“Straight to Notre Dame…”

Brought up in a strictly old Calvinist-Unitarian milieu in Concord with its Protestant disdain of Priests, some years later, upon his journey to Catholic Montreal, Thoreau felt compelled to take off his top hat as he slowly entered the Basilisca at the heart of French Canada and eyed its spiritual splendors. His eyes opened wide.

“Thoreau thought Montreal looked like a New York in the making. In early afternoon they stepped onto the wharf, pushing through crowds hurrahing welcome to the Yankees, to walk straight to Notre Dame, the heart of French Catholicism and the gateway to all that was new and strange.

“Thoreau the Yankee Puritan boggled at the cool silence of the cathedral, worth any thousand Protestant churches, a sanctum “where the universe preaches to you and can be heard”—almost as grand and sacred as a Concord forest.

“I am not sure but this Catholic religion would be an admirable one if the priest were quite omitted,” he quipped. And coming from him, it was a compliment.”

— Thoreau A Life, by Laura Dassow Walks