The urbanization of the French Canadian parish, which took root in rural Quebec, can best be understood by realizing what the parish was like at the time when it became the social unit of French Canada and then tracing it through the various phases which it has taken in response to its environment There are many different types of parishes—ranging from the inclusive primary group in remote rural surroundings to the highly urbanized parish in a city like Montreal. What was the nature of the early social life in French Canada, where the dominant form of social grouping was to be the parish? Much has been written of the early French seigneurs-- the noblemen who came to the wilderness that was Canada, and who established their large estates, or seigneuries. But it is significant that this so-called superior class contributed little to the actual colonization of Canada, and left no lasting institution.[...]

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This work focuses on the efforts of Montreal's Irish Catholics to maintain a cohesive ethnic community throughout the nineteenth century, and on the vital role that the national parish played in this process. The early community directed its attention towards institution building centred around Saint Patrick's church, which had been built for the use of Irish Catholics in the 1840s. Following the dismemberment of the extensive parish of Notre-Dame and the erection of smaller Irish national parishes in the early 1870s, greater emphasis was placed on the creation of a wide variety of parish societies. By discouraging participation in Irish national societies that refused to submit to clerical authority, and by effectively fusing religious and national identification, the clergy ensured the success of parish-based organisation. Broader associations embracing the various Irish-Catholic parish societies were established, and participation in the Saint Patrick's day procession inscribed these affiliations in space. It will be demonstrated that the territorial and social evolution of parishes were intimately connected.

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