Other Name(s)
St. John the Baptist Church
L'église Saint Jean Baptiste
Links and documents
n/a
Construction Date(s)
1837/01/01 to 1841/12/31
Listed on the Canadian Register:
2006/12/05
Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
Saint John the Baptist Church is located in Corberrie, Digby County, at the crossroad of Highway 340 passing through New Tusket, Corberrie and Salmon River, and the back road from Church Point and Concession. The building is a wood frame structure with a front tower attached to the main nave. The building and property are located in the provincial designation.
Heritage Value
Saint John the Baptist Church is valued as the second oldest Roman Catholic Church in Nova Scotia and because of its association with Abbé Jean Mandé Sigogne and Frederick Armand Robichaud.
Born in France in 1763, Jean Mandé Sigogne arrived in Nova Scotia in 1799. He had been living in exile in England for the previous seven years after leaving France during the French Revolution. A Roman Catholic Priest, and later Justice of the Peace, Sigogne spent the last 45 years of his life serving the Acadian and the Mi'kmaq peoples until his death in 1844. During his life in Nova Scotia Abbé Sigogne supervised the construction of nine churches, his seventh one being Saint John the Baptist Church. The cornerstone for St. John the Baptist was laid in 1837; construction finished and it was consecrated in 1841. It is the only one of Sigogne's churches that remains today and it is the second oldest Roman Catholic Church in Nova Scotia.
Frederick Armand Robichaud was born in 1785 in Meteghan, NS. He later moved to Corberrie where in 1836, he was one of the first two Acadians elected to the Provincial Legislature. He is buried in the cemetery that surrounds St. John the Baptist Church.
This wooden frame church with its front tower is still an active church today.
Source: Provincial Heritage Property files, no. 140, Heritage Division, 1747 Summer Street, Halifax, NS
Character-Defining Elements
Character-defining elements of St. John the Baptist include:
- building form and massing of the wooden church with its front tower entrance;
- gabled roof;
- Romanesque Revival style windows;
- shingled steeple;
- cemetery surrounding church.
Recognition
Jurisdiction
Nova Scotia
Recognition Authority
Province of Nova Scotia
Recognition Statute
Heritage Property Act
Recognition Type
Provincially Registered Property
Recognition Date
1991/06/17
Historical Information
Significant Date(s)
n/a
Theme - Category and Type
- Building Social and Community Life
- Religious Institutions
- Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life
- Philosophy and Spirituality
Function - Category and Type
Current
Historic
- Religion, Ritual and Funeral
- Religious Facility or Place of Worship
- Religion, Ritual and Funeral
- Mortuary Site, Cemetery or Enclosure
Architect / Designer
n/a
Builder
n/a
Additional Information
Location of Supporting Documentation
Provincial Heritage Program property files, no. 140, 1747 Summer Street, Halifax, NS
Cross-Reference to Collection
Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier
00PNS0140
Status
Published
Related Places
n/a
