The Parish of Saint Michel de La Durantaye of Bellechasse

The mission of St. Michel-de-La-Durantaye was established in 1693. 

I am still trying to find more historical information on this location other than information on the church.

Until 1842, the parish was known as St. Michel-de-La-Durantaye in memory of the first seigneur, Olivier Morel de La Durantaye (1640-1716) who received the territory on October 29, 1672.

The religious history of de La Durantaye seigneury falls into three periods: from 1672 to 1678 it was a mission without delimited territory; on October 30, 1678, the seigneury, along with others, was canonically established as a parish by Bishop François Montmorendy de Laval, of Québec, without appointed parish priest; in 1693, the parish is established as St. Laurent de La Durantaye. Finally, on February 27, 1698, Bishop Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Vallier, of Québec, modifies the name of St. Laurent to St. Michel.

The first permanent parish priest, Rev. Joseph-Martin Turpin, arrives in November 1700. Finding no religious building, he was granted, by one of his parishioner, Jacques Corriver, the use of a building that was designed to become a dairy and transformed it into a chapel and rectory. Soon, this temporary chapel, too small for the congregation, did not fit the needs of the mission. A new chapel was built and was opened for worship on April 1st, 1702.

On August 23, 1712, Rev. Philippe Boucher, interim parish priest, received from Louis Lacoix, in the name of the congregation, a piece of land for the construction of a church and a rectory. One month after this grant, construction of a new church began. This stone church was completed in the fall of 1713.

On October 29, 1714, Bishop Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Vallier separates the seigneury into two parishes: one dedicated to St. Philip and St. James that would later become St. Vallier, and the other, St. Michel.

As the existing church was the size of a chapel and unable to accommodate the whole congregation, a resolution is adopted, in the spring of 1730, concerning the construction of new church. The cornerstone was laid in June 1730 and the church was completed in 1736.

In 1759, during the siege of Quebec, the English destroyed the village, partially burning the church riddling it with bullet holes, burning down people's houses. When the population got back, everything had been destroyed. By the most incredible chance, both the church and the rectory, while badly damaged, had been burnt down. Within a few years, all traces had been erased and the village came alive again.

On June 13, 1806, the church was destroyed by fire, only the stone walls were left standing. In the following days, a request was sent to Bishop Joseph-Octave Plessis, of Québec, to obtain authorization to rebuild the church. The permission was granted in a letter dated June 25. Construction began soon after and, on August 17, 1807, the parish priest, Rev. Thomas Maguire, celebrated mass in the new church. The building was completed in 1808. In 1817, the parish priest bought, from Philippe Desjardins, twelve valuable paintings coming from churches in France. Unfortunately, all these paintings will be destroyed in the 1872 fire.

In 1850, the church building showed signs of subsidence and was considered dangerous. In 1851, Bishop Pierre-Flavier Turgeon, of Québec, dismantled a portion of the parish to establish the new St. Raphaël parish.

On October 21, 1852, parishioners presented a request to the bishop asking for the authorization to build a new church. It was approved in a letter dated January 31, 1853. While the location of the new building had been chosen by the Diocesan Vicar, Mgr. Charles-Félix Cazeau, on November 11, 1852, parishioners objected his decision that was voices in a request that was sent to the bishop on September 18, 1853 but it was disregarded. The cornerstone of the new church was blessed on September 25, 1857 by Bishop Charles-François Baillargeon, administrator of the diocese of Québec. This new church was completed in 1862 and was destroyed by fire in 1872.

Architect Joseph-Ferdinand Peachy was commissioned to prepare the plans for the new church, built in 1872-73, measuring 136 feet (41.5 m) by 60 feet (18.3 m). The building is rectangular with a protruding chancel and a semi-circular apse. Exterior walls are made of stone while the interior walls are covered with plaster. The nave vault is semi-circular. New set of bells were installed on August 22, 1886.