Annual mass honouring Montreal’s unclaimed dead adopts special meaning during COVID
MONTREAL — Audience members were called to lay white roses in front of the altar of a Montreal cathedral on Wednesday during a ceremony in honour of the hundreds of Quebecers who die each year with their bodies left unclaimed.
The annual event took on special meaning this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Religious and community leaders said the COVID-19 health crisis has heightened issues of social isolation and poverty, which disproportionately affect society’s most vulnerable.
At the beginning of the Catholic mass, Archbishop Christian Lepine told the crowd at Mary Queen of the World Cathedral that some 200 people die each year in the Montreal area without a family member coming forward to claim their remains.
Dressed in white robes, he urged the crowd to pray for those who die alone, often victims of homelessness or addiction.