The Quebec state grants protection to one of the oldest bells in North America. Long preserved in Montreal as a rare artifact of New France, the bell of Fort Lorette had disappeared from Montreal at the end of the 20th century.e century in nebulous circumstances. The object was finally found in 2021 in a private collection of bells from Rivière-du-Loup belonging to the company JM Bastille Acier.
Very few bells from the New France period remain today.
Nearly a year after issuing a notice of intention to classify this bell dated 1732, Minister Mathieu Lacombe finally protected the precious vestige of the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette chapel. The bell is now on the Quebec cultural heritage register.
According to the official classification notice adopted by Quebec, this bell made of a copper alloy includes a series of bas-relief cords impregnated in its material. “In the center, slightly projecting from the dress of the instrument, is a representation of Calvary composed of a Latin cross and a three-tiered base.” There is also an inscription: “ML Moyne made me in the year 1732”. The bell is said to have been made by Michel Lemoyne, a founder based in Saumure, France.
The bell mysteriously disappeared several decades ago. It is once again considered as an asset of collective value. Known as the Visitation bell, it was first installed in an indigenous evangelization mission, then at the bell tower of the Church of the Visitation du Sault au Récollet in 1751. In Old French, the word “sault » is a synonym for fall. This bell has been discussed several times in the pages of the Duty.
According to the Ministry of Culture and Communications, the bell of the Notre-Dame-De-Lorette chapel constitutes “an important material witness to the genesis of one of the oldest sectors of the island of Montreal”.
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