St. Antoine de Padoue Parish / Richibouctou-Village
Established in 1646
First chapel after the Jesuits mission :1791
First resident priest : 1800
The church at Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue parish is the mother church of Kent County. In 1646, Jesuit priests Martin Lejeune and André Richard established a mission in Richibouctou. Several missionaries came to Richibouctou prior to the 1800s.
In June of 1791, Pierre Richard, Pierre Léger and several others, presented a request to Governor Carleton asking him to concede land grants on the banks of the Richibouctou River. The Council granted them the lands they had requested.
That same year, Fr. Mathurin Bourg (Bourque), the first Acadian priest, came to serve a few families originally from Bonaventure and Memramcook who were settled at Aldouane and Richibouctou-Village. Fr. Louis-Joseph Desjardins, a priest from Carleton, would succeed him.
Most Rev. Jean-François Hubert in Quebec, requested the construction of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue church in 1798. This church, situated on a lovely plot of land on Richibouctou-Village Bay was a kind of metropolis for the chapels at Kigibouguac, Cardouane and Bouctouche. The inhabitants of the first two of these villages, readily identified themselves as dependant on Richibouctou-Village.
The framework of the first church was transported from the shore of Bas de l’Allée to the present site in 1877. The sacristy in the present church contains the framework of the original chapel built in 1798.
In 1878, Fr. François Xavier Cormier was appointed as priest for this parish. Upon arrival, he proceeded to complete the installation of the church and completely repair and renovate it. During his stay, Fr. Alphée Gaudet (1914-1926) changed the interior of the church by removing the jube as well as constructing a transept.
Parish registers date back to 1796. In 1800, Richibouctou-Village welcomed its first resident missionary priest, Fr. Antoine Bédard. At the time, priests from Richibouctou-Village would serve l’Aldouane, St-Louis, Baie des Ouines, Bouctouche, Cocagne and Chimougoui. When Fr. Bédard left in 1804, several missionary priests served in succession at Richibouctou-Village.