One of the oldest bells in North America could well leave Quebec. It dates from 1732. Disappeared thirty years ago, it was found almost “miraculously” in the yard of a metal recycler in Rivière-du-Loup.
The heritage object is the star piece in a collection of hundreds of church, ship and train bells amassed over the years by a late campanarian art lover. The family estate is looking to sell the entire lot en bloc.
The factory of the Church of the Visitation of Sault-au-Récollet is therefore unable to buy its bell separately and repatriate it home. This is why she filed an urgent request for classification with the previous Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, but which remained unanswered.
The appointment of Mathieu Lacombe as the new Minister of Culture raises hopes of quickly obtaining a classification notice that would protect this priceless heritage asset. This procedure would require the current owner, Les carillons touristique de Rivière-du-Loup, to take adequate protective measures and prevent its sale to a buyer outside Quebec.
This bell has a story rich in twists and turns. Already in the XIXe century, the priest Charles-Philippe Beaubien had saved it in extremis from the scraps. Her predecessor had shelved her because she sounded too old for her taste. The “two hundred pound” bell is said to have rung in the chapel of Fort Lorette, the Aboriginal evangelistic mission once located on the nearby site of the church. Bells dating from the French Regime are extremely rare, even in France where a good number of them were melted down to make munitions during the war.
Moreover, the founder Pierre Paccard visited the tourist carillons of Rivière-du-Loup, a few years ago. The man wanted to enrich his collection of old French bells for the Annecy museum. Nothing very reassuring. Also, when the ownership of the bells of the Saint-Philippe de Trois-Rivières church was the subject of a dispute, the representative of the Tourist Carillons declared that the Trois-Rivières bells could take over the direction of France.
Classification by Minister Mathieu Lacombe would be a strong gesture. First, it would show that significant heritage objects for a community are part of its heritage and that it can be transmitted to future generations. Its place is certainly not in a private courtyard exposed to the weather.
Second, the filing would officially restore its lost identity, making it harder for the current holder to dispute its origin. The limitation period provided for in the Civil Code for declaring a lost or stolen object is three years. After this delay, the owner of the property finds himself doubly injured, because he must carry out his own searches without the help of the police.
A heritage object of national significance should not be placed before the law on an equal footing with a bicycle. We hope that Minister Mathieu Lacombe will soon be able to issue a favorable classification notice to protect this treasure of New France.