Saint-Jean is found everywhere in Quebec toponymy – in the names of lakes, streets, towns and bridges. But only one city in the province bears the full name of the patron saint of French Canadians, Saint John the Baptist. The Press went there.
Between the Saint-Hilaire and Rougemont mountains lies the small municipality of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, where the green plains of June and the mountains unite to form a horizon straight out of The Song of Happiness.
“I can tell you that there are fireworks going off on June 23 and 24 here!” says Marilyn Nadeau, Mayor of Saint-Jean-Baptiste. The woman is proud that her city bears the name of Quebec’s national holiday.
However, the city is not named in his honor.
In 1694, Jean-Baptiste Hertel, a naval officer, received the lordship of Rouville – which extends over the current territory of Saint-Jean-Baptiste and Saint-Hilaire – to reward his military exploits. A conflict between the first French settlers and the Iroquois prevented him from settling there and fulfilling his responsibilities as lord, namely building a mill and a manor, clearing agricultural land and ceding land to settlers.
Nearly a century later, his descendant Jean-Baptiste René Hertel established himself in the territory in 1789. To encourage the population of the lordship, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste parish was inaugurated in 1797, paying homage to the first lord of Rouville.
“When the church was built, we became one of the most attractive municipalities in the region, because of our farriers and our mills. Our ancestors were agricultural pioneers in the region,” explains the mayor, met on the gallery of the city’s former presbytery, today the city hall.
The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste is more than 200 years old, but it is “very well maintained by the community,” says Daniel Sansoucy, president of the Fabrique of the parish of Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-Rouville, who points out in passing that nearly 70 parishioners still attend mass every Sunday.
“Here, we like that our young people at school learn in nature,” says Ms. Nadeau, showing us the community garden set up between town hall and the primary school. “Classes are sometimes held there,” she said, pointing to a wooden pavilion erected at the edge of the small garden.
“For Midsummer, I’m working! I’m the one who takes care of it,” says Denis Desnoyers, met in the auction kiosk erected in 1865 in front of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church.
“We are a beautiful community, we all know each other, it’s important to organize this for our citizens,” adds the man who has worked for the City since 2019.
“What I like about our Saint-Jean is that everyone is in the same place. You meet people you’ve seen for a long time,” adds his son, Marc Desnoyers, who came to join him.
“Now I experience it with my children, for them it’s the same thing. They arrive and they see friends from school, and then I lose them for the whole evening. I like that! », says Marc Desnoyers.
This year, it is the singer Mathieu Barbeau who will set the crowd on fire to hear him cover the greatest classics of Marjo and Kaïn.
“It’s very unifying, these shows. It makes the crowd sing and it allows you to relive cultural moments from the past,” explains the man who will perform for a sixth time on the national holiday of Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
“I’ve been doing Midsummer shows for 25 years. Year after year, I have trouble doing without it, it’s like a drug. »