Three churches on our Montreal route tell three chapters of the city's Catholic history: Notre-Dame Basilica on Place d'Armes, the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel by the old harbour and Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral downtown. One stands on a site linked to the first years of the colony, one shows the confidence of 19th-century Montreal, and one is a bishop's bold idea of bringing a smaller copy of St. Peter's in Rome to the city.
Notre-Dame Basilica
Notre-Dame Basilica faces Place d'Armes in Old Montreal. The cornerstone of the present church was laid in 1824, to a Gothic Revival design by James O'Donnell, an Anglican architect from New York. O'Donnell converted to Catholicism on his deathbed and is the only person buried in the crypt. Pope John Paul II made the church a minor basilica in 1982, and it has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1989.
The interior most visitors come to see is later work: Victor Bourgeau decorated it between 1872 and 1879. The vaults are painted deep blue with golden stars, and the stained-glass windows show scenes from Montreal's religious history rather than the usual Bible stories. The Casavant Frères organ, completed in 1891, has four keyboards, 99 stops and about 7,000 pipes. The basilica has hosted many big occasions, from the wedding of Céline Dion and René Angélil in 1994 to the state funerals of the hockey player Maurice Richard and of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 2000, and of Brian Mulroney in 2024.
- The deep blue vault with golden stars above the nave.
- The stained-glass windows with scenes from the history of Montreal.
- The Sacré-Cœur Chapel, destroyed by arson in 1978 and rebuilt with a large bronze altarpiece by Charles Daudelin.
- The two towers on Place d'Armes: the west tower holds the great bell Jean-Baptiste, cast in 1848 and weighing almost 11 tonnes, and the east tower a carillon of ten bells.
Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
The Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel on Saint-Paul Street East stands on one of the oldest church sites in Montreal. In 1655 Marguerite Bourgeoys, founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame, rallied the colonists to build a chapel here, and a stone church was completed in 1678. It burned in 1754, and the present church was built in 1771 over the ruins of the earlier chapel.
Because it stood close to the harbour, sailors arriving in Montreal came here to make offerings to the Virgin for a safe voyage, and it became known as the Sailors' Church. In 1849 Bishop Ignace Bourget gave the chapel a statue of the Virgin as Star of the Sea, which was placed on top of the church, looking out over the harbour. The remains of Marguerite Bourgeoys were brought back to the chapel in 2005 and now rest in the sanctuary.
- The statue of the Virgin, Star of the Sea, high on the roof facing the river.
- The Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum, about her life and the early history of Montreal and of the site.
- The crypt, where archaeological digs can be seen, and the tower, which you can climb for views of the Old Port and the St. Lawrence River.
Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral
Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral stands on René-Lévesque Boulevard at the corner of Metcalfe Street, beside Place du Canada. It is Montreal's Catholic cathedral and a smaller-scale copy of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Bishop Ignace Bourget, the second bishop of Montreal, ordered it after the old Saint-Jacques Cathedral burned in 1852. Work began in 1875, and the church was consecrated in 1894 as Saint James Cathedral. It became a minor basilica in 1919, and in 1955 Pope Pius XII rededicated it to Mary, Queen of the World.
The choice of site and style was a statement. Bourget built in the largely English-speaking west of downtown, far from many French-Canadian parishioners, and chose the architecture of Rome rather than the Neo-Gothic favoured by the Sulpicians and the Anglicans. His first architect, Victor Bourgeau, turned the project down, saying St. Peter's could not be reproduced at a smaller scale, so a chaplain, Father Joseph Michaud, was sent to Rome to study the basilica and secretly make a scale model.
- The 13 statues along the roof line, patron saints of the Montreal parishes that gave money for the cathedral, carved by Olindo Gratton between 1892 and 1898, on the model of the apostles on St. Peter's.
- The baldachin over the altar, a copy of Bernini's canopy in St. Peter's, made in Rome in 1900 by Joseph-Arthur Vincent.
- The view of the facade and dome from Place du Canada, the square next to it.
Tips for visiting the three churches
- All three are working churches: dress respectfully, keep your voice down, and expect visits to pause during services, weddings and funerals.
- Notre-Dame Basilica draws large crowds; go early in the day for a calmer look at the interior.
- The Bon-Secours Chapel is at the eastern end of Saint-Paul Street, next to the Bonsecours Market, so it fits well with a walk along the Old Port.
- The cathedral is downtown, a few minutes from Bonaventure metro station and Central Station, which makes it an easy first stop.
How to see them in one walk
Start downtown at Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the first stop of our scavenger hunt, and look at the square beside it. Walk south through Victoria Square into Old Montreal and on to Place d'Armes for Notre-Dame Basilica. From there, follow Notre-Dame Street east past City Hall and go down to Saint-Paul Street for the Bon-Secours Chapel, near the Old Port, where you can end with a walk along the river.
See Montreal with World City Trail
Our Montreal scavenger hunt turns the city into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral to the Clock Tower, and all three churches in this guide are stops, along with Place du Canada, Victoria Square, the MEM, Pointe-à-Callière, City Hall, La Grande Roue and the Clock Tower. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Montreal, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Montreal scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Montreal →
Play the outdoor escape game in Montreal →
Facts checked in October 2026.