A Salute to The Irish - from Nathalie de Grandmont

A salute to the Irish…

Hi, my name is Nathalie De Grandmont. Are you enjoying your stay in Montréal so far? We are at the corner of St-Urbain and René-Levesque and I want to start with a little trivia: Do you know what’s happening in this area on March 16th ? St-Patrick’s Parade, of course! Well, this is one of many things that the Montrealers owe to the Irish community. (In fact, according to the United Irish Societies, approximately 42% of the French in Québec might have Irish blood.) As a French Canadian myself, I might be one of them, who knows… That’s why today, I will tell you a bit why the Irish deserve to celebrate on that day: about the big role they played in our history and about the magnificent St-Patrick Basilica that was built for them - that you will see in a few minutes, on the left hand side of René-Lévesque boulevard – named after Saint-Patrick, the patron saint of the Irish.

The Parade:

But first, let’s get back to the Parade. Can you imagine 100 floats, music bands, and up to 600 000 people lined up along Ste-Catherine street, having fun with their kids and families ? Well, when the weather is good, this is what you can expect of our St-Patrick’s parade. We are very fortunate here in Montréal because our parade is not only popular but we also have one of the oldest St-Patrick’s Parade in North America and it is the longest continuous parade. It started in 1824 and, according to the historian of United Irish Societies of Montreal, it has been held every year since. Despite the wars, despite the Great Depression, and despite a big snow storm that hit the city once, just 2 days before the Parade. Despite all that , the Irish always managed to hold their parade: a little bit like a symbol of how nothing could stop them.

Their legacy:

As I said, The Irish deserve to celebrate because they brought here a lot more than just good music and good beer! In fact, they were our first big wave of immigration in Canada (after the French and the English), which started at the very beginning of the 19th century. A large number of the Irish immigrants arrived between 1845 and 1849, during the Great Famine. In 1845, a big disease completely destroyed the crop of potatoes in the fields of Ireland. And in the following years, thousands died of starvation or of typhoid fever. Thousands of Irish also chose to escape their country to come to United States or Canada (especially in 1847). The traveling conditions on the boat were terrible: many were already so weak by famine that they died during the trip. Even more sad: many others died, a few days after arriving on Grosse-Ile, which was the point of entry and the Quarantine station, a little upstream from Québec city. In the years before, many had died from cholera as well… But In 1847. dozens of them were dying every day: because of the typhus, a very contagious disease. To the extent that it became a huge epidemy and the authorities lost control. (To give you an idea: there are 6000 people buried in just one of the cemeteries of Grosse-Ile.)

The Irish who did survive the journey were not really attracted by agriculture and they established themselves in one of the oldest suburbs of Montreal: Griffintown. (Even tough they were Anglophones, the majority of them were catholics, and not active in business and politics, unlike the Scottish and the British, for example)
From 1821 to 1825, many of them were employed in the digging of the Lachine Canal: working 16 hours a day for low wages. (So, a few violent strikes occurred: in 1843, and later, when the canal was widened again, 30 years later) They also contributed to the construction of the railway and the Victoria Bridge. So, a lot of our city’s industrial growth came from the sweat and hard physical work of the Irish, as well as some of the French Canadians living in Pointe St. Charles, just beside. Griffintown remained the heart of the Irish community until the neighbourhood was partly demolished in the 1960s to build the Bonaventure Expressway.

St-Patrick Basilica.

Well, if the Irish were living in Griffintown (south-west of Montreal), why then is St-Patrick Basilica in the heart of downtown ? Well, it was not always like that. At the beginning of the 19th century, the St-Patrick parish included about 50 people… meeting in the tiny church of Bonsecours. (Their leader was Father Richards, who had been a Protestant priest in Virginia. He thought that he could come to the Montreal and convert all the Sulpician priests to his faith… but funny enough, it is the Sulpicians who converted him… )Then, they relocated to the abandoned church of The Recollets on Notre-Dame street… But again, it was not enough… because by 1840, the community had expanded to nearly 6,500. Can you imagine: every Sunday, hundreds of people, sometimes in the rain, were forced to kneel down in the cobbled streets, unable to squeeze inside…

After doing many sacrifices and giving a lot of their own money to build it, the Irish finally got their St-Patrick church… It was designed by a French Canadian architect. (P.L. Morin) in the gothic style of architecture popular in Europe in the 14th and 15th century. It is quite massive: 71 meters long, with a steeple rising 69 meters high. Today, it is considered one of Canada’s finest examples of gothic architecture, and the interior is probably even more beautiful. It is dominated by wood, and a lot of oak. And many of the wood panels contain carvings of shamrocks or fleur-de-lys (a tribute to the Sulpicians who were very involved). The nave is also decorated with many oil paintings of the Saints on both sides and most of all, great stained glass windows that were beautifully restored. (There has been several restorations and the most recent one was in the 1990’s.)

The church was inaugurated in 1847. Can you guess the date ? March 17th. That morning, the St-Patrick parade started at 7am from the Old Recollet Church off Notre Dame and proceeded on Notre Dame, St. James Street and then uphill on Commissioners street (McGill St.) to finish at St. Patrick's Church… where there was a big Mass, attended by 4000 people. Well, the first days and years of the church were very sad: the priests and nuns working there set up “Fever sheds” to take care of the sick, and then a facility for the orphans. Many of them died. And you can see their names on large panels close to the entrance. On the same wall, there is also a tribute to 2 other famous personalities, linked to the church: Thomas D’Arcy Mc Gee (an Irish man and one of the Fathers of the Confederation) and the poet Emile Nelligan, who was baptized in that church as well.

In 1989, again on March 17th, St-Patrick was elevated to the status of a minor basilica by the Vatican in Rome. Both the provincial and the federal government have classified it as a Historic Monument. The day I went there, the organ was playing when I walked in and I was very moved. I am telling you, you can really feel the many tears and sufferings that this Basilica has seen, but I think that over the years, it has also become a very important symbol of the accomplishment and legacy of the Irish.

So, if you want to pay tribute to the Irish, the Basilica is definitely a good place to start. I encourage you to go when you have a chance: it is open every day, and they also offer religious services on the week-ends. You can also come to the Parade .(This year, it will be on March 16th, and will start at noon, at the corner of Du Fort street ) But, since the Irish have also given us good music and many reasons to celebrate, please make sure to visit one of the typical Irish pubs… which are mostly located in the downtown area, along Crescent and Bishop streets, a little further west. I have here a little list of Irish pubs: where you can spend a very nice time and dedicate one toast – or two- to the Irish.

Well, thank you everyone… If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them. I wish you all a very Happy St-Patrick’s day!