Flag of Carillon

In March 1882, Ernest Gagnon wrote that Louis de Gonzague Baillargé (1808–1896), lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist in Quebec, "having read in an old chronicle that a flag from Carillon and suspended in the church of the Recollets in Quebec City had been saved during the fire of the church in 1796," began researching in order to find the flag.

In November or December 1847, he met the last of the Récollet priests, Father Louis Marinet dit Bonami (1764–1848), in his residence on Saint-Vallier Street near the Quebec General Hospital.

While one of the brothers was saving a chest filled with objects thrown into it, he crossed the nave of the church, and the old flag fell in front of him.

The flag was probably fabricated around 1726, date of the arrival of Beauharnois, and it was known to have been flown on May 29, 1732, for the order of Saint Louis, with its motto Bellicae virtutis praemium.

In 2008, the Canadian Register of Arms, Flags and Badges confirmed the flag's appearance: OBVERSE: Azure the Blessed Virgin Mary Argent vested Gules cloaked Azure crowned and enhaloed of mullets, holding the Christ child and standing on a crescent above a scroll Argent inscribed REFUGIUM PECCATORUM [Refuge of Sinners] in letters Sable ensigning the arms of Beauharnois (Argent a fess and in chief three martlets Sable) ensigned by a marquis’s coronet, suspended therefrom the insignia of the Ordre de Saint-Louis and supported by two eagles close, all between four fleurs-de-lis reversed, two in bend and two in bend sinister Argent; REVERSE: Azure the arms of France Modern (Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or) ensigned by the Royal Crown of France and environed by two palm branches Or bound by a ribbon Gules all between four fleurs-de-lis reversed, two in bend and two in bend sinister Argent;[3]

The original flag of Carillon, displayed at the Musée de l'Amérique française in Quebec City .