Location: Métro Champ-de-Mars - 400 rue Saint-Paul E., its back wall (left) facing the Old Port

First established in 1657 by Marguerite Bourgeoys, the current building dates from 1771; its façade dates from 1890. In 1998, restoration work revealed several beautiful murals that had been hidden for a century or more. The decor is simple but elegant, with a nautical flair deriving from the chapel's longtime vocation as the Sailors' Church. The hanging lamps in the form of sailing ships are especially pretty.

There is a museum and gift shop, and visitors can climb the tower for a good view of the Vieux-Port. Opening hours vary around the calendar; the phone number is 514-282-8670.

First Stone Church
Located in the heart of Old Montreal, the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours Chapel is an integral part of Montreal's religious patrimony and cultural heritage. Founded in the mid-seventeenth century at the urging of Marguerite Bourgeois, work on the chapel was begun in 1655 and finally completed in 1675 as the first stone church in all of Montreal. Named Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours by a certain Father Pijart, Marguerite Bourgeois established the church to honour the Virgin Mary and had it consecrated in her name. Constructed with the aid of some of the first French settlers in Montreal, the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours Chapel remains an Old Montreal landmark to the present day.

Features
Having been destroyed by fire in 1754, the chapel was rebuilt in 1771 and continued to undergo several developments over the years. During the nineteenth century, the chapel became known as the Sailors' Church because of its proximity to the Port of Montreal, as many parishioners offered prayers for the safe harbour of the community's sailors. In recognition of this, many sailors presented the church with model ships fashioned out of wood that can still be seen hanging from the church ceiling to this day. The church also houses the Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum with displays of recently discovered archaeological finds from the area, as well as a beautifully painted ceiling done by Francois-Edouard Meloche during the late nineteenth century with illustrations from the life of the Virgin Mary. Open for masses and visitations most days of the week, the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours Chapel is also a 350-person capacity concert hall that presents various classical, baroque and renaissance musical events throughout the year.

Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel has been a place of pilgrimage for almost three-and-a-half centuries. In 1655, Marguerite Bourgeoys involved the first Montrealers in the construction of a chapel of pilgrimage dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. After a number of difficulties and delays, Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, the first stone church in Montreal, was erected in 1675.

The Chapel gave birth to Montreal’s first faubourg (suburb) and the walls of the apse became an integral part of the 1709 fortifications . With the passing years, the neighbourhood grew up around the Chapel thanks to the craftsmen who first settled there and to Montrealers who established their businesses or homes in the district. Among the more noteworthy families were the Brazeau (master wheelwrights), the Testard (military men), the Viger (shoemakers and carpenters) and, of course, Charles Le Moyne, created baron de Longueuil by Louis XIV in 1700 and Pierre du Calvet.

The Chapel was destroyed by fire in 1754 but open rivalry with England and the British colonies delayed any plan to re-build it. In 1766, the new British authorities made a request to buy the chapel lands to build more spacious barracks for the garrison. The Sulpicians and the fabrique of Notre-Dame intervened to save the site and announced their intention of building a new chapel over the original foundations. The chapel built in 1771 is the one that exists today.

Around the chapel, the neighbourhood continued to develop. Among others, Jacques Viger, first mayor of Montreal, Louis-Joseph Papineau, leader of the "Patriotes" in the 1837 Rebellion, and John Molson, businessman and entrepreneur, were closely connected to the area.

In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the city began the change that would take it from a post for the fur trade to the great port it would become in the nineteenth century. The Manuel du Pèlerin, published in 1848, furnishes this information about Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours: "On the side of this building that faces the river, one can still see a recess made in one of the piers where devotion to the Blessed Virgin had caused to be placed a picture that the ravages of time have destroyed. This image invited the many sailors … to invoke with confidence … Her whom the Church calls … the Star of the Sea."

With the harbour development of the nineteenth century, the Chapel became known as the Sailors’ Church. In the last part of the century, following the example of the Papal Zouaves, many of the sailors who visited the chapel offered gifts of miniature wooden boats as votive offerings.

Faced at various times in its history with demolition in favour of urban development, once in 1863, when a recommendation was made to demolish it to extend rue Saint-Denis to the port and again in 1882, when only the combined efforts of the Catholic and Protestant communities of Montreal prevented its expropriation to make way for a train station, the little chapel survived and today continues to welcome pilgrims and visitors to Old Montreal from all parts of the world.