L'Église / The Church

L'Isle-Verte's first church, so small it was considered more a chapel, was built between 1723 and 1738 on land given to the Church by the first Seigneur Côte. A second church was constructed from 1798 to 1800 near the site of the current presbytery, and L'Isle-Verte was established as a parish under the title of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist on May 12, 1828. Debate over the size of the present church lasted from 1833 to 1855 before the flamboyant Gothic building, designed by Québec architect Louis-Thomas Berlinguet, opened for worship in 1855; its walls are of fieldstone, and its bell tower and sacristy, built in 1890, are of freestone. L'Isle-Verte has had four presbyteries: the first stood on the site of the current post office, the second was built in 1803 near the site of the Sacred Heart monument, and the third, built in 1854 and originally intended as a girls' school, was moved twice after 1923 and later served as a parish hall, classrooms, and a senior citizens' hall before being replaced in 1923 by the current presbytery. The parish also had three cemeteries: the first lay before the main entrance of the current presbytery, the second stood where the École Moisson-Arts playground is now located, and the transfer of remains in 1893-1894 to the present cemetery on the second country road caused sharp controversy between the Church Council and local residents, probably because of its distance from the village.

Quebec · Canada