This is one EXTRAVAGANT church, for such a small community. It was built of local brick by local Acadian artisans in the Victorian Gothic style and has two bell towers at the front. If you find yourself in the Mont Carmel area in SW PEI, this is definitely worth stopping to see. Mont Carmel itself isn't more than a point on the map.
This church, located by the sea, was built in 1898, the third to be built on this site since 1812. The architect was Rene P. Lemay, the son of Pamphile Lemay, who had translated Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's influential 1847 poem, "Evangeline", in 1865. It is a registered historical site in the Province of Prince Edward /Island, though, unfortunately, the cemetery is not included in the registration.
The cemetery of Eglise Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel spreads out to the west of the church, extending to the shore of the Atlantic. The old section, nearest the sea, is filled with bright white markers topped with white crosses, while the newer section, nearest the road, contains more mundane contemporary markers.
At the eastern edge of the cemetery is one of three stone arches which
Father Pierre-Paul Arsenault had built in the cemetery and church yard in the 1920s, this one in 1923. It was dedicated to the memory of Thomas Richard, one of the founders of the parish and donor of the land on which the cemetery was established. It was on June 23, 1820 that Thomas Richard and his wife Susan Aucoin gave land to the Parish of Grand Ruisseau where the church, rectory and a cemetery were constructed.
Thomas and Susan had arrived in the parish, then named Grand-Ruisseau Parish, from Malpeque in 1813, one of the first of the Acadian families to settle at Mont-Carmel.
In 1923 Father Arsenault wanted to construct three arched structures around the land of the Parish Church. He asked the farmers to bring stones from their fields and he asked the fishermen to bring stones from the shore. A local bricklayer, Cagetain Arsenault, offered his time to construct the three structures.
The Arch that was built between the church and the cemetery was in memory of Thomas Richard, one of the founders of the parish who had donated the land for the church, rectory and cemetery. Another Arch was constructed in front of the church but was situated behind the Sacred Heart Statue. The third Arch was created as a triple arched structure in front of the cemetery, and it was in memory of the World War I Soldiers who gave their lives, including those special soldiers from the Parish of Mont-Carmel.
From A Brief History of the Parish Church of Mont Carmel
Built primarily of cobblestones with a white painted concrete cap, then a step and another concrete cap, it has three concrete crosses atop and a date stone beneath the centre cross, dated 1923. Black painted embossed lettering on the western face reads:
THOMAS RICHARD DONATEUR DU CIMETIERE
(Thomas Richard Cemetery Donor)