The Diocesan Archives service of the Chancery preserves the heritage documents that bear witness to the life of the Catholic Church in Montreal. Its mandate is to acquire, process and showcase the heritage records of the Diocese of Montreal in order to make them available for consultation by the faithful and by researchers, from the origins to 1945.
In these pages, we offer an overview of our collections, a summary of our services and several resources that may help with your research or, more simply, answer your questions.
You can also make a donation by clicking the button below
Charitable registration number: 118876390 RR 0001
Thank you for your generosity to our Church!
Archives and mission
The Diocesan Archives service of the Chancery preserves the heritage documents that bear witness to the life of the Catholic Church in Montreal, and also to Quebec society as a whole.
Exceptionally rich both in their age (1648) and in their diversity (records of offices and services, parishes, bishops and priests, religious communities and numerous diocesan corporations), the diocesan archives form one of the richest bodies of private archival fonds in Quebec.
Essential for understanding religious, cultural, political and social history, the diocesan archives document most of the events that marked the development of Quebec, from the Conquest to the Patriotes Rebellion and the Louis Riel affair.
Even more, the diocesan archives illustrate the pastoral mission of the Church, a living and dynamic mission expressed in the parishes of the archdiocese and, more broadly, in the assembly of the faithful. As Pope Paul VI wrote in his address on ecclesiastical archives of September 26, 1963: “It is Christ who acts in time and who Himself writes His own history, so that our scraps of paper are the echoes and traces of this passage of the Church, or better, of the Transitus Domini, the passage of the Lord Jesus through the world.”
Fonds and collections
The fonds and collections held at the Diocesan Archives bear witness to the activities of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal (Archevêché catholique romain de Montréal), a non-profit organization that is the largest religious organization in Quebec, all faiths combined. Established as a diocese in 1836 and as an archdiocese in 1886, its mission is the pastoral and temporal administration of the Catholic parishes of the greater Montreal area.
The Diocesan Archives hold records spanning more than four centuries of history, from 1660 to the present. They include the writings of Montreal’s bishops and priests relating to the diocesan curia, correspondence with the Holy See and with dioceses on five continents, and sustained exchanges with institutes of consecrated life and associations of the faithful, as well as with educational, health and social service institutions – all testimony to the involvement of the Catholic Church of Montreal in religious life and in civil society.
The fonds and collections of the Catholic Church in Montreal are organized as follows:
- Fonds A: Diocesan administration
- Fonds B: Parishes and missions
- Fonds C: Clergy
- Fonds D: Diocesan institutions and corporations
- Fonds E: Fonds of the Bishops of Montreal
- Fonds P: Individuals and communities
The collections include thematic files (albums), printed materials and rare books, registers, maps and plans, still and moving images, and objects.
In September 2019, the Diocesan Archives launched their online catalogue, which can be consulted at: https://archivesdiocesemontreal.accesstomemory.org/
This catalogue, which is still being developed, lists the archival fonds and collections held by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal.
Consulting the archives
The archives of the Catholic Church of Montreal are open to the public and to researchers under certain conditions. Our offices are located at:
2000 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec H3H 1G4
Guy-Concordia metro
First of all, please consult our online catalogue:
https://archivesdiocesemontreal.accesstomemory.org/
IN PERSON
The reading room is open by appointment only. To consult documents, please send your request in writing to the Diocesan Archives:
By email: archives@diocesemontreal.org
REMOTELY
Requests for information and consultation are handled preferably by email. We process them in the order received.
SERVICES AND FEES
We offer research and document reproduction services. Our fees are reasonable, and we count on the support of the faithful and of researchers to sustain our activities.