Do you know what gave Longueuil its name? The town’s founder, Baron Charles Le Moyne II, named it after his mother, who grew up in the commune of Longueil (minus the “u”), France.
It’s 300 years later. The year: 1967. The mayor of Longueuil-avec-un-U, Marcel Robidas, establishes a correspondence with the mayor of Longueil-sans-le-U, Georges Rouen. The latter, wishing to highlight the common origins of the two towns, offers a calvary as a historical gift. Dating from the early 15th century, this Norman cross once stood at a crossroads in Longueil. According to legend, one of its functions was to protect travellers from the unknown and bad encounters.
Today, this precious heritage monument can be admired in the co-cathedral museum. Where, ironically, it is protected in a well-known location.
It’s one thing to build a huge co-cathedral like Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue. But to build it… around another church? In the 19th century, this was achieved in a record time of three years, at a cost of just $105,000.
The impressive building was erected before demolition work began on the old church, which was located on the same site and had become too small. Want to know its location and size? This is the perimeter formed by the four main columns at the heart of the nave.
With a height of 85 metres, corresponding to a 26-storey building, it would be hard to imagine building a new church today… around the co-cathedral.
Imagine the scene: a roadworks site like the hundreds seen every year, this one to widen Chemin de Chambly, right next to the Co-Cathedral, in 1971. Excavators dig and dig, and then… surprise: bones. And not just any bones: the 17th-century bones of the very first settlers on Montreal’s South Shore! And buried beneath Canada’s first motor road…
In all, the skeletons of 41 men, women and children were exhumed and moved to the Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue cemetery, just a stone’s throw from the co-cathedral.
Who could have imagined that roadworks would unearth a priceless secret of Longueuil’s history… buried for three centuries?
It’s evening. People want to gather to celebrate mass. Small detail: electricity hasn’t yet been invented. What to do? In Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, in the years before Thomas Edison’s invention, candles were obviously used. Lots and lots of candles. Up to 320 during midnight mass.
These candles were placed on the huge retractable cut-glass chandelier suspended from the center of the dome, in those days much closer to the ground. And… what was done to prevent these candles from turning the magnificent cocathedral floor into a wax statue? We covered it with newspapers. A brilliant solution that would later inspire many a budgie owner…
What was the very first structure erected on Montreal’s South Shore? No, not a highway. It’s actually a vast fortified castle, built in 1695 by Baron Charles Le Moyne II – who ruled the only barony in North America. With its four turrets and thick stone walls, the structure, one of the few of its kind in New France, was imposing. It is the heart of Longueuil’s historical and heritage centre.
Today, plans and various remains clearly pinpoint its location. In fact, stones from the foundations of the fortified castle, discovered next to the church during archaeological excavations in 1971, can be found on the grounds of the cocathedral.
If these stones could speak… they would undoubtedly say that the landscape has definitely changed.
Relive pages of history with a visit to the Cocathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, inaugurated in 1887. Neo-Gothic architecture with a neo-Byzantine dome. Relive pages of history with a visit to the Cocathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, inaugurated in 1887. Neo-Gothic architecture with a neo-Byzantine dome. Relive pages of history with a visit to the Cocathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, inaugurated in 1887. Neo-Gothic architecture with a neo-Byzantine dome. Relive pages of history with a visit to the Cocathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, inaugurated in 1887. Neo-Gothic architecture with a neo-Byzantine dome.
Relive pages of history with a visit to the Cocathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, inaugurated in 1887. Neo-Gothic architecture with a neo-Byzantine dome. Relive pages of history with a visit to the Cocathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, inaugurated in 1887. Neo-Gothic architecture with a neo-Byzantine dome. Relive pages of history with a visit to the Cocathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, inaugurated in 1887. Neo-Gothic architecture with a neo-Byzantine dome. Relive pages of history with a visit to the Cocathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, inaugurated in 1887. Neo-Gothic architecture with a neo-Byzantine dome.
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