Philippa Murray Philippa Murray

The Story Behind
How God’s Hand Saved Ste Agathe
Joseph Graham - Main Street, joseph@ballyhoo.ca
Back in 1907, gasoline was a pretty cheap fuel and
was often used for domestic heating. One spring
afternoon, Joseph Saint-Louis found out just how
dangerous it was.
The month of June had started out with a few promising days, a trace of rain on
the first followed by three consecutive days of sunshine. It then became overcast
and a light, cold rain began to fall. The night of the 11th had been cold, and
the 12th was one of those chilly, gusty days that make you want to find a cozy
place to hole up. Saint-Louis decided to keep the gasoline heater going in his
barbershop on Rue Principale in Sainte Agathe. The warmth might draw people
in for a haircut.
There is no record of how many people were in
the shop or whether the heater got knocked over
or just exploded at around 2:00 PM. The wind
had become violent and it may have simply blown
the fire back down the chimney. Within minutes,
the whole building was engulfed in flames, fed by
gasoline that exploded from the stove. It licked its
way out of the building and the wind carried it
south along the street, away from the lake. By the
time the volunteer firemen arrived on the scene, it
was working its way along both sides of the street.
Four buildings had been lost as the fire raged in
view of the new stone church that had not yet
been sanctified.
Around four o’clock, Archbishop Duhamel arrived
with the parish priest from a pastoral visit to Saint
Donat. Seeing the state of affairs, they joined the
women and children in the old wooden church to
lead them in prayer, asking God to intervene. Mayor Bélisle was more practical
and used the telegraph to send an emergency message to Saint Jérôme.
Commandeering the railway, the Saint Jérôme fire brigade set a new record,
making the trip in only 53 minutes, ready to fight the huge blaze. But according
to the record, the priests, women and children praying in the old wooden church
had the problem in hand. The winds stopped the advance of the fire, turning it
around and driving it north towards the lake. Their prayers had been answered.
God had intervened. By the time the Saint Jérôme brigade arrived, all they had
left to do was help finish putting out the fire, which had consumed twenty
houses on its way to the lake. Dr. Edmond Grignon, who recorded the incidents
surrounding this devastating fire, makes no mention of casualties, although there
must have been at least some injuries. The story he recorded is in the Album
Historique de la Paroisse de Sainte Agathe des Monts, the commemorative book
published in 1912 for the parish’s 50th anniversary celebrations. I have found
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30 July 2013
no other record. His is the official
account. Organized by year rather
than by conventional chapters, his
entry for 1907 allots four pages
to the sanctification of the new
church and one page to the fire,
half of which describes the heroic
role of the archbishop, women and
children. God played a big role in those times and the good doctor could write
of His intervention with complete conviction, never asking why God knocked
over the gasoline heater in the first place. There is a picture of the altar under
the dome of the new church, a building modelled on Notre Dame Cathedral. It
cost the faithful $75,000, an enormous sum of money for the small parish. Sainte
Agathe had been experiencing an economic boom and had this sum been put into
a public hospital it would have provided a state-of-the-art institution that could
have been involved in professional training and stabilized the economy for the
foreseeable future. But who would second-guess such a wise decision? After all,
hadn’t the prayers of the faithful turned the wind
around?
Main Street Money
Ladies’ Investment and Financial Education
Developed by Christopher Collyer, BA, Certified Financial Planner, Investment Advisor, Manulife Securities Inc.
when your spouse is named as beneficiary.
U.S. Citizens with a TFSA: U.S. citizens, even those living in Canada, or other
U.S. persons (e.g. green card holders) are required to report their worldwide
income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) each year, including any income
earned in their TFSA as there is no treaty relief for TFSAs. Whether U.S. taxes
will ultimately have to be paid will depend on the particular facts and whether
sufficient foreign tax credits are available. If you are in this situation, speak to a
cross-border tax specialist before investing in a TFSA.
Increase in 2013 TFSA contribution limit: Since TFSAs were made available
in 2009, you have been able to make contributions of up to $5,000 per year.
Beginning in 2013, you will be able to contribute an additional $500 to your
TFSA, raising the annual contribution limit to $5,500. This means you will have
had the opportunity to contribute a total of $25,500.00 including this year.
Speak to your advisor: TFSAs are a powerful savings vehicle whose significance
will only grow over time. To fully maximize the benefits, and avoid the pitfalls,
contact your advisor to understand how they work.
If you would like to discuss this with me, I can be reached at 514-788-4883 or my
cell at 514-949-9058. Have a warm, happy July.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect
those of Manulife Securities Incorporated.
Carrefour Argenteuil
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Studying history, one is often tempted to imagine
being there. Sometimes, when looking for details
on an aspect of a story, I find the characters have
become so real that I look longingly at the phone,
thinking maybe I should call to double-check my
facts. Of course the characters who could so simply
answer my questions, long dead, may never have
seen a phone or even conceived of one. The world
changes enormously through time and the reference
points we take for granted become irrelevant. Had
I been there then, I would likely have accepted that
God’s intervention was very real. Standing there
after the 1907 fire, I would have believed that the
archbishop’s prayers had induced God to redirect
the wind.
This kind of fire was not a unique incident and
most of us have heard of the most famous ones,
such as the Great Chicago Fire, the Fire of London and the San Francisco
Earthquake Fire, but even Sainte Agathe experienced more than one, and the 1907
fire was not even the worst. On May 25, 1923, fire again struck Rue Principale.
Times and reference points had changed over the fifteen years that separated the
two fires. The War to End All Wars had come and gone and Sainte Agathe was
much less insulated from the world. No trains raced to the rescue from Saint
Jérôme and, if the church was full of petitioners, it was not documented. This
time the fire did much more damage, leaving 80 families homeless and destroying
150 buildings. It could have been much worse. It could have destroyed the whole
town, but no one claimed to have invoked God or prayers to contain it, nor
even to explain it. Had Sainte Agathe come of age during and after the war? Had
people lost faith? Could their prayers have made a difference, or did Dr. Grignon
colour the 1907 story? Even if I could make that call, I would be thought a heretic
for doubting.
References available upon request.
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