Christ Church Anglican Church

You’re standing in front of the first stone church in Rawdon. Inaugurated in 1861, Christ Church Anglican Church bears witness to the Protestant community's involvement in the development of the village.

Source: Carte postale par Pierre-Fortunat Pinsonneault - The church around 1905.

Consecrated by the Bishop of Montréal on May 7, 2002, the window leading to the portico illustrates the three other churches that make up the history of the parish. These are: All Saints’ (Ramsey), St. John’s (Kildare) and St. George’s (Wexford).

The church also features eighteen magnificent stained-glass windows dating back to 1865. These windows and banners are all designed to guide parishioners through the major events of the life of Christ in the form of a teaching cycle. The stained-glass windows are a microcosm of the Church’s liturgical cycle. Each year, the Church follows Christ in remembering the events of his life by marking them with feasts and fasts such as Christmas and Lent. To read the windows, we suggest you start at the window in the south nave (the right-hand window next to the organ) and move clockwise around the church.

Source: Christ Church

You’re standing in front of the first stone church in Rawdon. Inaugurated in 1861, Christ Church Anglican Church bears witness to the Protestant community's involvement in the development of the village.

The history of Christ Church Anglican church in Rawdon began with the arrival of the Reverend James Edmond Burton in August 1821. At that time, he ministered to the Seigneurie de Terrebonne and the townships of Rawdon and Kilkenny. In 1822, he built his first chapel on Range 1 of Rawdon Township now part of Sainte-Julienne, to serve a growing Protestant population.

In 1836, the Anglican Church acquired a lot in what would become the village of Rawdon, where the first wooden chapel was built. However, the rigours of winter and the growth of the Protestant population meant that a more suitable and spacious church was needed. In 1857, construction began on the corner of Metcalfe Street and 3rd Avenue. After three years’ work, Anglican Bishop Fulford blessed the magnificent Gothic-style church in 1861. The use of fieldstone, brought from Saint-Jacques de Montcalm, was an innovation for the time and contributed to the building’s architectural value.

Located just behind the church, the cemetery was consecrated in 1849 and enlarged in 1899. Take a stroll there and you’ll see grave markers dating back to the 1850s. Notice the orientation of the headstones at the far end of the cemetery. The old pines and maples in the grounds mark the passage of time, reminding all those who come here to pay their respects to the past.