L’église de Saint-Enfant-Jésus du Mile-End, also known as l’église de Saint-Enfant-Jésus de Montréal, is one of the oldest churches built outside the city limits of Montréal in the mid-19th century. At that time, the Mile End area, then called Côte-Saint-Louis, was a rural suburb north of the city, characterized by vast limestone quarries that attracted workers, carters, and labourers. To meet the spiritual needs of this growing population, Bishop Ignace Bourget of Montréal (1840-1876) decided in 1848 to build a church in this area.

In April 1848, Pierre Beaubien, a physician and influential landowner, donated a plot of land to the diocese at the corner of Laurier and Saint-Dominique streets for the construction of the church. That same year, a temporary chapel was erected, incorporated into a grey stone building that also housed the Institution for Deaf-Mutes and the village school. This chapel, located in an isolated area surrounded by quarries and marshes, served as a temporary place of worship. On June 14, 1857, Bishop Bourget blessed the cornerstone of the Church of Saint-Enfant-Jésus, and the first Mass was celebrated there on December 25, 1858. The parish was officially established in 1867, although its registers had been opened as early as 1864.