Église Saint-François-de-Sales

Neuville, Portneuf, Québec

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SACRED PLACES

The Soulière Line — Sylvestre & Lesage Families

Église Saint-François-de-Sales

The Breadbasket of New France

Neuville, Portneuf, Québec

First Chapel 1669 • First Stone Church 1696 • Current Structure 1761 • Parish Registers from 1667

On a January day in 1686, a young woman named Marie Barbe Sylvestre married a soldier called Jean Bernardin Lesage dit Lepiedmontois in this church on the Chemin du Roy. She was the daughter of Nicolas Sylvestre dit Champagne, who had come to Canada a soldier and taken land in the seigneury of Dombourg in 1667. The registers of Saint-François-de-Sales hold the baptisms, marriages and burials of the Sylvestre and Lesage families across three generations — the sacramental record that anchors the Soulière Line to the first years of New France.

The Sylvestre & Lesage Families at Neuville — Key Events

Marriage

8 January 1686

Marie Barbe Sylvestre & Jean Bernardin Lesage dit Lepiedmontois

Our direct ancestor. She was fourteen, the eldest daughter of Nicolas Sylvestre dit Champagne and Barbe Nepveu. His dit name means "the Piedmontese"; the marriage record notes the permission of Captain Demuy, which places him in service.

Marriage

23 November 1694

Nicolas Sylvestre the elder son & Jeanne Labadie

Eldest son of the family, married at Neuville four days after his marriage contract was drawn before the notary Guillaume Roger. He died five years later, on 26 April 1699, at the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec.

Baptisms

1690–1704

Children of Jean Bernardin & Marie Barbe

Six of the couple's children were baptised at Neuville: Marie Françoise (1690), Nicolas (1692), Marie Louise (1694), Marie Catherine (1696), Jean Baptiste (1698) and François de Sales (1704), named for the parish's patron saint.

Église Saint-François-de-Sales, Neuville, Quebec. The current facade dates from the 1854 nave construction and 1915 restoration, but the sanctuary behind it preserves the 1761 stone structure where three generations of Sylvestre and Lesage families received the sacraments.

The church of Saint-François-de-Sales stands at the heart of Neuville, on a rise above the St. Lawrence River along the Chemin du Roy — the first road connecting Québec City to Montréal. Its parish registers, opening in 1667, are among the oldest in the colony. Within those pages, written in the careful hand of missionary priests, lie the records of a soldier who took up land here, his daughter who married a Piedmontese, and the children who would carry both families westward into the Lanaudière region.

For the Soulière Line, Neuville is the origin point. It is the seigneury where Nicolas Sylvestre dit Champagne received his land grant from Jean Bourdon in March 1667. It is the parish where his children were baptised, where Marie Barbe Sylvestre married, and where she bore her first children. And it is the church where a child named François de Sales Lesage was baptised in 1704 — named for the parish's own patron saint — before dying in infancy fifteen months later.

The Oldest Religious Decor in North America

The church of Saint-François-de-Sales houses a carved and gilded Baroque canopy dating from 1695 — the oldest cohesive ensemble of religious architecture in North America. Acquired in 1717 from Bishop de Saint-Vallier in exchange for wheat to feed the starving population of Québec City, it survived only because it left the capital before the English bombardment destroyed the cathedral.

The Baldaquin of Neuville — 1695

The canopy, the choir, and the Napoléon Déry organ are all classified cultural assets of Québec. When Marie Barbe Sylvestre's children were baptized in this church, the baldaquin had not yet arrived — but the font where they received the sacrament stood beneath the same vaulted ceiling their descendants would know for centuries.

Neuville: The Breadbasket of New France

Neuville sits on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, roughly 30 kilometers west of Québec City. Known historically as the seigneury of Dombourg, it earned its permanent name from Nicolas Dupont de Neuville, a member of the Sovereign Council of New France, who gave his name to the settlement in the late seventeenth century.

The change of name can be watched happening in the records themselves. The baptism of Pierre Sylvestre in 1675 gives the family's residence as Dombourg. By November 1686, when Nicolas Sylvestre acknowledged a debt before a Québec notary, the act calls him habitant de Neuville.

The area was first settled in the 1660s, and by the time Nicolas Sylvestre took his concession there in 1667 it was emerging as one of the colony's most fertile agricultural districts. The phrase "breadbasket of New France" was literal — when famine struck Québec City in 1717, it was Neuville's wheat stores that saved the population, exchanged for the now-famous baldaquin.

The church of Neuville with the St. Lawrence River beyond. The village's position along the river and the Chemin du Roy made it a natural center for both agriculture and trade.

The concessions of the seigneury of Neuville. Nicolas Sylvestre dit Champagne held two arpents of frontage on the river here by forty in depth, and the Sylvestre family remained rooted in the parish for generations. Pont-Rouge, a separate parish from 1867, is visible to the north.

Historical Context

The Chemin du Roy

Neuville's church sits on what was once the Chemin du Roy — the King's Road — New France's first overland route, completed in 1737. Before the road, the St. Lawrence River was the sole highway. The church's unique angled apse was actually a consequence of the 1854 nave addition: the builder had to create an angle with the older sanctuary to prevent the nave from opening directly onto the Chemin du Roy (now Rue des Érables). This architectural quirk — shared only with the churches of Saint-Michel in Vaudreuil and La Purification in Repentigny — is a physical reminder of how road and church have always been intertwined in Neuville.

The Church Through the Centuries

The first Catholic chapel appeared in Neuville as early as 1669, located across the Chemin du Roy from the current sacristy. Missionaries served the entire territory from Neuville to Batiscan from this modest structure. In 1696, a stone church was erected on the present site — and it was in this building that Marie Barbe Sylvestre's later children were baptized and where the Lesage family received the sacraments.

That first stone church was demolished and rebuilt in 1761, on the same foundations, to accommodate a growing parish. The sacristy was added in 1783. Then, in 1854, the current nave was grafted onto the 1761 structure starting from the transept, and the facade was restored in 1915. The result is a church built in layers — each generation adding to what came before.

The interior of Saint-François-de-Sales, showing the magnificent 1695 baldaquin with its twisted Solomonic columns, the painted dome, the high altar by François Baillargé (1801), and paintings by Antoine Plamondon. The two statues flanking the baldaquin represent Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist.

The Baldaquin: From Bishop's Chapel to Neuville

The baldaquin — a monumental carved and gilded canopy — was created in 1695 for the episcopal chapel in Québec City, likely by sculptor Jacques Leblond De Latour, carved from ash-colored walnut. In 1717, Bishop de Saint-Vallier traded it to Neuville for a significant quantity of wheat to feed the starving population of the capital.

Had it remained in Québec City, it would have been destroyed during the English bombardment of 1759. Instead, it survived in Neuville — initially painted entirely black. During the 1854 renovation, Father Parent found it "terribly ugly" and convinced the churchwardens to replace the statue atop its dome with a cross. The two statues at the base of the front columns represent Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, named for Bishop de Saint-Vallier, who bore the name Jean-Baptiste.

Today the baldaquin, the choir, and the Napoléon Déry organ are all classified cultural assets of Québec.

Church Architecture

Built "à la Récollette"

Saint-François-de-Sales is unique among the listed churches of Portneuf: it is the only one built according to the plan known as "à la récollette" — the Recollect plan — rather than the Latin cross plan used by all its neighbors. This plan, associated with the Recollect Franciscan missionaries, features a rectangular nave without transepts and an angled apse. Only two other churches in Québec share Neuville's distinctive angled apse: Saint-Michel in Vaudreuil and La Purification in Repentigny.

Timeline: Saint-François-de-Sales, Neuville

1667

Parish Registers Open: Baptisms, marriages, and burials begin to be recorded — among the oldest registers in the colony. In March of that year Nicolas Sylvestre takes his concession from Jean Bourdon in the seigneury of Dombourg.

1669

First Chapel: A wooden chapel is built across the Chemin du Roy from the current sacristy site

1681

First Sylvestre Baptism at Neuville: Élisabeth, born and baptised 23 March, buried 16 April at twenty-four days — the first of the family's children baptised in the parish

1686

Sylvestre-Lesage Marriage: Marie Barbe Sylvestre marries Jean Bernardin Lesage dit Lepiedmontois on January 8

1690

First Lesage Child: Marie Françoise Lesage baptized January 30 — the first of the children born to Jean Bernardin and Marie Barbe

1694

Marie Louise Lesage Baptized: Born 1 January, baptised 2 January — our direct ancestor, who will marry Jean Sulière dit Tranchemontagne in 1716

1695

The Baldaquin Created: The carved and gilded canopy is made for the episcopal chapel in Québec City

1696

First Stone Church: Construction of the first stone church on the present site

1699

Two Sons Lost: Nicolas the elder son dies at the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec on 26 April; his brother Louis is admitted to the same house on 22 October and dies there on the twenty-sixth. Between the two deaths, a son is born at Neuville on 8 July and given his dead brother's name.

1712

The Farm Leased: Nicolas and Barbe let their land to their son Jean at half fruits for nine years. The act describes the house as falling into ruin.

1714

The Donation: On 5 August, everything goes to Jean against his parents' keep for life, their burial, and forty livres of masses for each of them

1717

The Baldaquin Arrives: Bishop de Saint-Vallier trades the canopy to Neuville for wheat during the Québec City famine

1729

Nicolas Sylvestre Buried: The patriarch of the Sylvestre family is buried at Neuville on 10 March, aged about eighty-five. Barbe Nepveu follows on 18 April. The curé Dumont officiated at both.

1761

Church Rebuilt: The 1696 stone church is demolished and replaced with a larger structure on the same site

1801

High Altar Installed: François Baillargé creates the high altar; side altars follow in 1802

1854

Current Nave Added: The nave is grafted onto the 1761 church from the transept, creating the angled apse

1885

Napoléon Déry Organ: The organ is installed, half financed by painter Antoine Plamondon, who demanded the right to play the Gradual Mass every Sunday

1915

Facade Restored: Major restoration work on the church exterior

2017

Church and Library: The building begins a dual role as both a place of worship and the municipal library of Neuville

The Sylvestre Family at Neuville

Nicolas Sylvestre dit Champagne was a soldier at Québec in the summer of 1667 — his marriage act says so in a single word, soldat. On 20 March of that year he took a concession of land from Jean Bourdon in the seigneury of Dombourg, and on 20 August he married Barbe Nepveu at Notre-Dame-de-Québec. Together they raised sixteen children across three decades, making the Sylvestre name one of the most deeply rooted in the parish.

A note on his military service

Earlier versions of this page described Nicolas Sylvestre as a veteran of the Grandfontaine company of the Carignan-Salières Regiment. That attribution has been withdrawn.

The 1667 marriage act calls him a soldier and names neither regiment nor company. A roll of the four hundred and three Carignan-Salières soldiers who settled in Canada in 1668 carries a man called Champagne in ten different companies, and gives no surnames at all. Three specialists have tried to identify the Grandfontaine Champagne and reached three different answers, only one of which is Nicolas Sylvestre. Given the date and place, the Carignan-Salières Regiment remains much the likeliest unit — but it is an inference, and it is offered here as one. The full reasoning is set out in his documentary biography.

The Neuville registers record the rest: the baptisms of children across eighteen years in this parish, the marriages that linked the Sylvestres to the Labadies, Mattes, Piché-Pichets and Doucets, and the burials that mark the sorrows — including the loss of two grown sons in 1699, six months apart, both at the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec.

"The registers of baptisms, marriages and burials begin in 1667."

— Parish records of Saint-François-de-Sales, Neuville

Among the sixteen Sylvestre children, one name stands out for our line: Marie Barbe Sylvestre, born 22 April 1671 and baptised at Notre-Dame-de-Québec three days later. She was the eldest daughter, and in January 1686 — at fourteen years and eight months — she married Jean Bernardin Lesage dit Lepiedmontois at Neuville. His dit name, "the Piedmontese", marks him as one of the rarest origins in the colony.

Family Record Neuville Parish, 1669–1699

Children of Nicolas Sylvestre dit Champagne & Barbe Nepveu

Sixteen children born across three decades. Events marked with ★ were recorded in the Neuville parish registers.

#	Name	Born/Baptized	Key Life Events
1	Nicolas, the eldest	7 Jul 1669, Sillery	★ Married Jeanne Labadie, Neuville, 23 Nov 1694. Died 26 Apr 1699 at the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec
2	Marie Barbe OUR LINE	22 Apr 1671, Québec	★ Married Jean Bernardin Lesage, Neuville, 8 Jan 1686. Buried L'Assomption, 6 Apr 1759
3	Louis	23 Mar 1673, Québec	★ Married Marie Élisabeth Isabelle Labadie, Neuville, 24 Nov 1698. Admitted to the Hôtel-Dieu 22 Oct 1699, died there on the 26th, aged 26
4	Pierre	2 Jun 1675, Québec	★ Married Marie Anne Labadie, Neuville, 8 Nov 1700. Buried Neuville, 25 Dec 1744
5	Marie Anne	23 Oct 1678, Québec	★ Married Pierre Dupré dit Piché, Neuville, 4 Nov 1697; widowed by 1714; 2nd m. François Biron, Cap-Santé, 1718
6	Élisabeth	23 Mar 1681, Neuville	★ Baptized and ★ buried at Neuville, 16 Apr 1681. Died at 24 days
7	Marie Françoise	21 Feb 1682	★ Married Laurent Matte, Neuville, 12 Aug 1702, contract of 3 August; widowed and living at Québec by 1714; 2nd m. Simon Pleau, Cap-Santé, 1720
8	François	30 Aug 1684, Neuville	★ Baptized Neuville, 31 Aug 1684. Bought his father's Maure land in 1710 in payment of six years' wages. Buried Ste-Croix de Lotbinière, 1740
9	Marie Jeanne	2 May 1686, Neuville	★ Baptized Neuville. Married four times; her first husband, Jean François de la Fontaine, was a surgeon at Neuville and a widower with two children. Lived to 86, buried Ste-Marie-de-Beauce, 1772
10	Jean	15 Jun 1688, Neuville	★ Baptized and ★ buried at Neuville. Took the family land by lease in 1712 and by donation in 1714. Died 23 Apr 1732
11	Marie Madeleine	3 Sep 1690, Neuville	★ Baptized Neuville, 5 Sep 1690. No marriage and no burial has been found for her
12	Marie Anne	11 Aug 1692, Neuville	★ Baptized Neuville. Married André Content, a cooper of Québec, Neuville, 18 Oct 1712. Died 20 Mar 1732, Champlain
13	Marie Thérèse	18 Jun 1694	★ Buried Neuville, 30 Jan 1695, at seven months
14	unnamed	16 Nov 1695	★ Born and buried at Neuville the same day. No baptism is recorded
15	Marie Élisabeth Isabelle	11 Jun 1697, Neuville	★ Baptized Neuville. Still at home, aged seventeen, in 1714. Married Pierre Doucet, Neuville, 3 Feb 1716. Buried Berthierville, 1762
16	Nicolas	8 Jul 1699, Neuville	★ Born and baptised the same day, seventy-three days after his elder brother's death, and given his name. Married M.É.I. Laporte, Saint-Sulpice, 1721. Buried L'Île-Dupas, 1750

The Labadie Connection: Three Sylvestre brothers married three Labadie sisters — Nicolas the eldest to Jeanne in 1694, Louis to Marie Élisabeth Isabelle in 1698, and Pierre to Marie Anne in 1700. All three were daughters of François Labadie, habitant of Neuville, and Jeanne Hébert, and each of the three filiations is separately documented. Three weddings in this parish in six years, each in November. Then in 1699 two of the three sisters were widowed within six months of each other, and in January 1700 both were sued in the same sitting of the Prévôté de Québec, alongside their father.

Jean Bernardin & Marie Barbe: The Lesage Children at Neuville

Jean Bernardin Lesage dit Lepiedmontois — his dit name literally meaning "the Piedmontese" — arrived in New France in the early 1680s. His marriage record at Neuville notes the permission of Captain Demuy, which places him in service at the time. He was one of a very small number of settlers of Italian origin in the entire colony.

Together he and Marie Barbe raised twelve children over some twenty-three years, from 1690 to about 1713. The Neuville registers capture the earliest of these — baptised at the same font where Marie Barbe's own younger siblings had been christened. As the family grew, Jean Bernardin and Marie Barbe eventually moved to L'Assomption, where they became pioneer settlers of that region. But by 1714 the couple were living in the city of Québec, where Jean Bernardin came before a notary to settle with his father-in-law for a marriage contract he had lost.

Family Record Neuville & Québec City, 1690–1706

Children of Jean Bernardin Lesage & Marie Barbe Sylvestre

Nine of the children are documented in the parish registers and database records below. The Sylvestre family network runs through them: uncles, aunts and the grandfather himself standing as godparents at several of the baptisms.

#	Name	Born/Baptized	Key Life Events
1	Marie Françoise	29 Jan 1690, Neuville	Married Jean Paul Daveluy dit Larose, Québec, 26 Jan 1712. Buried L'Assomption, 12 Jan 1761
2	Nicolas	b. 15 Mar 1692, bapt. 16 Mar, Neuville	His uncle Nicolas Sylvestre stood godfather. Two marriages: Marie Françoise Paris (1714), Marie Thérèse Lamothe (1759)
3	Marie Louise OUR LINE	b. 1 Jan 1694, bapt. 2 Jan, Neuville	Married Jean Sulière dit Tranchemontagne, Québec, 14 Sep 1716. Buried L'Assomption, 31 Jan 1757
4	Marie Catherine	May 1696, Neuville	Godfather: Louis Silvestre, her uncle. Died 20 Feb 1710, Québec, aged 13
5	Jean Baptiste	2 Nov 1698, Neuville	Godmother: Marie Françoise Silvestre, her aunt. Grandfather Nicolas Sylvestre present. Married Marguerite Barette, 1721
6	Joseph Étienne	18 Nov 1700, Québec	Baptized at Notre-Dame-de-Québec. Buried 14 Mar 1703, Québec. Died in infancy
7	Jean Baptiste (#2)	26 Feb 1702, Québec	Baptized at Notre-Dame-de-Québec. Married Marie Madeleine Allard, L'Assomption, 1726. Buried L'Assomption, 1762
8	François de Sales	24 Mar 1704, Neuville	Named for the parish patron saint. Godmother: Marie Jeanne Silvestre, his aunt. Died 20 Jun 1705, Québec. Died in infancy
9	Marie Scholastique	15 Jun 1706, Québec	Baptized at Notre-Dame-de-Québec. Married Pierre Piché Pichet, 1724

The Godparent Network: The baptism records reveal a tightly woven family. Uncle Nicolas Sylvestre stands as godfather for Nicolas Lesage in 1692; uncle Louis Silvestre sponsors Marie Catherine in 1696; aunt Marie Françoise Silvestre sponsors Jean Baptiste in 1698, with the grandfather Nicolas Sylvestre himself present; and aunt Marie Jeanne Silvestre sponsors François de Sales in 1704. Not every baptism drew on the family — the godparents at Marie Louise's baptism in 1694 were Jean Carpantier and Louise Tibeau, neighbours in the parish — but across the decade the Sylvestre siblings appear again and again at the font.

Record Transcription 16 March 1692

Baptism of Nicolas Lesage

Neuville (St-François-de-Sales), MRC Portneuf. Born 15 March 1692, baptised the following day. PRDH-IGD record no. 53914.

Rank	Name	Role and residence	Fields
01	Nicolas Lesage	Residence: Neuville (St-François-de-Sales)	c · present · m
02	Jean Bernardin Lesage	Father of 01, spouse of 03. Residence: Neuville	m · present · m
03	Marie Silvestre	Mother of 01, spouse of 02. Residence: Neuville	m · present · f
04	Nicolas Silvestre	Uncle of 01. Residence: Neuville	— · present · m
05	Marie Francoise Garnier	Spouse of 06. Residence: Neuville	m · present · f
06	Michel Desorcy	Spouse of 05. Residence: Neuville	m · named only · m
07	J Basset	Curé. Residence: Neuville	—

The mother is entered simply as Marie Silvestre, not Marie Barbe. The child's uncle Nicolas Sylvestre — Marie Barbe's eldest brother, then twenty-two — stands godfather; he would be dead within seven years. Note on the fields: the age, marital status and presence columns are database fields generated from linked records, not transcriptions from the register itself, and are treated as such throughout this series.

Record Transcription 2 January 1694

Baptism of Marie Louise Lesage

Neuville (St-François-de-Sales), MRC Portneuf. Born 1 January 1694, baptised the following day. PRDH-IGD record no. 53963. Our direct ancestor.

Rank	Name	Role and residence	Fields
01	Marie Louise Lesage	Residence: Neuville (St-François-de-Sales)	c · present · f
02	Jean Bernardin Lesage	Father of 01, spouse of 03. Residence: Neuville	m · present · m
03	Marie Silvestre	Mother of 01, spouse of 02. Residence: Neuville	m · present · f
04	Jean Carpantier	Residence: Neuville	— · present · m
05	Louise Tibeau	Spouse of 06. Residence: Neuville	m · present · f
06	Rene Grandalarie	Spouse of 05. Residence: Neuville	m · named only · m
07	J Basset	Curé. Residence: Neuville	—

Twenty-two years later Marie Louise married Jean Sulière dit Tranchemontagne at Québec, carrying the Sylvestre and Lesage lines westward into the Lanaudière. The curé who baptised her, Basset, appears in the Neuville registers across nearly two decades of this family's life — and was still there in 1714 to witness the appraisal of her grandfather's farm.

Citations: Baptism, marriage, and burial records, Neuville (Saint-François-de-Sales) and Québec (Notre-Dame-de-Québec) parish registers; PRDH-IGD (Programme de recherche en démographie historique), Université de Montréal; Genealogy of French in North America (Denis Beauregard). Notarial and judicial records at Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec: greffes of François Genaple (CN301,S114), Guillaume Roger (CN301,S242) and Louis Chambalon (CN301,S58); Prévôté de Québec (TL1,S11); Fonds Intendants (E1,S1).

Saint Francis de Sales: The Patron of the Parish

The church in Neuville is dedicated to Saint Francis de Sales — born in Thorens, Savoy, in 1567, ordained a priest in 1593, and named Bishop of Geneva in 1602. He founded the Order of the Visitation with Saint Jane Frances de Chantal in 1610 (she, in turn, is the patron saint of the church in Pont-Rouge, a parish that separated from Neuville in 1867). His feast day is January 24.

That the Lesage family named a son François de Sales — born 24 March 1704, and baptized the same day at Neuville — was a direct tribute to the parish where the family worshipped. The child's godmother was Marie Jeanne Silvestre, Marie Barbe's sister. Little François de Sales died fifteen months later, buried at Québec on 20 June 1705.

Artistic Treasures: Plamondon, Baillargé, and Déry

The church of Saint-François-de-Sales is not just a repository of sacramental records — it is a gallery of Québec's finest religious art. Antoine Plamondon (1804–1895), the celebrated copyist painter who settled in Neuville in 1845 and became its first mayor in 1855, created twenty-eight paintings for the church. A skilled organist, Plamondon donated $1,000 — half the cost — of the Napoléon Déry organ installed in 1885, on the condition that he could play the Gradual Mass every Sunday.

The high altar was crafted by the renowned sculptor François Baillargé in 1801, with the side altars following in 1802. The vault and cornice of the chancel were decorated in 1827 by three sculptors from Trois-Rivières: François Normand, François Routhier, and François Lafontaine. Works by wood sculptors Louis Jobin and Henri Angers — the latter born in Neuville — also grace the interior.

The Organ

Napoléon Déry, Organ Builder of Québec City

The Neuville organ, built in 1885, is the second largest instrument created by Napoléon Déry, after the one in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church in Québec City. It is one of only eight Déry organs still in existence and one of only five still in use. Originally bellows-operated — it cost $2.25 to play at funerals and weddings: $1 for the organ, $1 for the organist, and $0.25 for the bellows operator — it was electrified in 1953 by the Casavant brothers. The organ was designated a historical monument in 1965.

The Fresco: 350 Years of History

The east wall of the sacristy bears a monumental mural created by the firm SauteOzieux to commemorate 350 years of settlement in Neuville. The fresco depicts the village's terraced landscape across four centuries, flanked by columns that echo the baldaquin inside the church.

Commissioned for the 350th anniversary of the first settlers' arrival, the mural on the east wall of the sacristy tells Neuville's story across six panels. A bull's-eye window at the top shows a nun, a priest, and the Sainte-Anne chapel — "the eye of religion" in the lives of the ancestors. Below, a panoramic scene depicts the village in the early 1900s, with terraces showing the waterfront, village center, and agricultural lands. Four corner windows represent the 1600s (a soldier and a King's Daughter arriving by canoe), the 1700s (Nicolas Dupont de Neuville and the seigneurial system), the 1800s (Antoine Plamondon as first mayor, with the Dubord shipyard), and the 1900s (the storefronts and merchants of mid-century Neuville).

The two columns flanking the central scene are a direct reference to the baldaquin inside the church — a reminder that it was Neuville's wheat that saved Québec City from famine and brought that masterpiece to the parish.

Sainte-Anne Processional Chapel

The Sainte-Anne Processional Chapel, a National Historic Site of Canada, sits behind the church on Jean-Basset Street. The current stone structure dates to about 1830, built on the site of the original 1679 chapel.

A notarial document from 1713 confirms the chapel's existence. That same year, a fire threatened the village and a procession to the Blessed Sacrament was credited with bringing rain to extinguish it — a "miracle" commemorated annually ever since.

Behind the main church, on Jean-Basset Street, stands the Sainte-Anne Processional Chapel — a National Historic Site of Canada. The original chapel was built in 1679, ten years after Neuville's first chapel and seven years before Marie Barbe Sylvestre married Jean Bernardin Lesage in the parish church. The current stone structure dates to about 1830 and has been renovated several times, most recently in 1999 ($80,000) and 2004 ($50,000).

The chapel is a living remnant of the processional traditions that would have been part of Nicolas Sylvestre's and Barbe Nepveu's world — a tangible link to the devotional life of Neuville's founding generation.

The Church Today

Église Saint-François-de-Sales in late autumn. Since 2017, the building has served a dual role: it remains an active place of worship while also housing the municipal library of Neuville — a unique blending of sacred heritage and community life.

Since 2017, the church of Saint-François-de-Sales has served a dual purpose that would perhaps have pleased its practical founders: it remains an active place of Catholic worship while also functioning as the municipal library of Neuville. The rehabilitation preserved the heritage interior while incorporating modern community spaces — a fitting continuation for a building that has served Neuville's people in one form or another since 1669.

The baldaquin still stands. The Plamondon paintings still hang on the walls. The Napoléon Déry organ — the one that once cost $2.25 per performance — still plays. And the parish registers, beginning in 1667, still hold the names of the Sylvestres and Lesages who shaped this corner of New France into a home.

Visiting the Site

Church Address: 714 Rue des Érables, Neuville, QC G0A 2R0, Canada

Phone: +1 418-876-2022

Parish: Paroisse Bienheureuse-Mère-Saint-Louis

Heritage Features: 1695 Baroque baldaquin (classified cultural asset); 28 paintings by Antoine Plamondon; 1801 high altar by François Baillargé; 1885 Napoléon Déry organ (classified cultural asset, designated historical monument 1965)

Nearby: Sainte-Anne Processional Chapel (National Historic Site), 660 Rue des Érables; the Presbytery (1715), the oldest building in Neuville

Note: Since 2017, the church also serves as the municipal library of Neuville

Document Gallery

Primary Sources & References — Parish registers and photographs documenting the Sylvestre and Lesage families at Neuville

Église Saint-François-de-Sales

Exterior view with green doors

Photograph

Church & St. Lawrence River

Village setting on the Chemin du Roy

Photograph

Interior — The Baldaquin

1695 carved canopy, high altar, Plamondon paintings

Historic

Seigneurie de Neuville

Map of concessions and rang names

Reference

The Commemorative Fresco

350 years of Neuville — sacristy mural

Photograph

Autumn View

Church and library since 2017

Photograph

Sainte-Anne Chapel

National Historic Site, c. 1830

Historic

Chapel — Second View

Site of the 1713 "miracle" procession

Historic

Marriage: Lesage & Sylvestre

8 Jan 1686 • Neuville • Signed "Jean Bernardin Le Sage" • Captain Demuy grants permission

Parish Record

Baptism: Marie Françoise Lesage

30 Jan 1690 • Neuville • First child of Jean Bernardin and Marie Barbe

Parish Record

Baptism: Nicolas Lesage

16 Mar 1692 • Neuville • His uncle Nicolas Sylvestre stood godfather

Parish Record

Baptism: Marie Louise Lesage ★

2 Jan 1694 • Neuville • OUR DIRECT ANCESTOR • Godparents Jean Carpantier and Louise Tibeau

Parish Record

Baptism: Marie Catherine Lesage

May 1696 • Neuville • Louis Silvestre godfather, Catherine Hardy godmother

Parish Record

Baptism: Jean Baptiste Lesage

2 Nov 1698 • Neuville • Marie Françoise Silvestre (aunt) as godmother

Parish Record

Baptism: François de Sales Lesage

24 Mar 1704 • Neuville • Named for parish patron • Marie Jeanne Silvestre (aunt) godmother

Parish Record

Baptism: Élisabeth Sylvestre

1681 • Neuville • First Sylvestre child baptized at Neuville • Died at 24 days

Parish Record

Baptism: François Sylvestre

31 Aug 1684 • Neuville • Son of Nicolas Sylvestre and Barbe Nepveu

Parish Record

Baptism: Marie Jeanne Sylvestre

1686 • "fille de Nicolas Silvestre dit Champagne" • Married four times, lived to 86

Parish Record

Baptism: Jean Sylvestre

1688 • Neuville • Took the family land by donation in 1714

Parish Record

Baptism: Marie Madeleine Sylvestre

5 Sep 1690 • Neuville • No marriage or burial has been found for her

Parish Record

Baptism: Marie Anne Sylvestre

13 Aug 1692 • m. André Content, Neuville, 1712 • Died 1732, Champlain

Parish Record

Baptism: Marie Thérèse Sylvestre

19 Jun 1694 • Buried Neuville at seven months

Parish Record

Baptism: Élisabeth Isabelle Sylvestre

12 Jun 1697 • m. Pierre Doucet, Neuville, 1716 • Died 1762, Berthierville

Parish Record

Baptism: Nicolas Sylvestre (1699)

Last child • Born and baptised 8 July, seventy-three days after his brother's death

Parish Record

Burial: Nicolas Sylvestre

10 Mar 1729 • Neuville • "âgé d'environ quatre vingt cinq ans" • No witnesses named • Curé Dumont officiating

Parish Record

Burial: Barbe Nepveu

18 Apr 1729 • Neuville • Thirty-nine days after her husband • Curé Dumont officiating

Parish Record

Burial: Anne Ledet

14 Dec 1700 • Neuville • Fille à marier • Mother of Barbe Nepveu

Parish Record

Related in Sacred Places & The Soulière Line

Marie Louise Lesage, baptized at Neuville on 2 January 1694, married Jean Sulière dit Tranchemontagne at Québec in 1716 and settled in L'Assomption — carrying the Sylvestre-Lesage heritage westward into the Lanaudière region. Her parents, Jean Bernardin and Marie Barbe, were among the pioneer families of L'Assomption. The soldier who started it all — Nicolas Sylvestre dit Champagne — is documented in his full documentary biography. The Guilbault-Abitakijikokwe family, connected through the Soulière Line, began their documented journey at Saint-Paul-de-Joliette. Explore the full arc of the line — eight generations from New France to Chicago — at The Soulière Line: Tranchemontagne.

Neuville (Saint-François-de-Sales) — Part of the Sacred Places Series

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