The old churches

This monument on the edge of the rang-de-l'ile is to commemorate the location of two former churches of the parish of Saint-François-du-Lac. 

The wrought iron cross comes from France and once topped the bell tower of the stone church which was built from 1731 to 1739 and demolished around 1850. 

This was the fourth church built on the seigniorial estate. The third, built in 1717-18, was of wood. 

These two churches, the wooden one and the stone one, were erected on land donated by Lord Joseph Crevier and his wife Marie-Angélique LeBoulanger.

As for the first two, in their case it would be better to speak of chapels: they were simple log houses, piece by piece, and covered with straw. 

They were located in another place, very close to the banal mill and the seigniorial estate, on land formerly called “Fond de Croix”, less than two kilometers from here. 

The first chapel, erected around 1688, was burned down by the Iroquois the following year. The second was built around 1698.

Judging by a sketch made on the document dated 1752, the stone church had the aspect of the small churches typical of New France, with fieldstone walls, a pointed roof covered with shingles, a round window named 'goat's eye' and its single bell tower extending its facade.

Interesting fact: the iron cross was crowned with a rooster: this is the symbol par excellence to recall the French origins of the settlers who brought Christianity with them. 

The one currently seen perched atop the cross along the way is not the original.

Its general appearance resembles the churches of Orleans Island built during the French regime.

We see the location of the old church and the cemetery at the narrowest point between the Tardif channel and the Saint-François River. We can also see the seigneurial mill and the location of the first chapels and the first cemetery very close to the Blazon channel, at the top of the windmill.

On the 1762 map, drawn up by Governor James Murray, the church is represented on the same place: the narrowest portion of Ile du Fort between the Tardif Channel and the Saint-François River. 

On the other hand, it is illustrated according to another plan, said in the form of 'Latin cross', or 'Jesuit'. 

The main nave, oriented east-west and ending in a semicircular apse, is intersected by a transept allowing the integration of two side chapels bordering the high altar which was dedicated to the patron of the parish: the Jesuit missionary Saint-Francois-Xavier.

The two devotional chapels would have been dedicated to Saint-Joseph, patron saint of Lord Crevier, for one, and to the Virgin Mary, for the other.

Large paintings were commissioned and installed above the main altar and the side altars. These works, unsigned but dated to the middle of the 18th century, are now inside the current church of the parish of Saint-François-du-Lac, on the other side of the shore.

Behind the church, very close to the river, we see a cross. This is the location of the cemetery. 

The erosion of the bank, among other things, will force the decision to move the church and the cemetery to another location deemed more central to the parish. 

The move of what constituted the interior of the church to the new one took place in 1849. It was the culmination of long and painful disputes with some of the parishioners who fiercely opposed the idea of ​​losing their church.

This monument on the edge of the street commemorates the site of the old church of the parish of Saint-François-du-Lac. The forged iron cross once topped the steeple of the stone church, the fourth built on seigniorial land.

The parish was canonically erected in 1714 and covered the seigneuries of Saint-François, Pierreville and Lussaudière; it extended on both shores and spilled over to the mission of Saint-François-de-Sales which served the Abenaki community.

 The priests therefore had a vast territory to cover, sometimes even going to serve the neighboring parishes of Yamaska and Baie-du-Febvre when they could. 

Over time, this vast territory proved too difficult to serve effectively. The place of worship was moved to the current church, on the other bank, and the parish was first divided in 1853 with the creation of the parish of Saint-Thomas-de-Pierreville. This was again divided in 1894 with the creation of the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Pierreville.

The church and presbytery that stood here had already been demolished. 

Maps and plans from the mid-18th century show that the stone church that stood here had its façade facing east, and that behind it was the cemetery, on land quite close to the great channel of the river. In truth, this cemetery was the second in the seigniory: the first was a little further north, very close to the Blazon channel, on a portion of land called «Fond de Croix».

The first fixed priest of the parish, Jean-Baptiste Dugast, died in 1763 and was buried under the church. His remains were removed in 1858 to be transported to the vault of the current church of Saint-François-du-Lac alongside the remains of 2 other priests also buried in this church.

Members of the seigneurial family were also entitled to these honours. 

The widow of the first lord, Marguerite Hertel, was buried under the old chapel located at the «Fond de Croix.» Her remains were transferred in 1718 under the 3rd church, built of wood. As for his daughter, also named Marguerite, her body was transferred in 1736 under the 4th church: the stone one. We then lose track of them… 

Were their bones moved once again in 1858 to the other shore? Or do they still lie buried in the ground below your feet?

S.N. Notre-Dame-de-Pierreville, 1894-1994, Sherbrooke, Éditions Louis Bilodeau et fils,  cop. 1993, 456 p.

S.N. Trésors du patrimoine religieux. 16 paroisses et 3 institutions de la MRC de Nicolet-Yamaska, MRC de Nicolet-Yamaska, 2006, 23 p.

DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DU PATRIMOINE, Ministère des Affaires culturelles. Le patrimoine religieux de l’île d’Orléans, Les cahiers du patrimoine no.16, Ministère des Affaires culturelles, 1982, 313 p.

CLAIR, Muriel. «Oeuvres datant du regime français à l’église paroissiale de Saint-François-du-Lac au Québec : Un ensemble iconographique concerté?», Annales d’histoire de l’art canadien/The Journal of Canadian Art History, 2004, vol. 25, p. 48-81.

FERLAND, Catherine. 27 faits curieux sur la mort d’hier à aujourd’hui, coll. Les 27, Les heures bleues, 2022, 66 pages.

GAUTHIER, Raymonde. Construire une église au Québec : l’architecture religieuse avant 1939, Montréal : Libre expression, 1994, 244 p.

LESSARD, Michel. La nouvelle encyclopédie des antiquités du Québec, Montréal : Les éditions de l’Homme, 2007, 1103 p.

VILLENEUVE, René. Les églises de Charlesbourg, Québec, éditions du Pélican, 1986, 105 p., dans ETHNOSCOP. Sites archéologiques religieux du Québec. Études produites dans le cadre de la participation du Québec au Répertoire canadien des lieux patrimoniaux, volet archéologique, Avril 2006, (document PDF)

VOYER, Louise. Églises disparues, Montréal : Libre expression, 1981, 168 p.

Maps and Photo Credits:

The wrought iron cross:  CHARETTE, Dominic. March 2023

Sketch of the fourth church (1731-1850): Détail du Plan de la séparation du terrain de la fabrique (document original) daté de 1752 et conservé au Archives du Séminaire de Nicolet F320/S33/5/2

Location of Church and Cemetery, 1762: Détail de Plan of that part of Canada and the River St.Lawrence…[cartographic material] The whole from a survey carried on under the direction of the honourable brigadier general Murray, governor of Quebec. Samuel Holland, William Spry, John Montresor, Joseph Peach, Lewis Fuzier, Peter Frederick Haldimand, Philip Pittman, 1761, Cartes et documents cartographiques, dans BIBLIOTHÈQUE ET ARCHIVES CANADA online.