Papal Purple, people?

April 6, 2005 6:09 PM

I used to live in Montreal, and heard somewhere that on certain nights the cross on top of the mountain would flash various colours (I never saw this happen myself). Rumour had it that this was for bulb-testing purposes, and that the city lit up the cross with different colours when certain rare and important events took place. Supposedly, one of these events was the death of a pope, which was purported to merit a purple cross. Is the cross purple right now? Is it really outfitted with various coloured bulbs, or is this all wild hearsay? Maybe someone was just pulling my leg.

(I actually climbed the cross once, but I didn't take note of the bulbs)

posted by painquale to religion & philosophy (8 comments total)

I haven't seen it, but I thought I heard CBC mentioning that the cross had changed colours. Sorry I can't give you any more details.
posted by smcniven at 6:18 PM on April 6, 2005

Here you go
posted by smcniven at 6:19 PM on April 6, 2005

photo
posted by transient at 6:22 PM on April 6, 2005

Cool! Anyone know of any other events that'll change the cross's colour?
posted by painquale at 6:26 PM on April 6, 2005

It's been blue and red as well (for Saint-Jean-Baptist festivities and for AIDS awareness).
posted by jheiz at 7:05 PM on April 6, 2005

It was. Apparently the fiber optics they installed will allow them to change it more frequently, a la our Empire State Building, i guess (or so i was told by Montrealers this past wkend).
posted by amberglow at 9:13 PM on April 6, 2005

I think the coolest thing was that during the 1998 Ice Storm where half of Quebec was without power for weeks, emergency generators were hooked up to the cross of Mont Royal and it was kept lit the entire time. Some might say this was wasteful, but most Montrealers found great inspiration that, in a sea of darkness, the cross burned brightly and was visible from even from distant suburbs.
posted by randomstriker at 12:58 AM on April 7, 2005

Here's a good bit on the history of the cross and illumination.
posted by docgonzo at 9:55 AM on April 7, 2005