The Cathedrals of Canada - 2. Alexandria-Cornwall

It is almost unheard of to change the name of a Diocese in Europe. Some may be suppressed, perhaps to be used by titular Bishops, and some are united but in Canada the movement of population or the Diocesan offices from one ecclesiastical hub to another is often followed by a change in the name of the Diocese.

One example is the Vicariate Apostolic of Grouard moved its chancery and cathedral to

McLennan, and became known as the Archdiocese of Grouard-McLennan. In 1912, the Diocese of St. Albert was moved a few short miles and renamed the Archdiocese of Edmonton. In 1953, the seat of the Diocese of Harbour Grace in Newfoundland moved to Grand Falls and was renamed the Diocese of Grand Falls. The Diocese of St. George’s also in Newfoundland was moved to CornerBrook and became the Diocese of CornerBrook and Labrador. In 1963, the Diocese of Prince Rupert BC was moved to Prince George and became the Diocese of Prince George - poor Prince Rupert!

Something similar happened in 1976 when the seat of the Diocese of Alexandria was moved from Alexandria to Cornwall and the diocese renamed the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall. While the cathedral remained in the town of Alexandria, a co-cathedral was designated in the city of Cornwall. Ironically, another population shift has meant that the co-cathedral has ceased to be a Parish Church and has been re-designated a Marian Sanctuary.

The Co-Cathedral was built in 1887 and dedicated to the Nativity of Our Lady. The corner stone reads:

Replique Pierre Angulaire

Le 8 Sept en l'année 1887

Son Excellence

Mgr. James Vincent Cleary

Eveque de Kingston et Ordinaire du

lieu a dument pose la pierre angulaire

de l'eglise de la Nativité de la B.V.M.

The pictures of the Ontario Heritage Trust and on flickr show just how little damage was done by the post-Conciliar iconoclasts. The Parish forms part of the French-speaking deanery of the Diocese so there is a typically Canadian equality of representation between the Alexandra deanery and the Cornwall deanery, one anglophone Cathedral and deanery and one francophone.

The Cathedrals of Canada - 1. Alexandria-Cornwall

I wanted to start my survey of Canada's 91 Catholic Cathedrals on a high. St. Finnan's Cathedral in Alexandria ON is the Mother Church of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall. Thanks for flickr you can compare the interior arrangement of the Cathedral before and after the flood of liturgical revolution.

St. Finnan, The Apostle of Moidart, was an Irish Missionary to Scotland in the 6th Century.

A chronicle of the Cathedral parish here relates that ""The plans of the new St. Finnan's Church were prepared by William H. Hodson, Esq., architect, Montreal, during the Winter of 1883 and approved by the Rt. Rev. James V. Cleary, S. T. D., Bishop of Kingston, in the Spring of the same year. The contract of building the new church was awarded to Messrs. John R. Chisholm and Son, of Lochiel, on the 22nd September, 1883. The first ground was broken and commencement made on the 25th day of the same month. The corner stone was set and blessed with solemn ceremonies on the 13th July, 1884, by the Rt. Rev. James V. Cleary, assisted by the Reverend pastor, also by the Reverend Fathers O'Connor, Perth, Gauthier, Williamstown, Duffus, St.Raphael's, and Cicolari of Lochiel, and a large concourse of people, to whom his Lordship preached an eloquent and impressive sermon.

"On the 15th of March, 1885, the same illustrious prelate dedicated with solemn service to the worship of God interiorly and exteriorly the church, assisted by the Rev. pastor, also Fathers Gauthier, Duff us, Cicolari, and a full congregation of the laity. The Reverend Father Gauthier celebrated Mass and his Lordship preached an eloquent sermon appropriate to the occasion."

"On the 18th of June, 1883, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Cleary, Bishop of Kingston, visited the parish and administered confirmation to three hundred and sixty-three persons. On the 19th of September, 1886, His Lordship visited the parish and appointed the Very Rev. Alexander Macdonell, Vicar-General of the Diocese and received his oath of office in the presence of Rev. Thomas Kelly, Sec. Rev. C. J. Duffus of St. Raphael's, Rev. John Twomey of Lochiel, Rev. William A. Macdonell, Glen Nevis, and a full congregation of the laity, to whom the Bishop explained, in eloquent terms, the dignity and obligations of the office to which their humble pastor was raised."

"In the Summer of 1861, the ground in front of the church was terraced and a new fence built to the west and in front of the church"

The parish was established in 1833 as part of the Diocese of Kingston, which, as I've already said, was formed from the Vicariate of Upper Canada in 1826. The Diocese of Alexandria in Ontario (Alexandrinus in Ontario) was itself erected in 1890, perhaps on account of its splendid Church, and became the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall in 1976. According to the Annuario Pontificio 2007, the Diocese has the remarkably small Catholic population of about 55,675 souls, which has been pretty static over the last 40 years, in 31 Parishes.

The Diocese is currently vacant since Bishop Durocher was transferred to be Archbishop of Gatineau. The Administrator of the Diocese is Fr. Kelvin Maloney.

The Structure of Catholicism in Canada

From those early days of the Archdiocese of Québec (1659) and the two Suffragans (1819), the structures of Holy Mother Church in Canada have developed into the normal structures of a National Hierarchy, Ecclesiastical Provinces (17), and Sui Generis Jurisdictions (7).

The following Ecclesiastical Provinces of Canada (Archdioceses: Suffragans)

Edmonton: Calgary, Saint Paul in Alberta
Gatineau: Amos, Mont-Laurier, Rouyn-Noranda
Grouard-McLennan: Mackenzie-Fort Smith, Whitehorse
Halifax-Yarmouth: Antigonish, Charlottetown
Keewatin-Le Pas: Churchill-Baie d’Hudson, Moosonee
Kingston: Alexandria-Cornwall, Peterborough, Sault Sainte Marie
Moncton: Bathurst, Edmundston, Saint John, New Brunswick
Montréal: Joliette, Saint-Jean-Longueuil, Saint-Jérôme, Valleyfield
Ottawa: Hearst, Pembroke, Timmins
Québec: Chicoutimi, Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Trois Rivières
Regina: Prince-Albert, Saskatoon
Rimouski: Baie-Comeau, Gaspé
Saint John’s, Newfoundland: Corner Brook and Labrador, Grand Falls
Sherbrooke: Nicolet, Saint-Hyacinthe
Toronto: Hamilton, London, Saint Catharines, Thunder Bay
Vancouver: Kamloops, Nelson, Prince George, Victoria
Winnipeg (Ukrainian): Edmonton (Ukrainian) (Eparchy), New Westminster (Ukrainian) (Eparchy), Saskatoon (Ukrainian) (Eparchy), Toronto (Ukrainian) (Eparchy)

The Archdioceses of Saint-Boniface and Winnipeg are sui generis and there are also sui generis jusisdictions of Canadian Military Ordinariate and the Eastern Catholic sui generis Eparchies of Saint-Maron de Montréal (Maronite), Saint-Sauveur de Montréal (Melkite Greek), Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto (Slovakian), and Mar Addai of Toronto (Chaldean).

The 2001 Census found that 12.8 million Canadians, 43% of the population, identified themselves as Catholics. A survey conducted in 2000 found that outside of Québec, weekly Mass attendance was 32%, down from 75% in 1950, while in Québec, which accounts for about a quarter of the Catholics in Canada, the rate of weekly Mass attendance was 20%, down from 88% in 1950.

In the end of the 1960s, Canada had 21,191 Priests. In 2000, it had a mere 9,832.

Today, three Canadian Dioceses are vacant: Timmins, Alexandria-Cornwall, and Saint Paul in Alberta.

According to the Annuario Pontificio 2011, the three largest Dioceses in terms of numbers of Catholics are Toronto (1,931,000), Montréal (1,590,150), and Québec (1,040,690), which, between them have more than one third of the whole Catholic population of Canada.