Conefroy, Father Pierre

CONEFROY, Father Pierre (1752-1816) was among the early parish priests of Quebec who had considerable influence on the design and construction of parish churches in the province in the early 19th century. Born in Quebec City on 28 December 1752 he studied at the Quebec Seminary and became an ordained priest in 1776. Appointed to the parish of Ste. Famille in Boucherville in 1790 he was able to cultivate his keen interest in relilgious architecture by undertaking to design and direct the construction of the third church for that parish in 1801. His plan for the Eglise Ste. Marguerite at l'ACADIE, QUE. 1800-01 drew inspiration from traditional Catholic plans of the previous decades, and became an important precedent in the parish church revival in the province (H. Kalman, History of Canadian Architecture, 1994, 193, illus. & descrip.). This standardized plan was refined in his design for St. Antoine Roman Catholic Church, LONGUEUIL, QUE., 1810-13 (N. Clerk, Palladian Style in Canadian Architecture, 1984, 74, illus. & descrip.). Here Conefroy introduced classical elements of the Palladian style to parish church architecture in Quebec. His influence on ecclesiastical design in Quebec remained apparent until the 1830's, long after his death on 20 December 1816 (biog. J.B.A. Allaire, Clerge Canadien-Francais, 1910, 129; Dictionary of Canadian Biography, v, 1983, 202-03; essay G. Morisset, '˜l'influence de l'abbe Conefroy sur notre architecture religieuse', in Architecture Batiment Construction [Montreal], viii, February 1953, 36-9, illus.)