Museum Chapel

From sacred to secular
A chapel was first built on this site in 1750. After a fire destroyed it in 1888, it was rebuilt to plans drawn by Joseph-Ferdinand Peachy. The chapel was consecrated in 1900.

For a long time, this was the place of worship for priests, seminarians, teachers and students at the Petit Séminaire and Université Laval. Daily mass was celebrated here and vespers were sung on Sunday. Every day, the priests also said private masses, each in turn, in the 12 side chapels. The funerals of the seminary priests were also held in this house of God.

Every year, the chapel plays a role in the major events of the Old City, holding a mass of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the school year and the opening of court sessions, and a midnight mass for the local population. City policemen as well as visiting sailors also come to celebrate special occasions. A particularly illustrious visitor came to pray in the chapel in 1984: Pope Jean-Paul II.

Since 1989, the chapel has formed part of the Museum. It has been secularized and now serves as a concert hall, an auditorium and a conference room.

Relics of saints
Bones, ashes, locks of hair… relics call to mind saints long gone. The chapel houses the largest collection of relics in Canada. Some 600 relics were brought from Europe by Msgr. Joseph-Calixte Marquis (1821-1904), a former pupil of the Seminary and an avid collector. In the past, all the relics were exposed during the first days of November. Only a few are now on display.