Getting to know your communities: Saint-Herménégilde

By Emilie Hackett, Special to The Record
Getting to know your communities: Saint-Herménégilde
The Saint-Herménégilde Catholic church stands at the heart of the small community of 600 residents. (Photo : Courtesy of Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications)

Covering a land area of 166 square kilometres, Saint-Herménégilde is a small town with a big name and a lot of ground to cover. Founded on October 12, 1985 through the fusion of the village of Saint-Herménégilde and its surrounding countryside, the small community is the home to just over 600residents, named Mégiliens and Mégiliennes. With Lake Lippé, Lake Wallace, and diverse fauna and flora, the municipality stands at the headwaters of Moe’s River and is at the foot of the Eastern Townships’ third highest peak, Mount Hereford. Bordering the United States, it first attracted Loyalist settlers, then French Canadians of the Catholic faith, and now hosts many vacationers. A few minutes southeast from Coaticook, Saint-Herménégilde takes its name from Prince Herménégilde, a man who was canonized after being persecuted in 586 by his kingly father Léovigild for converting to Catholicism. The municipality’s parish was established in 1872, and Saint-Herménégilde came to life after the 1903 division of the Townships. The village’s neo-Gothic church was built from 1897 to 1899 and is at the heart of a religious complex that includes a cemetery, an old presbytery, a Sacré-Coeur monument and a calvary. It is recognized by the Quebec government as a heritage site. See full story in the Friday, July 12 edition of The Record.

 

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