Description of Historic Place

The Église Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens is a Roman Catholic church built of sandstone located at 213 St. Pierre Blvd. West in Caraquet, N.B.

Heritage Value

The Église Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens Provincial Historic Site was built in the Neoclassical style in 1857 with stones sawn by Amice Duval, a carpenter/contractor originally from St. Peter on the Island of Jersey. The plans for the church were drawn up by Matthew Stead, a well-known architect from Saint John, New Brunswick. It is among the oldest stone churches in New Brunswick. The church was designed and built to be a very prominent feature in the institutional center of the town. Its monumental nature, relative to its community context, attests to the importance of places of worship as spiritual centres and community focuses for New Brunswick Acadians then and now. Source: New Brunswick Culture and Sport Secretariat, Heritage Branch, Site File # 97.

Character-Defining Elements

Exterior character-defining elements include: - location on the main street as the centre of an institutional complex taking in the presbytery, the old cemetery, the ruins of the old Convent of the Congregation of Notre-Dame, and the location of the former Sacré-Coeur College. - building dimensions 42.67 m by 18.77 m (140 feet by 60 feet); - stone shelters at the side exterior doors added after 1920; - exterior door arches in Gothic style; - made of sawn sandstone from quarries in Grande-Anse, New Brunswick; - bell tower constructed of iron; - original Gothic fenestration; - bull’s eye stained glass window representing St. Peter installed in 1956.; Interior character-defining elements include: - gallery on the north, south, and west sides, and a second level on the west side only; - wood columns with the original faux marble painting; - high altar from the first stone church in Caraquet sculpted by Thomas Baillargé of Quebec, circa 1821; - original pulpit; - period pews; - painting of St. Peter in Chains by Joseph Légaré in 1820; - stations of the cross dating from 1947 by master sculptor Médard Bourgault of St-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec; - Casavant organ purchased in 1901; - two richly sculpted holy water fonts dating from the mid-19th century.