Question: what is a buffet in a church? No, it’s not the table with the little crustless sandwiches served in the basement after a baptism. Rather, it’s the imposing structure housing the organ’s many pipes.
The organ at Sainte-Famille church, dating from 1847, is one of the oldest preserved in Quebec. The organ, of course, has since been modernized. Dating from 1996 and built here in Quebec by Casavant, it still retains two stops (a set of pipes of the same type) from the old instrument.
In all, the current organ, which weighs five tons, has some 25 stops totalling almost 1,600 pipes. Let’s just say there are no plans to move it just yet…