Case file · Apparition / miracle
Maisonneuve's cross on Mount Royal
When the St. Lawrence flooded the new settlement of Ville-Marie at Christmas 1642, Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve vowed to carry a cross up the mountain if the water receded; it did, and he planted the cross on 6 January 1643.
1643 CE · 45.51, -73.59 · status: account
The account
The illuminated steel cross that stands on Mount Royal today, erected in 1924, commemorates the vow.
The sceptical view
Floodwater recedes on its own; the story is a founding legend recorded by the colony's own chroniclers.