Holy Guardian Angels'

Sources of incalculable information which was used in the production of this web-page were Miss Sally Anne Mombourquette of L'Ardoise, and a letter written by one Alice [Landry] Burke, who by the way, was 95 years young at the time of her death in 1985. As well, special thanks for the researching of the original family names contained on this site must be given to Mrs. Maureen McNeil of Glace Bay, Cape Breton.

Hamlets and villages on Cape Breton Island in the early 1800s tended to be made up of peoples belonging to the same faith or denomination. L'Ardoise was a prime example of this type of culture. It was a predominately French speaking Village with the majority of its inhabitants being of the Roman Catholic faith. At this time in history life in the Village revolved around two things - family and church -. The Village of L'Ardoise was no different. A copy of an 1886 Ambrose F. Church map obtained through the provincial government offices of Nova Scotia indicates that the Village of L'Ardoise contained only one church building and tells us this structure was the property of the Holy Roman Sea.

A Mission Chapel, a Mission of Arichat had been constructed in L'Ardoise around the year of 1736 to serve the spiritual needs of the area's inhabitants. In 1823 this Mission was raised to the status of a Parish and the new Parish was named "Holy Guardian Angels'"; as per The Reporter, Tuesday, January 6, 1998, "following a request by Fr. Gaulin, resident pastor of Arichat. In writing to Bishop Plesis of Quebec. Fr. Gaulin in his letter to the Bishop stated that the people of St. Peter's Bay, L'Ardoise, River Bourgeois, D'Escousse and Grand Dique requested a resident priest. It was agreed that L'Ardoise would be the residence of the new priest. The following year 1822 a young Irish priest Fr. Henry McKeagney was sent to Arichat and traveled on to L'Ardoise early in 1823. The first entry Fr McKeagney inscribed in the new parish records was on January 8, 1823 while recording the baptism of Cyrille Martell son of Fran�ois Martell and Susanne Poirier." Holy Guardian Angels' is still an active parish today. Fr. Douglas MacKinnon a missionary priest while serving at Holy Guardian Angels' in January of 1994 assisted with this information. Originally from Glace Bay, Cape Breton, Fr. Douglas today is working with the Scarboro Mission's Society in the Amazon jungle, of Brazil.

1825 Holy Guardian Angels' Paroisse
Anthanase Birete [Pere] Anthanase Birete [Fil] Pierre Birrett Jean Boucher Alexis Grassie Lazare Grassie Pierre Laurent Bellony Mailett Jean Martell Celestin Mombourquet Justinien Mombourquet Honore Mombourquet	Urbain Mombourquet Francois Pate Olivier Pate Charles Saijssore Jean Samson Joseph Samson Justinieu Samson Sylvanlvis Samson Martin Samson Mathias Samson Joseph Tailor

Note: The spelling used is that of the person or persons who in
1825 entered the above family names into the parish ledgers.

Alice Landry married Henry Burke of the River Bourgeois Burke family. She and Henry lived out their entire married lives in L'Ardoise, Richmond County, Cape Breton. In an area history letter, a copy of which was supplied to us by Sally Anne Mombourquette, Alice tells us:

the first priests at Holy Guardian Angels' were missionary priests; two of whom were known to her. One was a Fr. Hudson and the other was a Fr. Vincent Merle. The first official resident priest was a Fr. H. P. MacKeagney around the year 1825. Alice also writes that the first Holy Guardian Angels' church building was destroyed by fire around the year 1870. This church building was replaced by the structure pictured above and below. This church building was consecrated by the Bishop of that time a Rev. John Cameron.

The year was 1888. Alice recounts that in those early days Sunday was a very special day. Early morning would see the area men, women and children make their way in groups to Sunday Mass. Everyone who could attend mass was expected to do so and upon reflection appeared to enjoy doing so. The Latin Mass and Georgian Chants compliments of a large men's choir of that time was something to behold, according to Alice. In the afternoon at 3:00pm there would be benediction and on special days Les Grande Vespers which were most beautiful. Many of today's children have never heard nor will they ever hear the likes of such. Unfortunately!!

On April 20th, 1972 tragedy again struck the parish. Holy Guardian Angels' Church was once more totally and utterly destroyed by fire. All one has to do, to realize the devastating loss to her parishioners is to view the photo of this magnificent structure as pictured above. To lose such an architectural wonder would indeed be considered a major catastrophe to the community. But in this instance, as has proven to be the case quite often, this tragedy made the community stronger, as a people. It brought out into the open the goodness of the people; for you see four short years later on December 5, 1976 the present day church, which is pictured below, was built and consecrated with Fr. Clarence MacDonald being the parish priest.

This magnificent new building was built entirely by parish carpenters and others who donated their time, labour and love for the good of all in the parish.

Visitors to L'Ardoise may attend Church Services on Saturday evenings at 7:00pm or Sunday mornings at 10:30am. You may contact the Parish Priest, as per below:

Holy Guardian Angels
P.O. Box 145
L'Ardoise, N.S. B0E 1S0
http://www.eastrichmondcatholic.com/hga.html