Established in 1820 First church built in 1866
First parish priest: 1870

The first settlers, from Memramcook, arrived in the region in 1820 and settled in Bouctouche, from where they gradually moved up the river of the same name. They established a series of small villages inland.
The first church, dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was built in 1866, when Sainte-Marie was still a mission of Bouctouche. It was only six years later, in 1870, that the first parish priest, Father Louis-Joseph Ouellet, arrived in the parish. This church served as a place of worship for about fifty years.
A second church, consecrated in 1914, was unfortunately destroyed by fire in January 1953.
In 1955, the parishioners erected a Calvary cross in the cemetery as a monument to the bicentennial of the deportation of the Acadians. That same year, construction began on a new church in a simple and peaceful style.
Sainte-Marie is the mother parish of Saint-Paul, Adamsville, and Saint-Norbert.
Every summer since 1957, the beautiful pastoral landscape of Sainte-Marie has hosted the Kent County Agricultural Fair.