Ignace Bourget - Church Consolidation

Church Consolidation

By 1846 Bourget found that many of his plans for expansion and renovation of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada were being frustrated by Archbishop Joseph Signay, who disliked Bourget and was distrustful of Bourget's changes. On September 25, 1846, Bourget wrote to Signay and said, “For a long time I have been thinking that Your Grace should give up the administration of your archdiocese, contenting yourself with retaining the title of metropolitan. I shall use the occasion of my journey to Rome to put before the Holy See the reasons leading me to believe that it might be time for you to relieve yourself of this burden." With this in mind, Bourget travelled to Rome in late 1846 to petition the Pope for Signay's resignation. He was supported in this cause by Charles-Félix Cazeau, secretary to Archbishop Signay.

In Rome, Bourget found a Vatican newly rejuvenated, Pope Pius IX having recently succeeded the unpopular Pope Gregory XVI. Bourget was unsuccessful in securing Signay's discharge, but nevertheless enjoyed several other successes, including the establishment of the diocese of Bytown with Bourget's preferred candidate, Joseph-Bruno Guigues, made bishop. He also secured an additional 20 religious staff for Montreal, including representatives of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, the Clerics of Saint Viator, the Jesuits, and the Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In 1847 a typhus epidemic occurred in Montreal, and Bourget worked directly with its victims along with many of the staff of his diocese. Although nine priests and 13 religious sisters were killed by the disease while treating it, Bourget was unharmed. At around this time, Bourget was reported as taking no more than five hours' sleep a day, and produced a substantial body of written works including pastoral correspondence and manuscript works. He was also reported to be an enthusiastic conversationalist. His hair had prematurely whitened.

On April 5, 1848, the Institut Canadien de Montréal founded the Association des établissements canadiens des townships, and Bourget was made chair of the central committee. The vice-chair was Louis-Joseph Papineau, a noted anti-clericist whom Bourget had publicly condemned during the 1837 rebellions, and in September 1848 Bourget found himself unable to work productively with the committee and resigned.

Under Bourget, the Roman Catholic Church in Montreal began to place a greater importance on ceremony and ritual. Bourget favoured Roman-style ceremonies over the more sedate masses of the Sulpicians, brought back holy relics from Rome for veneration, and introduced emotional new devotions including the Seven Sorrows of Mary, the Sacred Heart, and, on February 21, 1857, the Forty Hours' Devotion.

On July 8, 1852 the Bishop's residence was destroyed in a spate of severe fires, causing Bourget to move his accommodations to the Hospice Saint-Joseph until August 31, 1855, and thereafter to an episcopal residence at Mont Saint-Joseph. The same fires also destroyed the Saint-Jacques Cathedral. Bourget planned to commission a scale reproduction of Rome's St Peter's Basilica to serve as a replacement, and engaged first Victor Bourgeau (who claimed such a scale reproduction could not be achieved) and then Joseph Michaud to design the new cathedral. However, work did not eventually commence until 1875. In 1894, subsequent to Bourget's death, the structure was completed and consecrated as St James Cathedral, and in 1955 was rededicated as Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral.