Churches and Places of Worship
St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic, Old Chelsea

St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Parish is one of the oldest parishes of the Gatineau-Hull Diocese. Prior to 1845, the scattered Catholic community of Chelsea was held together as a mission, served from the nearby parish of Aylmer, Québec. On October 15, 1845, St. Stephen’s was established as a separate entity with Rev. James Hughes being appointed as the first parish priest. He erected a wooden church as well as a presbytery. It was during this stay that a 100-acre parcel of land was given as a gift to St. Stephen’s by Lennox Brigham. In 1877 it was decided to build a larger church of stone, to be sited slightly to the south of the old wooden one. Work was started on the structure in August of 1879 and completed in 1882. The stone for St. Stephen's was called Corkstown Road stone, being the same as that used in the construction of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. The present brick presbytery was built on the site of the original building erected 50 years before. From 1906 to 1911, a number of major improvements to the church were accomplished. All the interior walls and ceilings were artistically decorated after the style of many old European Catholic shrines, and stained-glass windows were installed and in 1939 a new sacristy was built.


Additional resources:
St. Stephen Roman Catholic Cemetery, Old Chelsea
A Tale of Two Chelseas - part 2 by Patrick M.O. Evans
Touring the Two Chelseas by R.A.J. Phillips
- Up the Gatineau! articles
- 100th Anniversary of St. Stephen's Church (published in Volume 5)
- Stone for St. Stephen's by Karen J. Watson (published in Volume 2)
- The Stone Church of St. Stephen (published in Volume 7)
- Low Down Articles articles
- Text Bank clippings
- Chelsea celebrates 125 years: Community spirit
- Church steeple in for repairs
- More $$ needed for church steeple
- St Stephen's turns 150
- St. Stephen's steeple standstill
- St. Stephen's steeple to rise again
- St. Stephen's to re-erect steeple: Back on top!
- Steeple back on top by Christmas?
- Steeple off St. Stephen's in Chelsea
- Steeple soon
- Touch of baroque in the wilderness
- Image Bank images
List of Gatineau Valley Churches.