It’s been echoing along the Boucherville waterfront for nearly 180 years. 1844, to be precise. We’re talking, of course, about the steeple of Sainte-Famille church (with five bells in all), designed by artist Louis-Thomas Berlinguet and consisting of two lanterns.
Having announced many masses and events since a time when a parking lot consisted of a pole for tying up horses, this bell tower took a leap into modernity by switching from rope-pulling to electric operation in 1953. Bells that don’t need arms? Sounds unthinkable, Berlinguet would no doubt have said…