Quebec and its hagionymic ways
La Presse is digging into the many saints’ names found on the Quebec map, roughly 45% of all our town and village names. This item also starts a series on the more obscure saints, starting with Saint Tharcisius.
A regular reader has occasionally mentioned fake saints’ names, and it comes up here:
Mais il faut préciser que beaucoup de noms que l’on croit religieux réfèrent en réalité à une personne. « On parle dans ce cas de faux hagionymes », explique Gilles Payer, porte‑parole de la Commission de toponymie.
M. Payer cite ainsi Saint‑Gédéon, au Lac‑Saint‑Jean, dont le nom s’est inspiré de l’ancien premier ministre Gédéon Ouimet (1823-1905), et non d’un saint dénommé Gédéon, « puisqu’il n’en existe pas ».
jeather 10:46 on 2025-06-24 Permalink
Ah, see, we don’t have to rename things because they really aren’t religious.
Kate 11:04 on 2025-06-24 Permalink
It’s an old tradition, like how Greek people celebrate their name saint’s day. Back in the day, we would have renamed Dorchester Street “boulevard St‑René” rather than “boulevard René‑Lévesque”. That’s why when an island was named for Hélène Boullé, Champlain’s wife, who wasn’t a saint either, tradition meant it wasn’t called “Île Hélène‑Boullé” but “Île Sainte‑Hélène”.
The silly part is when you start naming things for nonexistent saints.
So it is kind of religious, but, typically, more a tradition against a religious background, than an active religious practice. Nobody is praying to the Saint Gédéon mentioned in the article. But yes, the assumption that Catholic religion is the fabric of existence is there.
Ian 10:18 on 2025-06-25 Permalink
Well I guess that’s why I can’t find Saint Louis de Ha Ha in my copy of “Lives of the Saints”.
Kate 11:21 on 2025-06-25 Permalink
Patron saint of comedians.
Tee Owe 07:25 on 2025-06-26 Permalink
@ Kate
Tee Owe 07:27 on 2025-06-26 Permalink
Should have been a laughing face emoticon there 🙁