascouche / SODAM