The Gavazzi Riots were disturbances created in Quebec and Montreal in June 1853 by mobs which attacked halls in which ex-Catholic monk Alessandro Gavazzi was lecturing.Horner, 2011Aspinwall, 2006
Overview
During the spring of 1853 Alessandro Gavazzi, an Italian patriot, visited North America. His lectures at Quebec and Montreal were strongly anti-Catholic; and at both places soldiers had to be called out to restore order. The riots also caused political repercussions.W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., p. 13.
Riot in Quebec City
On the evening of the June 6th, pursuant to previous announcement, Gavazzi proceeded to deliver a discourse in the Free Presbyterian Church, in St. Ursule Street, on the subject of the Inquisition. A large audience assembled to hear him. When he had been speaking for somewhat more than an hour he was interrupted by violent and abusive exclamations. The interruption was the signal for action on the part of other protestors outside. A volley of stones came crashing through the windows of the church, and immediately afterwards a crowd of persons armed with bludgeons made a forcible entrance into the building.
The principal participants were Irish Catholics who reacted violently to Gavazzi's anti-Catholic sentiments. Gavazzi attributed the failure of the Italian national movement of 1848-49 to the defection of Pope Pius IX from the cause, and therefore rejected Catholicism. The Gavazzi Riot in Quebec was quelled by military forces.
In February 1854, on acquittal of a Quebec rioter, Gavazzi was burned in effigy.
Riot in Montreal
On June 9, a much more serious affray occurred at Montreal, in consequence of the delivery of a lecture there by Gavazzi. The place of delivery was Zion Church, Haymarket Square. A strong body of police were stationed opposite the church. While the lecture was in progress there was an attempt on the part of a band of Roman Catholic Irish to force their way into the church. A few minutes afterwards the latter returned to the assault, and were again driven back. Charles Wilson, the mayor of the city, invoked the Riot Act. A regiment was on hand at the mayor's request to assist the police. An order was given to fire upon the crowd; the order was obeyed, and five men fell dead. The firing by the troops put an end to aggression on the part of the mob. It is impossible even to approximate the number of the wounded.
During the coroner's inquiry into the riot at Montreal beginning on June 16, it was not possible to determine who had given the order to fire. The jury's report split along sectarian lines: Protestant jurors blamed the mayor, Catholic jurors exonerated him.
Robert McBride included a poetical account of the event in his 1870 book The Canadian Orange Minstrel, entitled "Lines on the Murder of a Number of Protestants, At Zion Church Montreal, Who had Gone to Hear a Reformed Italian Priest Preach—his name was Gavazzi—1853."
Protestant journalists such as John Dougall of the Montreal Witness persisted in accusing the mayor for the riots.
The Montreal painter James Duncan depicts the event in his work "Gavazzi riot" (1853).
See also List of incidents of civil unrest in Canada
Notes
Further reading Aspinwall, Bernard. "Rev. Alessandro Gavazzi (1808–1889) and Scottish Identity: A Chapter in Nineteenth Century Anti-Catholicism." Recusant History 28#1 (2006): 129-152. Horner, Dan. "" Shame upon you as men!": Contesting Authority in the Aftermath of Montreal's Gavazzi Riot." Histoire sociale/social history 44.1 (2011): 29-52.
External links The Gavazzi Riots and their Consequences Extensive resources on the Gavazzi riots