Montreal: the City of Churches

“This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn’t throw a brick without breaking a church window. Yet I was told that you were going to build one more. I said the scheme is good, but where are you going to find room? They said, we will build it on top of another church and use an elevator. This shows that the gift of lying is not yet dead in the land.” – Mark Twain

Well, Twain was right. Even today, Montreal is filled with churches around every corner. Even in the years since Twain’s visit, when some churches have been torn down, many faiths are still represented in a relatively small area. Below are some of my favorites..

St. Patrick’s Basilica – the Irish church

St. Patrick’s opened on March 17, 1847 to serve the Irish immigrants coming to Montreal. The inside is decorated in beautiful carved wood. It’s the only Catholic church in Montreal where Mass is offered in English.

Mary, Queen of the World, Cathedral – the mini-St. Peters

The Cathedrale de Montreal is a modeled after St. Peters at the Vatican in Rome. Actually, it looks absolutely identical, except the pain color is noticeably lighter/brighter. We stumbled upon this church during a downtown Montreal walking tour & crashed a wedding to take a peak inside (in all fairness, the wedding hadn’t started yet!)

St. James the Apostle Anglican Church – the church in the middle of downtown

We stumbled upon this Anglican church as well, as it’s literally smack in the middle of the St. Catherine Street shopping district. This cute little church was hosting a small harpsichord concert the afternoon we were there. It was also interesting that a gay pride flag hangs in the back of the church, along with a sign welcoming everyone.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal – the granddaddy of them all

This monumental church looks pretty simple from the outside: a stone structure that looks similar to many old gothic churches from the time period. However, as soon as you step inside, it’s anything but simple. The grand scale & sheer opulence of this church makes it, literally, jaw dropping. Celine Dion was married here. State funerals are held here. State funerals for hockey players are held here. It’s a truly amazing piece of architecture. The windows tell the story of the history of Montreal.

Note: It’s $5 to get in, but if you attend Mass there’s no charge & you can tour the church afterward for free. Note that Mass will be said in French & you’ll probably have no idea what’s going on, even though you’ve been Catholic your entire life.