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Angel of Cap-Pelé Monument

2648 Acadie Road, Cap-Pele, New Brunswick, E4N, Canada

Formally Recognized: 2006/06/05

Angel of Cap-Pelé Monument - current south view; Village of Cap-Pelé
Angel of Cap-Pelé Monument
Angel of Cap-Pelé Monument - view of the plaque; Village of Cap-Pelé
Angel of Cap-Pelé Monument
Angel of Cap-Pelé Monument - south view prior to its being moved a few meters to the west; Village of Cap-Pelé
Angel of Cap-Pelé Monument

Other Name(s)

n/a

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1935/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2007/02/05

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Angel of Cap-Pelé Monument is located at the intersection of Acadie Road and Robichaud Street, in Cap-Pelé. This concrete monument on a stone pedestal was unveiled in 1935.

Heritage Value

The Angel of Cap-Pelé Monument is designated a Local Historic Place for its location, its architecture, its spiritual role in the community, and its association with World War II.

The heritage value of the Angel of Cap-Pelé Monument is associated primarily with the fact that it is one of the few monuments located on a public highway in Canada. In 1935, Donat Robichaud, the parish priest, obtained a permit from the then highway engineer authorizing him to place the angel monument on its current site.

The angel statue, which is made of concrete, is the work of an unknown artist from Quebec. It is representative of the religious art of the Roman Catholic faith in the early 20th century. Early in the summer of 1935, brothers Willie and Fred Dupuis, two well-known stonecutters from Shediac, began work on the pedestal. The stone for the pedestal came from the Beaumont quarry, in Westmorland County.

Originally, Father Donat Robichaud and the parishioners wanted to openly express their faith through the monument and thus place the region’s two core industries – fishing and agriculture – under the protection of divine forces. Thereafter, oral tradition maintains that the angel protected all of the soldiers from Cap-Pelé parish who fought in World War II. As Father Donat Robichaud had predicted, no local soldiers died on the battlefields despite the fact that a large number of men served and some were seriously injured. In addition, the monument is perpetuated in the collective memory and in the local parlance as a geographical point of reference.

Source: Historic Places File #1 - Village of Cap-Pelé Municipal Building

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe the Angle of Cap-Pelé Monument include:
- location on a public highway;
- concrete angel statue representative of the religious art of the Roman Catholic faith in the early 20th century;
- stone pedestal with commemorative plaque.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

New Brunswick

Recognition Authority

Local Governments (NB)

Recognition Statute

Local Historic Places Program

Recognition Type

Municipal Register of Local Historic Places

Recognition Date

2006/06/05

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

1948/01/01 to 1948/01/01

Theme - Category and Type

Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life
Philosophy and Spirituality
Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life
Architecture and Design

Function - Category and Type

Current

Historic

Community
Commemorative Monument

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

Willie and Fred Dupuis

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

Village of Cap-Pelé Municipal Building - Historic Places File #1

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

1010

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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