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Montebello, Quebec (Canada)

Municipalité de Montebello

image by Luc Baronian

City flag

See also:

City flag

I saw this flag flying in December 2000, and James Croft has an identical photo in his collection. The motto, FERO NON QUAERO, translates as 'I found, I search no more'.
Luc Baronian, 17 May 2005

The Municipality of Montebello (1,080 inhabitants in 2006; 795 ha) is located between Ottawa and Montreal, on the northern bank of river Ouataouais. Montebello is the "Village of Lord Papineau", nicknamed for Louis-
Joseph Papineau, the leader of the Patriot insurrection and a main symbol of Quebec nationalism. Montebello is the site of the Papineau Manor and family's funerary chapel.

Montebello was originally settled by the Oueskarini (Little-Nation) Algonquins. In 1674, the Company of Western Indies granted to François de Montmorency-Laval (1623-1708), first Bishop of Quebec, a domain of 25 square leagues located along river Ouataouais, which would remained unsettled for the next decades. In 1801, Joseph Papineau purchased from the Quebec Seminary the western part of the domain; in 1803, Papineau completed his domain by acquiring from the Quebec Chapter the eastern part of the domain. Some 20 colonists settled the place, developing first timber extraction and, subsequently, agriculture. In 1817, Louis-Joseph Papineau (1786-1801), Orator at the Assembly Chamber of Lower-Canada, purchased the domain from his father and appointed his brother Denis-Benjamin (1789-1854) as manager of the domain. Exiled in 1837, Papineau came back to Canada in 1845 and built a manor on Cape Bonsecours as the seat of his domain; the same year, the Municipality of the Domain of La Petite-Nation was established. The municipality was further split into the municipalities of Fassett (1855), Papineauville (1855), Saint-André-Avellin (1855), Montebello (1878), Plaisance (1900), Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix (1902), and Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours (1918, including the Petite-Nation Reserve).

The name of Montebello was originally used by Papineau for the post office; Papineau did not specify a written form, using Monte-Bello, Montebello, Montébello, Monté-Bello, etc...The name was fixed on 29 August 1878 when the Municipality of the Village of Montebello was established, seceding from the Parish of Notre-Dame-de- Bonsecours. The origin of the name of Montebello is disputed. Michel Chamberland (1865-1943), parish priest in Montebello, wrote that the name is of straightforward Italian origin ("Histoire de Montebello, 1825-1928"). Henri Bourassa (1868-1952), Mayor of Montebello (1890-1894) claims that the name of the village should be written Monte-Bello, to differentiate it from the name of the Duke of Montebello. However, recent historical research summarized by Yves Michel Allard ("Histoire de Montebello, 1929-2003") indicates that Papineau indeed named the village as a tribute to his friend, the Duke of Montebello; This should be the French statesman and diplomat Louis-Napoléon-Auguste Lannes (1801-1874), 2nd Duke of Montebello and son of Marshal Jean Lannes (1769-1809), made the 1st Duke of Montebello on 19 March 1808 by Emperor Napoléon I, as a reward for his victory in the Battle of Montebello (Lombardy, Italy, 9 June 1800). During his long career, the Duke of Montebello served the Kingdom of France (Peer, Ambassador, Minister), the Second Republic (Representative), and the Second Empire (Ambassador, Senator, General Councillor).
- http://www.ville.montebello.qc.ca/prsentationdehistoireetpatrimoine.html - Municipal website

The arms of Montebello are "Gules fretty eight arrows or a chief of the same a cross azure charged with five scallops of the second cantonned with four alerions of the first per fess." The shield supported by two branches of maple leaved proper, supported in base by two beavers proper affronty over a scroll argent inscribed with the motto "FERO NON QUAERO" in letters sable.

The motto was proposed by the Canadian College of Arms upon request of Mayor Nestor Daoust (1906-2002). Unfortunately, its translation in common language is not straightforward. The noted Dominican priest Marcel-Marie Desmarais proposed "I Don't Search, I Have Found". Pierre Ippersiel, President of the Historical Society Louis-Joseph-Papineau, pointed out that the translation was erroneous and quite meaningless. Ippersiel proposed to translate the motto as "I Don't Search [my history], I Bear [it with pride]".
- http://www.ville.montebello.qc.ca/armoiriesdemontebello.html - Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 28 July 2012