I must admit this photograph was taken of a church in Quebec town the name of which I neglected to take down. But I would be willing to bet it was named after a Saint. Quebec has hundreds of towns name after saints.  I never knew there were so many saints. We  don’t have any in Steinbach unless you count Andrew Unger.

You would be forgiven if you thought Quebec is a very religious province. This is an illusion.  It once was, but it is no longer. It’s not just that French women don’t want to have a lot of children anymore. Though that is part of it.  Quebecers also want expressions of religion, particularly by government officials, to be kept private.  They want a secular state. I agree with that to some extent.

The state should not impose any religion. No religions should be official. In fact, if you like religion, you should ensure the state stays out of it. The United States is one of the most religious countries in the world, and I think that is partly because it has insisted right in the Constitutionon that no religion could be “established” there. It is called the non-establishment clause. Many people think that because no religion was allowed to be established by the state each religion had to compete for adherence. Hence those religons have remained vibrant.  In states where there is an official religion, often it does not have to compete and hence the approved religion quickly loses its luster. Freedom of religion leads to robust religions. Established religions lead to stuffy religions. Freedom of religion includes freedom from religion and that is for the best, even for religions! Freedom from religion is important for others besides atheists.

In Quebec they try had—some would say too hard—to maintain a secular state. Just like France, eventually people rebelled against the dominance of the Catholic church and this spelled the doom of the church.

In Quebec I often get the feeling that art has replaced religion.  They are religious about art. They take art very seriously. Religion not so much.  Artists are everywhere and usually well respected. Priests and nuns are a dying breed mainly of old people who are literally dying out.

Yet Quebec also have magnificent churches. I took many photographs of them on our trip across Canada, and I usually tried to write down the name of the church. This time I failed to do that.

Notre-Dame-des-Neiges

One church I did take down the name was the church called Catholic Church Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in the city of Trois-Pistoles, Quebec on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.  It was built from 1882-1887 and the architect was David Ouellet. The town is said to have been named for a silver goblet worth three pistoles, an old French coin, that was lost in the river in the 17th century. The coin is long gone. The church remains.