Quebec: Oldest parish in North America celebrates 350th anniversary

Notre Dame de Quebec

Notre-Dame de Québec, the oldest church in the Americas north of Mexico City has been celebrating its 350th Jubilee this year with many special events. On 9 December, the 300 000th visitor passed through the Holy Door at the Cathedral - Suzanne Legault, a native of St Stanislaus Kostka, near Valleyfield in Québec.

Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix will celebrate Solemn Vespers of 28 December, for the closing of the Holy Door.

At Laval University in Quebec, the Monseigneur-de-Laval Theology Chair attached to the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies held a symposium on parish renewal. Under the theme "From the invention of a parish in the reinvention of the parishes", this conference was attended by more than 200 people.

The event was inspired by the fact that the founding of the parish of Notre-Dame de Québec in 1664 by the first bishop of Quebec, François de Laval, was a real beginning in a new country. At that time, the creation of such a parish completely changed the concept that prevailed before the Council of Trent in Europe. François de Laval has adapted church organization to a new reality, in Nouvelle-France, in a context of mission and evangelism.

For more information on Notre-Dame de Québec, see- https://notredamedequebec.org/