Description du projet
Notre Dame de Quebec
Notre Dame de Quebec Basilica, which began as a much smaller church in the 1647, became the first Catholic Cathedral north of Mexico in 1674. Two hundred years later, Pope Pious IX honoured Notre Dame de Quebec by making it the first Minor Basilica in North America, thus recognising the central role of this church in the establishment of the Catholic faith across this continent. The Bishop of Quebec once presided over a diocese that extended over all the lands claimed by New France, an area larger than Europe. With the passage of time, the original Diocese of Quebec has gradually been broken up into smaller units so that, today, over 150 dioceses, in Canada and the United States, occupy this vast territory.
Destruction by Fire and War
After being enlarged in the late 1600’s and 1740’s Notre Dame de Quebec was almost completely destroyed by English cannon fire in 1759. The church was then rebuilt and gradually made more magnificent by generations of architects, artists and craftsmen, with the last major work being completed in 1920 –1921. On the 22 of December 1922 a terrible fire left the church a smoking ruin, with only the stone walls remaining. In 1923 work began, once more, to reconstruct the Notre Dame de Quebec within its original walls. The recreation of the original ornamentation — almost exactly as it had been before the fire — was a remarkable undertaking.
Notre Dame de Quebec Church is both a Cathedral and a Basilica. A Cathedral is the spiritual and administrative centre of a Diocese, where the Bishop has his throne. A Basilica, one the other hand, is a church of significant size which has come special significance for the Catholic Church and his honoured by the Pope with the title of Basilica. There are two Minor Basilicas in the Quebec City region: the Notre Dame Cathedral, and Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré — a famous pilgrimage church where it is said that miracles take place, and where people come hoping to be cured of their infirmities. In 1922 both Basilicas of the region were destroyed by fire. Both churches were rebuilt at huge expense and with great effort.
The neo-classical façade of Notre Dame de Quebec, which dates from 1843, is the work of architect Thomas Baillairgé. The Baillairgé family participated in the construction and ornamentation of this church over four generations. This elegant, multi-layered composition in finely cut stone was not completed as originally intended. Thomas Baillairgé’s plans called for a symmetrical design with two identical towers, but construction of the north tower ( left side) was stopped only part way up after a weakness was discovered in the foundations. The tower on the south side, which Baillairgé had intended to replace, thus retained its 18th century form. ( le plan par Baillairgé ne sera pas utilisé)
First called Notre Dame de la Paix, in celebration of a treaty signed with the Iroquois, the original church of 1747 had plan in the shape of a Latin cross. Soon after, Bishop Laval made Notre Dame his Cathedral in 1774 began plans to have the church enlarged and made more magnificent, to reflect its enhanced status. Despite some help from Louis XIV, Bishop Laval was obliged to simplify his plans due to limited funding. A new façade for the church remained isolated out in the middle of the square for a number of years before the nave was finally extended out to meet it in 1697. From 1744 to 1748, the military engineer Gaspard Chaussegros de Lery, enlarged the church once more by adding side aisles, extending the sanctuary to its present length and raising the height of the nave, which he lit with clearstory windows from above. He also drew up plans for an elegant classical façade and interior ornamentation, which could be added later, when funds became available. Before this could be accomplished the church was destroyed by English fire bombs during the siege of 1759.
Reconstruction began in 1766 under the direction of Jean Baillairgé, a carpenter and wood-carver, from the Poitou region of France, who adapted to the needs of the colony by becoming a contractor and architect. The Baillairgé family would come to dominate the building industry in Quebec, providing five generations of architects, artists and engineers, including François Baillairgé, Thomas Baillairgé and Charles Baillairgé, who all worked on Notre-Dame-de- Quebec during the 18th and 19th centuries. (2-262)
The most remarkable element of the interior of Notre Dame de Quebec is the magnificent Baldachino, an impressive golden sculptural canopy over the sanctuary area. While the original was destroyed in the fire of 1922, the present reconstruction corresponds quite closely to the appearance of the work completed by Francois Baillairgé in 1793.
As a very young man, François (son of Jean Baillairgé) had been sent to Paris for an academic education in the arts from 1778 to 1781. When he returned to Quebec he had a considerable influence on the art of the colony which had become increasingly isolated from its sources in France.
At the top of the Balachino is Christ the Redeemer, surrounded by rays of light and angels. He is holding the cross and is standing on the globe of the world. The huge carved branches beneath the globe are supported by caryatids in the form of angels. In the centre the Virgin Mary is flanked by two angels. At floor level, the tabernacle is in the form of a miniature building, inspired by the architecture of St. Peter’s church in Rome – we can recognise the dome and columns in front.Statues of saints flank the altar and tabernacle. (left to right) St Paul, with the keys to the gates of Heaven; St Joseph, whose symbol is the lily; St. Louis, who is holding the relics he brought back from the Holy Land — the crown of thorns and nails that were believed to have been used in the crucifixion; St-Flavian and St. Felicity, who were early Christian martyrs; and finally, St. Paul, whose symbol is the sword.
In 1983, much of the original gold leaf was replaced by a substitute for gold called « de l’or hollandais » or Dutch Gold, which consists of thin sheets of copper with a only about 2% gold content. To ensure that the copper would not oxidize, and darken when exposed to the air, the Dutch gold had to be covered with a special protective coating.
In 1984, the true gold leaf covering the tabernacle and the canopy over the Bishop’s throne was restored, revealing the beauty of the original gilding, which had been done as part of the reconstruction after the fire of 1922.
The tabernacle is inspired by the architecture of St-Peter’s Basilica in Rome, The dome and columns, with their polished gold surfaces, are brighter and shinier than other parts of the structure. In the finest gold leaf work there is always a distinction between those elements which project forward and those that are set back. The elements that are closer to us are given a polished surface, while those that are set back are given a mat surface. This creates an impression of depth and makes all the details more clearly visible when seen from the distance.
The beauty of the contrasting polished and mat surfaces is particularly evident in this detail of the canopy over the Bishop’s throne ( FIG 9276 )
The face of the angel has quite fragile and had to be carefully restored to stabilise the preparatory undercoating, (applied before the application of the gold leaf) which had cracked over time.
The tomb of François de Laval, First Bishop of New France ( 1623 -1708) : This recumbent figure in bronze lies on a slab of black Quebec granite, which has been made to look as if it has risen up from the granite floor of the tomb. On the floor is inscribed a reproduction of a map of New France dating from the time of Bishop Laval.
The map shows Bishop Laval’s Diocese, which covered most of North America, north of the Spanish possessions in Mexico. The profile of the East Coast is relatively accurate, but the mapmaker became increasingly confused as he attempted to depict the centre of the continent, which the French were exploring at that time.
The prominence of the waterways is very striking in this map. In New France, almost all travel was done by water; the rivers were the highways linking the vast French territories in North America. The French colony of Louisiana is prominently indicated in the southern portion of the map. Using this extensive network of waterways it was possible to travel by canoe from Quebec City to New Orleans almost entirely by canoe.
Mgr de Laval’s body lies sealed within coffins of wood, lead and glass, in order to preserve his remains as perfectly as possible. François de Laval was beatified in 1980, which means that he has reached the last stage before canonization, when a person is declared a saint. This can be a very long and complex process. Those promoting Bishop Laval’s cause are hoping that God will give signs that he is worthy of sainthood. This could take the form of miraculous cures. One circumstance might be that a sick person is somehow cured, after invoking Bishop Laval while praying before an image of him. If a doctor is willing to testify that he can find no natural explanation for what has taken place, then the authorities in Rome are asked to consider the case. Depending on the circumstances of the cures, and the kinds of proofs available, more than one cure may be required.
The Sacred Congregation For the Causes of Saints is the body that is responsible for the process of beatification and canonization, considering the virtues of the candidate (referred to as a Servant of God), and the evidence for the miracles that are presented. For centuries, the most important officer of the Congregation was the Promoter of the Faith,
( Promotor Fidei). It was his task to prepare arguments that could refute the proofs that had been brought forward. His popular title was the Advocatus Diaboli, or the “ Devil’s Advocate” – and that is the origin of this term, which we use in our daily speech today.
In 1983, in an effort to simplify the process of canonization, Pope John Paul II approved changes that included abolition of the role of
“ Devil’s Advocate”.
