{"id":144185,"date":"2018-01-07T00:57:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-07T05:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=144185"},"modified":"2018-01-07T00:57:11","modified_gmt":"2018-01-07T05:57:11","slug":"montrealers-brave-chilly-walk-up-mount-royal-in-honour-of-cross-375th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/01\/07\/montrealers-brave-chilly-walk-up-mount-royal-in-honour-of-cross-375th-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Montrealers brave chilly walk up Mount Royal in honour of cross’ 375th birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"An<\/a>
An extreme cold warning didn’t deter members of Montreal’s Catholic community on Saturday, as they braved a chilly walk up Mount Royal to commemorate the 375th anniversary of the raising of the cross on the summit. (Photo<\/a> by Eric Titcombe\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL \u2014 An extreme cold warning didn’t deter members of Montreal’s Catholic community on Saturday, as they braved a chilly walk up Mount Royal to commemorate the 375th anniversary of the raising of the cross on the summit.<\/p>\n

Several dozen people sang Christmas carols and New Year’s songs as they marched in -20 C weather behind leaders who were dressed in 17th century outfits and carrying a wooden cross.<\/p>\n

The walk was led by Montreal Archbishop Christian Lepine as well a man and a woman dressed as Montreal founders Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance.<\/p>\n

Lepine said De Maisonneuve, a French military officer, first erected a wooden cross on Mount Royal on Jan. 6, 1643, to thank God for sparing the city from flooding.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Christmas Eve, there had been a rising of the St. Lawrence River and they were afraid to lose everything,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they prayed to God and said, ‘If you spare us this flood, I’ll put a cross on Mount Royal.\u201d’<\/p>\n

The march ended with a ceremony that included a brief moment of silence and a prayer service beneath the giant LED-lit cross that now tops the mountain.<\/p>\n

Stephen Otvos, a priest from the diocese, described Saturday’s event as \u201cbeautiful, although cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe commemorate that day (when the cross was raised), but also our time together as a Christian community, and to share the message that the cross is a sign of love for all humanity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The current illuminated steel cross, which is over 30 metres tall, was erected in 1924 after local volunteers selling stamps raised over $10,000 towards its cost.<\/p>\n

The 26-ton structure looms over the city’s skyline and is visible from up to 80 km away on a clear day, according to the city.<\/p>\n

It has been renovated several times, and has been lit by LED bulbs since 2009.<\/p>\n

Lepine says the cross remains an important symbol for many Montrealers, whether or not they’re religious.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s part of the face of Montreal and it’s a (symbol) that it’s important not only for those who believe in Jesus Christ but also for all Montreal and greater Montreal to rally around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 An extreme cold warning didn’t deter members of Montreal’s Catholic community on Saturday, as they braved a chilly …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":144186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[41986,41987,41984,24642,41985],"class_list":["post-144185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-375th-anniversary","tag-cross","tag-montreals-catholic-community","tag-montrealers","tag-mount-royal","mauthors-morgan-lowrie","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}