In 1864, the Municipality of the Parish of St. Malachy was founded in the northern part of Lochaber Township in the Ottawa Valley. Canadian settlers but also Irish Catholics developed this small rural community in a beautiful valley in the heart of the forest.
In 1879, the Virgin Mary had seemingly appeared in the church of the little village of Knock in the county of Mayo, Ireland, land of the early settlers. Since then, the small Irish church has become a major place of pilgrimage: “Our Lady of Knock”. In 1949, after a trip to Ireland, the Mayo parish priest, Father Clément Braceland, had a replica of the famous sanctuary built in Mayo and gave it the same name. It can still be visited today.
It was during the building of this church that the members of the municipal council decided to change the name of the municipality. On September 18, 1954, the municipality of Parish of St. Malachy became the municipality of Mayo.
The manufacturing of potash from the ashes of wood combustion was, as in other places in the region, an extra source of revenues for many settlers. Today, the small community, in addition to agriculture and forestry, can count on the presence of the Forêt-la-Blanche Ecological Reserve, created in 2003. This forest interpretation center is filled with discoveries for visitors of all ages.
Origin and Meaning
Settled around 1807, the first inhabitants of this Outaouais municipality, located about twelve kilometers northwest of Thurso, had Ireland and Scotland as their homeland. It therefore seemed natural to identify the parish municipality established in 1864 as Saint-Malachy, a name taken from the mission opened there in 1854, since Malachi (1094-1148) was primate of Ireland and one of the most popular saints of this country. We know him better today for his Prophecies on the Popes, an apocryphal document written in the second half of the 16th century. When changing the municipal name in 1954, the same theme was respected since the choice fell on Mayo, the name of the post office between 1866 and 1926 and also the name of a county in the Republic of Ireland, in the province of Connacht. In Irish, Magh-eo, now Mayo, means: the plain of yews.
The Irish village of Mayo was formerly an episcopal seat and Saint Colman, who died in 676, founded a monastery there. In 1992, the name Mayolois, Mayoloise was sanctioned by the members of the municipal council as an “official” denomination to identify the citizens of the place.
Translated from : Noms et lieux du Québec, ouvrage de la Commission de la toponymie, published in 1994 and 1996. Website : www.toponymie.gouv.qc.ca
