About the Co-cathedral of St. Anthony of Padua (Co-cathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue) in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada:
The Co-Cathedral of Saint Anthony of Padua (French: Co-cathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue) is a co-cathedral in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada, on Montreal’s south shore. It is dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua. The cathedral houses the remains of the Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
The site contains the archaeological remains of Fort Longueuil, a fort constructed between 1685 and 1690 as the fortified residence of Charles le Moyne de Longueuil, the only Canadian-born person to be raised to the rank of Baron by the French King. The fort was demolished in 1810 and the cathedral contains stone building materials and elements salvaged from the fort.
The Parish of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue was founded in 1698, and is one of the oldest in Canada. The present cathedral building was largely built from 1884 to 1887, although it was not completed until 1911. It is the third church in the history of Longueuil, the first being completed in 1811. The cathedral was constructed in the Gothic revival style of architecture, while the dome is an example of Byzantine Revival architecture.
The architects Henri-Maurice Perrault and Albert Mesnard wanted the cathedral to be of great volume. The same architects built the church’s altar, combining fine stones with the hardest stone. The Québécois sculptor, Louis-Philippe Hébert, contributed to the cathedral’s facade, by creating three sculptures out of wood, covered in metal. The church was constructed at a cost of $98,895 by Eugène Fournier dit Préfontaine, an entrepreneur, farmer and carpenter.
The cathedral is very large, measuring 243 feet (74 meters) long, 135 feet (41 meters) wide and 266 feet (81 meters) high. Louis Jobin renovated the church in 1930. The roof, which had been covered in steel, was restored in 1999 using 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg) of copper. Further restoration work is planned.
Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue was designated as a co-cathedral in 1982 when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Jean-de-Québec was renamed the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil. The Cathedral of Saint-Jean-l’Évangéliste has been the primary cathedral of the diocese since its establishment in 1933.
Part of the cathedral’s crypt holds the graves of the Le Moyne and Grant families, affiliated with the title of Baron de Longueuil.
Priests. Inside the cathedral, there is a plaque listing all the priests in the parish’s history.
Traveling to the Co-cathedral of St. Anthony of Padua (Co-cathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue) in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada:
The Co-cathedral of St. Anthony of Padua (Co-cathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue) is located on the corner of Rue Saint-Charles and Chemin Chambly in the Borough of Le Vieux-Longueuil.
Address: 55 Rue Sainte-Élizabeth, Longueuil QC J4H 1J3