Our Story – Becoming the Musée

A Church Shutters

From its founding in 1847 to the autumn of 1977, the parish of Mont-Carmel served the people of the St. John Valley for over a hundred and thirty years. The parish and its former church, Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel, became a site that connected and stimulated a shared ethnic identity and heritage amongst the French Acadian families and communities sprawled throughout the Valley east of the Madawaska Settlement. It also became a hub for cross-cultural encounters, connecting individuals native to the Valley with those from places more afar–from municipalities along the St. Lawrence River such as Montréal and Québec City, to the Loire and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions of western and north-central France.

From enduring shifts in its geographic location and institutional composition to becoming entangled with major global events such as the Great Depression and two world wars, the history of Notre-Dame and her parish are surely emblematic of the long 20th century. The final quarter of the 20th century, however, was to mark their end as a wellspring for community development and purveyor of religious services for the residents and travelers of the Valley. Coupled with a decrease in priests available to serve the parishes of the Diocese of Portland was a major decline in the parish population of Mont-Carmel. A dwindling parish audience resulted in a lack of adequate finances to sustain the operations and maintenance of Notre-Dame. The effects felt from decreasing financial support were soon exacerbated by the U.S. energy crisis of the mid-to-late 1970s, when the substantial rise in costs for fuel supply needed for heat and electricity accentuated Notre-Dame’s lack of modern and cost-efficient accommodations–so much so that negative balances in the church’s finances soon began to accrue.

The population decline of the parish, therefore, directly contributed to the drop in attendance rates at Notre-Dame, and, hence, to the slow demise of the parish entirely.

This community dissolution is thought to have been prompted by the various changes to Church doctrine and practice proposed in the early 1960s at the Second Vatican Council. Particularly, during this ecumenical convening which sought to modernize the institution of Roman Catholicism in the rapidly-emerging secularized world of the late 20th century, an increased recognition in the autonomy of the family unit arose. The Church acknowledged that family planning decisions and preferences for family size must derive from individuals’ personal discernment of an array of factors (i.e., societal events, private lifestyles) rather than make these decisions solely aligned with, or derived only from, the interests of the Church.

Though continuing to encourage individuals to have an “openness to life” in making their family planning decisions, Vatican II nonetheless signaled a shift within the Church, as greater recognition was paid to the importance of both the individual self and wider societal circumstances. The impact of this is unmistakable in the case of Mont-Carmel; a community that was once blanketed with families whose average number of children ranged between 5 to 10 dwindled to a sparsely populated locality with the number of children per family ranging between 1 to 3.

Further compounding this decline in family sizes within the Mont-Carmel parish was an intimate interplay of broader societal trends, cultural shifts, and events. From the rise of feminism and evolving perspectives on gender dynamics to the advent of new employment and educational opportunities within emerging industries in more prosperous distant cities, the Mont-Carmel parish became overwhelmed by push and pull forces which prompted the departure of its residents.

These factors are considered pivotal contributors to the cessation of religious services and formal closure of Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel in September of 1977, and the subsequent consolidation of the Mont-Carmel parish with the parish of St. Gerard in Grand Isle–located a short distance upstream from Lille.

This decision derived from the Parish Council and was further bolstered by Bishop Edward O’Leary of Portland, citing its economic necessity despite its local and regional unpopularity.

Notre-Dame: Revisioned

For nearly a decade after its closure, Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel remained in the Diocese of Portland, yet sat empty and unheated, gradually incurring damages and deterioration during long winters and from the minor tremors of an occasional earthquake. Recognizing the historical significance, cultural importance, and architectural distinctiveness of the former church, Joseph Donald Cyr–a native of Edmundston, New Brunswick–began making efforts in the early years of its closure to formally acquire the site to ensure its preservation.

Cyr acknowledged the rarity and potency of Notre-Dame’s rich French Acadian heritage and asserted the need for it to be preserved. Cyr was also aware that the curricula of formal teaching institutions in both public and private spheres were often inattentive to, or reluctant to, educate audiences on French Acadian history and culture within the wider discourses of American history. This further strengthened his public appeal for Notre-Dame’s preservation, so much so Cyr became inclined to answer his own calls by aspiring to acquire the site from the Diocese of Portland and take on the ambitious endeavors needed for its safeguarding and advancement.

After successfully purchasing the church rectory from Bishop O’Leary in 1978, it seemed Cyr’s aims to acquire Notre-Dame were inevitable–until a lawsuit was filed against the Bishop of Portland by a collective of Lille residents in 1979. Coining themselves as “La Fabrique,” these residents challenged the dignity and authority of both the Parish Council and the Church in their decision to sell the rectory to Cyr, as well as the barn on the church property to another Valley native, Norman Daigle. “La Fabrique” sought to have Notre-Dame reopened, citing the indelible imprint the site left on the community and, hence, the impropriety that is implicit in the decision to sell fragments of a former collectivist institution to private individuals.

Though their intentions were commendable, the lawsuit was dismissed in 1983, with the court ruling the nature of the dispute as ecclesiastical more so than civil.

On May 8, 1983, the Association culturelle et historique du Mont-Carmel was incorporated, whose sole purpose centered on saving the structure of the former Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel. Bishop O’Leary offered to donate the church building and all of its contents to the association the following year.

The legal assistance and benevolent provision of professional services from Houlton-based attorney, Richard Rhoda, was instrumental in precipitating this outcome. Cyr and the association’s other twenty-two board members from across northern and central Aroostook, as well as northwestern New Brunswick, formally accepted the Bishop’s donation. The Musée culturel du Mont-Carmel was thereby established.

The formation of various committees subsequently followed, each concentrating their efforts on various key areas (i.e., condition assessment, place-based research, genealogical tracing). Establishing what overall direction(s) the preservation efforts would adopt resulted in a paradoxically concordant outcome, for a unanimous consensus was swiftly reached amongst all committee members following the site’s acquisition: to restore Notre-Dame to its original state when it was first constructed in 1908-1909. The onboarding of a heritage architect thereafter, who specialized in historic building conservation, proved instrumental in developing restoration plans and project prioritization.

Official phases of the restoration were soon finalized and implemented, which continue to be executed today. Since 1984, the former Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel has endured unfathomable transformation and, as a result, has kindled a renewed interest in the sociocultural and historical significance of the vale within which it resides–a feat Joseph Donald Cyr helped to initiate and spearhead. The Musée culturel du Mont-Carmel continues to welcome individuals from both the local region and the world over who find themselves in the special borderland that is the St. John Valley.