Exhausted after so much work, he retired to Sault-au-Récollet, at Maison Saint-Janvier, where he arrived on June 16, 1877. It was a residence that had been built near the church in 1853 by the parish priest of Visitation, Msgr. Janvier Vinet, to receive the elderly. The diocese acquired it and entrusted its direction to the Sisters of Providence “for the care of Msgr. Bourget and the disabled priests.”

It was a few steps from this Saint-Janvier House, demolished in 1970, that Cardinal Paul Grégoire, Archbishop of Montreal (1968-1990), had a residence built in 1981 for sick or resting priests. He christened it Residence Ignace-Bourget in memory of its distant and illustrious predecessor.

However, Msgr. Bourget did not remain idle. In 1880, in response to a circular letter from Msgr. Fabre, he became a “donation collector” to help his successor face the financial difficulties of the diocese. He finished his collection on December 8, 1882 at Nativité-de-la-Vierge church in Hochelaga. He had raised a total of $84,782.

Msgr. Bourget’s illness recurred in 1883. On June 8, 1885, in the late afternoon, he died after being in painful agony. He was 85 years old.

The next day, a convoy of eleven hundred carriages took three hours to escort Msgr. Bourget's tomb from Sault-au-Récollet to Notre-Dame Church.

That same day, in La Vérité, a text appeared in Quebec City by Father Henri Têtu, biographer of the Bishops of Quebec, in which we read: “God has called to Himself this great bishop, this great citizen, this beautiful intelligence, this true saint.”

The funeral was celebrated at Notre-Dame Basilica where the superior of Saint-Sulpice, Mr. Louis Colin, lauded Msgr. Bourget as “a champion of orthodoxy, a saint in his works and in his trials.” The next day, a second celebration took place at the cathedral.

Msgr. Bourget's memory is engraved in two remarkable works of art that express the esteem and admiration that the diocesan faithful of Montreal have for him. Outside the Cathedral, on a mound at the corner of René-Lévesque Boulevard and de la Cathédrale, an imposing statue was erected by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste in 1903. Inside the cathedral, in the funeral chapel of the bishops built in 1931, stands a magnificent mausoleum crowned by a recumbent effigy which covers the tomb of Msgr. Bourget.

These are two large works that testify to the place held by Msgr. Ignace Bourget in the history of the Church of Montreal.