MIRO CERNETIG
QUEBEC BUREAU CHIEF
MONTREAL—For the last 28 years, the 10-storey cross atop Mont-Royal has glowed a silvery white every night, a symbol of Quebec's once-deep Catholic roots and a beloved Montreal landmark.
But the steel cross now glows a mournful purple from sunset to sunrise, a rare change of colour meant to remind all who looked upward that Pope John Paul II has died.
"It's a sad day," said the city worker who was helping to install the new lighting Saturday night, working in a white fog that had descended on Mont-Royal. "Not just for Catholics. A lot of people in Montreal want to see the new lights, to show our respect."
The last time purple lights were turned on at the cross, which has been on the mountain in one form or another since 1643, was in 1978.
It was changed twice that year, to mark the death of Jean Paul VI and John Paul I. The first time the lights glowed purple was in 1958, to broadcast the death of Pius XII.
Despite the massive steel symbol of Catholicism that rises over the Montreal skyline, and some of the most ornate Catholic churches in the country, Quebec is actually a place where the Catholic Church has waned.
But yesterday was a day that showed the church still has a powerful hold on Quebecers.
As the bells tolled from church steeples across the province, calling on people to pray for the Pope, hundreds of thousands of people streamed to the church pews.
In Quebec City, police blocked off part of the old walled city, as hundreds came to celebrate mass at Notre Dame Basilica. The cross, made up of steel girders and visible for more than 30 kilometres, will stay purple until a new Pope is chosen.
But the steel cross now glows a mournful purple from sunset to sunrise, a rare change of colour meant to remind all who looked upward that Pope John Paul II has died.
"It's a sad day," said the city worker who was helping to install the new lighting Saturday night, working in a white fog that had descended on Mont-Royal. "Not just for Catholics. A lot of people in Montreal want to see the new lights, to show our respect."
The last time purple lights were turned on at the cross, which has been on the mountain in one form or another since 1643, was in 1978.
It was changed twice that year, to mark the death of Jean Paul VI and John Paul I. The first time the lights glowed purple was in 1958, to broadcast the death of Pius XII.
Despite the massive steel symbol of Catholicism that rises over the Montreal skyline, and some of the most ornate Catholic churches in the country, Quebec is actually a place where the Catholic Church has waned.
But yesterday was a day that showed the church still has a powerful hold on Quebecers.
As the bells tolled from church steeples across the province, calling on people to pray for the Pope, hundreds of thousands of people streamed to the church pews.
In Quebec City, police blocked off part of the old walled city, as hundreds came to celebrate mass at Notre Dame Basilica. The cross, made up of steel girders and visible for more than 30 kilometres, will stay purple until a new Pope is chosen.
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