Canada’s first masses

Mass on Isle-aux-Coudres

On May 16th 1535, Jacques  Cartier, follows the order of François Ier, King of France, to organize a second voyage and to “complete the discovery of these western lands.” In order to fulfill his duty, he apparels three ships respectively called the “Grande Hermine”, the “Petite Hermine”, and the “Émérillon” and sails to Newfoundland. During his trip, Cartier was accompanied by two chaplains who were Dom Guillaume Le Breton and Dom Antoine. Thanks to these two chaplains, the first Mass on Canadian soil was celebrated on the 7th of September 1535 on the shores of the Isle-aux-Coudres. 

A commemorative cross located at 1103 chemin des Coudriers in the Saint-Bernard sector of Isle-aux-Coudres in the Capitale-Nationale. This stone cross was erected on September 23, 1928 by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. On the bronze plaque placed on the base of the cross, we can read that this cross recalls the place where Jacques Cartier anchored his three ships: the Grande Hermine, the Petite Hermine and the Émérillon. He explored the island and named it Isle-aux-Coudres. The next day, after hearing mass, he took possession of the island in the name of Christ and the King of France. This mass is the first one on Canadian soil that is mentioned in history.

Controversy :

There is some controversy as to the time and place where the first mass was said in Canada. Some people say that the first mass said on Canadian soil was in September 1535. We know for certain that Cartier was accompanied by two chaplains who were Dom Guillaume Le Breton and Dom Antoine. However, two experts, Father Jouve and Father Beaubien, have their own ideas on the matter. According to them, the first Mass said in Canada at sea dates back to 1534 and the first Mass said on land to June 24, 1615. We know at least with certainty that Jacques Cartier was accompanied on his second voyage, in 1535, by two chaplains (Dom Guillaume Le Breton and Don Antoine), and that they had at least one Mass. But where exactly? Cartier speaks of a Mass on the 13th day: “On the thirteenth day of that month, we returned to our ships to sail because the weather was fine and on Sunday we could hear Mass”. 

The first mass in Montreal:

The first Mass on the Island of Montreal was celebrated on the banks of the Rivière des Prairies by Father Récollet Denis Jamet, assisted by Father Joseph Le Caron in the presence of Champlain, on June 24, 1615. Samuel de Champlain is proud of these four Récollets : “I left from there (from Sault-au-Récollet) to return to Rivière des Prairies where, being with two lifeboats, I met Father Joseph (Le Caron) who was returning to our house with some church ornaments to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which was sung on the banks of the said river with all devotion by the Reverend Father Denis (Jamet) and Father Joseph before all these people who were in admiration to see the ceremonies used and the ornaments which seemed to them so beautiful as something they had never seen before, for they were the first to celebrate Holy Mass there”.

First man on Montreal Island:

The first Mass on the Island of Montreal was celebrated on the banks of the Rivière des Prairies by the Recollect Franciscans Father Denis Jamet, assisted by Father Joseph Le Caron in the presence of Samuel de Champlain, on June 24, 1615.

Samuel de Champlain is proud of these four Recollect Franciscans: “I left from there (from Sault-au-Récollet) to return to Rivière des Prairies where, being with two lifeboats, I met Father Joseph (Le Caron) who was returning to our house with some church ornaments to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which was sung on the banks of the said river with all devotion by the Reverend Father Denis (Jamet) and Father Joseph before all these people who were in admiration to see the ceremonies used and the ornaments which seemed to them so beautiful as something they had never seen before, for they were the first to celebrate Holy Mass there”.

The next day, he celebrated a Mass in Quebec City, in the modest chapel hastily erected by Father Dolbeau. A month later, on July 26, Father Jamet celebrated his first mass in Trois-Rivières. On August 12 of the same year, Father Joseph le Caron said mass, planted a cross and sang the Te Deum on the shores of Georgian Bay (Lake Huron) in the middle of Ontario.

Sources:

Samuel de Champlain, fondateur et père de la Patrie, by Guy Laviolette, Collection Gloires nationales, page 19.

www.histoirecanada.ca/consulter/sites-historiques/l-isle-aux-coudres-fragments-d-histoire

Le Pèlerin, revue illustrée de la semaine n° 8379 of Sunday, October 29, 1922. June 24, 1615: the first Mass in Canada, Dictionnaire biographique des Récollets missionnaires en Nouvelle France, Odoric Jouve with the collaboration of Archange Godbout, Hervé Blais and René Bacon Bellarmin 1996.