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News - claude_bourguignon - 05-03-2006
De Claude Bourguignon
Bonjour tous
Deux mauvaises nouvelles en peu de temps.
Il y a d'abord eu ? la fin du mois d'avril du vandalisme au cimeti?re de Saint-Canut qui contient des s?pultures de familles irlandaises ayant des liens directs avec celles de Saint-Colomban et la semaine derni?re la chapelle Bonniebrook de Saint-Colomban a ?t? saccag?.
Voici le texte paru dans le journal L'?cho du Nord du 3 mai: (Louis-Xavier Michaud)
?? peine deux semaines apr?s le cimeti?re de Saint-Canut, c'est la petite chapelle en bois rond du club de golf Bonniebrook ? Saint-Colomban qui a ?t? la cible de vandales, dans la nuit de jeudi ? vendredi.
Deux des trois vitraux repr?sentant des images saintes qui tr?naient au-dessus de l'autel ont ?t? d?truits par les malfaiteurs. Ces vitraux peints ? la main ?taient de v?ritables oeuvres d'art, ayant ?t? import?s d'Italie il y a presque 80 ans.
Au moins une facette de chacun des 12 vitraux plus sobres qui entouraient l'?difice a aussi ?t? bris?e. Comme si le ou les vandales avaient d?lib?r?ment choisi de briser tout ce qui pouvait l'?tre.
L'int?rieur de la modeste chapelle, construite en 1936, n'a pas non plus ?t? ?pargn?. Le tabernacle a ?t? bris? et une image repr?sentant J?sus au pied de l'autel a ?t? d?croch?e. Deux des petits cadres en bois formant un chemin de croix auraient en outre servi ? allumer un feu dans le b?timent tout de bois construit.
?C'?tait la premi?re ann?e qu'on mettait un cadenas sur la porte? a indiqu? Gilles Gareau, le propri?taire du golf. ?On avaient vu des jeunes r?der cet hiver et on avait d?cid? de barrer la porte. Mais je ne pensais pas qu'on s'en prendrait ? la chapelle, c'?tait tellement pr?cieux.?
M. Gareau ?tait constern? quand il a vu l'ampleiur des d?g?ts. ? Un des vitraux avait d?j? ?t? bris? ? la mi-mars. C'est en entrant avec un sp?cialiste en restauration ce matin que j'ai vu que les vandales ?taient revenus.?
Quelquefois par ?t?, M. Gareau pr?tait sa chapelle aux nouveaux mari?s d?sireux de vivre une c?r?monie intime. Avec les d?g?ts, il ne pense pas r?p?ter l'exp?rience cette ann?e. ?Je ne suis pas assur? et ?a me co?terait au moins 20 000$ pour les r?parations. C'est triste, l'endroit ?tait vraiment unique.?
Re: News Quick English Translation - Fergus_Keyes - 05-03-2006
Just a very quick translation, for our American cousins. Claude is reporting that there was serious vandalsm at the end of April, at the Cemetery in St. Canut. This community, as most of you know is right near St. Columban and was the bruial place for a number of families directly related to the St. Columban Irish settlers.
Claude is also saying that there was another case of vandalism a few days later, ?at the little Catholic chapel, built in 1936, at the Bonnibrooke Golf Course. Again, as most of you know, this Golf Course is in St. Columban. This vandalism also included the breaking of a number of stained glass windows that had been imported from Italy more than 80 years ago. :'(
We will post a proper translation of the article that Claude mentions in the next day or two....There is also the following web site that shows the article that Claude mentions (in French) as well as a picture of the broken windows....
http://www.hebdosquebecor.com/edn/05032006/edn_05032006_A12.shtml
And these are my own comments -
This useless destruction is simply terrible and I can think of a few things I would like to do these vandals if I could get me hands on them !!!
Re: News - Joyce - 05-03-2006
And these are my comments:
I am outraged and saddened by this attack against the Irish history of this area. ?The fact that the first vandalism at the church took place in mid-March speaks for itself. ?How does this bode for our cemetery restoration project? ?There are some evil people out there. ?I hope they get caught before they cause more destruction. ?Thank you Claude for notifying us. ?
Joyce :'(
Re: News - One idea anyway ... - Fergus_Keyes - 05-03-2006
Here is copy of a note that I sent to Jeff that maybe people might want to comment about and/or offer other ideas or suggestions
I read somewhere that one of the best ways to protect a cemetery and keep it orderly, is to try to get the local school involved. What you try to do is visit the school and get every kid to adopt a stone or a row of stones. Then they are responsible for going there each fall, and spring and cleaning the area - sometimes the school even gives them a few extra marks etc. for their effort.
It is likely too late to do much now, but maybe I'll talk to Claude about the two of us visiting some local schools in September and see if we can convince the principals to consider this possibility...
Re: News - claude_bourguignon - 05-03-2006
It's very interesting idea, first for the implication of the young in a historical dimension of the life andfor the general sensitivation of the people to this aspect of our heritage. I'm interested to approach the school Les Hautbois just near the cemetary.
Re: News - marylund - 05-03-2006
This is very sad and unfortunately not an isolated case. Vandalism is another reason to work on a "virtual cemetery" - using digital photos and and other info avaliable to "reconstruct a picture" of a cemetery.
Kathy Lund
Re: News - Fergus_Keyes - 05-03-2006
Here is the full translation of Claude's comments and the article about the vandalism that he noted....(Thanks to Anne McLaughlin)
From Claude Bourguignon
- May 03, 2006
Hello everyone,
There have been two pieces of bad news in a short time.
First there was the vandalism of the St.Canut Cemetery that occurred at the end of April, 2006, where there are the remains of Irish families with direct links to those of St.Columban. Last week the Chapel at Bonniebrook, in St. Columban, was destroyed.
Here is a copy of the story that appeared in the May 3rd edition of the Echo du Nord newspaper (by Louis-Xavier Michaud).
?Barely two weeks after the St.Canut Cemetery, it is now the small log wood Chapel at the Bonniebrook Golf Club in St.Columban that has become the target of vandals during the night of Thursday to Friday.
Two of the three stained glass windows representing saints that rose above the altar were destroyed by the criminals. These windows were imported from Italy almost 80 years ago, and they were true pieces of art.
At least one side of each of 12 other and more sober stained glass windows that surrounded the building, were also broken. It is as though the vandals chose to deliberately break anything that could be ruined.
In addition, the inside of the simple chapel, built in 1936, was also not spared. The tabernacle was broken, and a picture showing Jesus at the foot of the altar was unhooked. Two small wooden frames depicting the Way of the Cross appear to have been used to start the fire in this entirely wooden structure.
?This was the first year that we placed a lock on the door? commented Gilles Gareau, the golf club owner. ?During the winter we had noticed some young people in the vicinity and we had decided to lock the doors. But I never thought that one would focus on the chapel, it was so valuable. ?
Mr. Gareau was overcome when he realized the breadth of the destruction. ? One of the stained glass windows was broken mid-March. It is only this morning when I went in with a Restoration specialist that I saw that the vandals had returned. ?
During the summer, Mr. Gareau would periodically lend his chapel to newly married couples who wanted their ceremony in an intimate spot. With these damages, he does not expect that this event can be repeated this year. ?I do not have any insurance and the repairs would cost me at least $20 000. It?s very sad; this was a very unique place. ?
/VandalismCBourguignon.Txt/
Re: News - kneil - 05-03-2006
I am saddened but not surprised by the vandalism described by Claude.This is something that has been happening for decades. Unfortunately, today it is much more violent and destructive. This probably can be explained by a youth that is more disenfranchised than ever before. I will leave the reasons to sociologists.
If I could get my hands on these kids, I know what I would like to do, but realisticaly I could do nothing. They know their rights under our law and we are helpless to do anything. This gives them a swagger and arrogance which simply adds to the problem, and makes us angrier for the wrong reasons.
Well enough of that.
Joyce, this actually bodes well for our cemetery project. What it does is that it makes us cognizant of the fact that whatever we do, it has to be strong, definitve and lasting. This will help us eliminate some of the well meaning but weaker alternatives.
And to Kathy, I agree that a virtual cemetery should be developed and displayed on our web site. At the same time I believe that we have to have a permanent, strong monument to our ancestors in the St. Columban Cemetery. Something that we can visit, we can see, we can touch. This would be the tribute to our ancestors that a virtual cemetery could never accomplish.
To Fergus and Claude, the idea of getting the local school children involved is absolutely the way to go. The kids today have no idea of their heritage.
Lets make them aware.
I'm not one for forum discussions, but I just had to make my feelings known after reading Claude's message. I encourage you all to respond.
Ken
Re: News - jeff.legault - 05-03-2006
I'm proud to be involved with a group so passionate about preserving our heritage and wanting to make a difference that hopefully our youth will some day appreciate. Maybe they will think twice about engaging in destructful acts if this sinks in. Well put everyone.
Our timing in coming together in this group effort for our project is not a moment too soon. It's important we continue to drive forward by leading our youth with positive examples and remind folks of how hard it was for our ancestors just to survive without any of the luxuries we enjoy today. They paved the way for us and deserve every ounce of respect we can muster and convey to others.
Our virtual cemetery (AKA Family Data Library) dream is nearing completion as promised and I hope to reveal the first phase of this to the group at the May 13th meeting. Lot's of work by everyone to date and still a lot more to complete before we have everything documented about St. Columban and it's rich history. ?So far we have about 450 individuals documented from 222 inscriptions (Kelley O'Rourke and Nathalie Morneau slaved over) just for the visable markers in the cemetery as well as over 260 photographs (thaks to Kelley again and Fergus) of the markers with more to be added. I think you will like what you see and find this to be a powerful tool to research and communicate information about our heritage.
Stay tuned for the big reveal!
On the educating youth idea I think we can come up with a special area on the web site to leverage the material we have with some well written copy and images. This is a very powerful medium. Something maybe for next school year in September.
By the way I work for this company in Ottawa below where we have in house expertise on developing projects for K-12 audience that I will see if I can tap into for creative ideas on how to develop such an area. My colleagues have been following our little web site closely and are rooting for it to succeed.
ePALS Classroom Exchange
http://www.epals.com
St. Canut Cemetery Report - Fergus_Keyes - 05-05-2006
I took the opportunity of a nice day in Montreal yesterday (Thursday, May 4 2006) to drive by the Cemetery in St. Canut. I am pleased to report that the vandalism to this particular cemetery was somewhat minor compared to other similiar events. I could only find one tombstone (belonging to the Shea family of St. Columban) that had been broken and on the ground behind the Church. A large cross was also knocked over but this seems to be more part of the Cemetery overall.
I also met with the caretaker of the St. Canut cemetery and congratulated him on how clean and well kept it was. He said he had to take care of it since at his age he might be joining the other residents very soon! At any rate, he said that if anything falls over, he tries to put it back up right away and as far as he knew there were no other broken tombstones elsewhere around the cemetery.
I also took photos and recorded the inscriptions of any families stones that might be related to St. Columban. In additon to the Sheas -there were a couple of O'Rouke's; one Skeeley note; A number of O'Connors; some Murphy's that I believe were related to St. Columban; and, a Hoey and Donovan that I think are also related.
I also saw a number of Scheffer tombstones. This is name that I have seen around the area especially in Ste. Scholastique but I am not sure if they lived in St. Columban at any time. Is anyone researching the Schaffer family or does anyone know if they were residents of St. Columban??
That's it for now ....