St. Germain Cathedral is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

located in

Rimouski Rimouski ( ; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski, whose motto is ''Legi patrum fidelis'' (Faithful to ...

(

Québec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

). It is the mother church for the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rimouski The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rimouski () is a Roman Catholic archdiocese that includes part of the Province of Quebec, Canada, and includes the suffragan dioceses of Baie-Comeau Baie-Comeau () is a city in the Côte-Nord region of the ...

History

The church was raised to the status of cathedral on 15 January 1867 by Jean Langevin, first

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of Rimouski, and was consecrated on 28 May 1853. The cathedral was spared from the ''nuit rouge'' ("Red Night") on 6 May 1950, when nearly half of the town was burnt down by a fire that started at the Price Brothers Company sawmill. Legend has it that a priest sprinkled holy water around the city's cathedral and that the fire would not cross the line.

Design

The exterior of the cathedral is of

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

influence with pointed arch windows decorated with

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

, buttress and pinnacles while the interior is influenced by the Gothic style with its ceiling that looks like a diagonal rib vault. Grey stones were used to build the outside. The main vault is 28 m (90 ft) high and the interior one is 18 m (60 ft) high. Three bells, weighing 1,641 kg in total were installed in 1891. The cathedral is famous for its

Casavant Frères Casavant Frères () is a Canadian organ building company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building pipe organs since 1879. As of 2014, the company has produced more than 3,900 organs. Company history Brothers Joseph-Claver (1855� ...

organ. Joseph J.B. Verret (architect) designed the Bishop's Palace (1901-01) for Monseigneur A.A. Blais, of St. Germain Roman Catholic Cathedral.

References

Bibliography: Musique et Musiciens
Retrieved 19 April 2008.

External links

*{{commonscatinline

Retrieved 19 April 2008. Buildings and structures in Rimouski 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Canada Basilica churches in Canada Roman Catholic cathedrals in Quebec Tourist attractions in Bas-Saint-Laurent