In 1657, the Roman Catholic
Sulpicians arrived in
Ville-Marie, now known as Montreal. Six years later, the
seigneury of the island was vested in them, and they ruled until 1840. The
parish they founded was dedicated to the Holy Name of
Mary, and the parish
church of Notre-Dame was built on the site in 1672.
François Baillairgé, an architect, designed the interior decoration and choir 1785–95; facade and vault decoration, 1818. The church served as the first cathedral of the
Diocese of Montreal from 1821 to 1822. , with its replacement being built behind it, 1828. By 1824, the congregation had completely outgrown the church.
James O'Donnell, an Irish-American
Anglican from
New York City, was commissioned to design a new building, with the goal of accommodating a congregation of up to 10,000. O'Donnell was a proponent of
Gothic Revival architecture, and he designed the church in that style. He intended for a terrace to be built on the exterior of the church, but this was never completed due to a lack of funding. He is the only person buried in the church's
crypt. O'Donnell converted to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed and was thus buried in the crypt. The primary construction took place between 1824 and 1829. The cornerstone was laid at Place d'Armes on September 1, 1824. The sanctuary was finished in 1830, the first tower in 1841, and the second tower in 1843. O'Donnell designed the towers to be traditionally Gothic, and he intended for them to be seen from any point in the city. Following O'Donnell's death, John Ostell, an English-born architect, finished the towers according to O'Donnell's original plans. Upon completion, the church was the largest in North America, and it remained so for over fifty years. Samuel Russell Warren constructed a new organ in 1858. The facade of the church was completed in 1865 and included three statues by French sculptor Henri Bouriché, which were of Saint Joseph, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Jean-Baptiste. Because of the splendour and grand scale of the church, a more intimate chapel, named
Chapelle du Sacré-Cœur (Chapel of the Sacred Heart), was built behind it, along with some offices and a
sacristy. It was completed in 1888.
Casavant Frères began constructing a new 32-foot pipe organ at the church in 1886, which was completed in 1891. It was notably the first organ with adjustable-combination pedals to be operated by electricity.
Arson destroyed the
Chapelle du Sacré-Cœur on December 7, 1978. It was rebuilt with the first two levels reproduced from old drawings and photographs, with modern vaulting and
reredos, and an immense bronze altarpiece by Quebec sculptor
Charles Daudelin. Notre-Dame Church was raised to the status of a
minor basilica by
Pope John Paul II in 1982. It was designated a
National Historic Site of Canada in 1989. Notre-Dame Basilica was the setting for the wedding of
Celine Dion and
René Angélil on December 17, 1994. It also hosted the funeral service for Angélil on January 22, 2016. In the summer of 2014, the French collector
Pierre-Jean Chalençon displayed a variety of artifacts that belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte. These items included clothing, weapons, and furniture, and were on display in the crypt on the basilica. In April 2019, following the
Notre-Dame de Paris fire, Montreal's Notre-Dame announced that it would accept donations to aid in the Paris cathedral's reconstruction. On March 23, 2024, the
state funeral of Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th prime minister, was held at the Basilica.
Restoration An investigation in 2017 found much of the upper stonework to be deteriorating. Restoration work on the cathedral began in 2020. The project was estimated to cost $50 million and take over a decade. As of 2026, the first two phases of the project are complete out of a total of six phases. == Bells ==