Showing posts with label Halifax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halifax. Show all posts
Saturday, July 7, 2012
The Cathedrals of Canada - 4. Antigonish
The Diocese of Antigonish recently celebrated the 400th anniversary of the first celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in that place. It is another example of the Canadian phenomenon of transferring the seat of the Diocese. In 1844 the Diocese of Arichat was erected out of the Diocese of Halifax, with the Cathedral of N.D. de l'Assomption at Arichat but the residence of the Bishop from the very beginning had been at Antigonish, to where, in 1886, the seat and name of the Diocese was transferred and when St. Ninian's became the Cathedral. The Diocese covers 7 counties of Northeast Nova Scotia, 3 mainland counties and all of Cape Breton Island. The first Catholic Chapel in Antigonish was built in 1810 by Father Alexander MacDonald. Bishop Plessis named the new mission St. Ninian's in 1812. The first resident pastor was Father Remi Gaulin who came in 1815. Father William Fraser (later Bishop Fraser) became Pastor of Antigonish in 1824 and replaced the chapel with a frame building which could accommodate eight hundred. The cornerstone for the present St. Ninian's was laid on June 29th, 1867, by Rev. Dr. John Cameron, V. G., and was completed in 1874. St. Ninian suggests Scotland and the Cathedral's very fabric incorporates the words "Tigh Dhe" or House of God in Gaelic, inspired, perhaps by Alexander MacDonald of Keppoch, one of the last of the Gaelic poets, who was inspired to versify upon seeing the new Cathedral. The interior is by no means the worst example of the re-orderer's 'art', but the loss of Altar Rails and High Altar (replaced under a monumental canopy by the Bishop's throne) has swept away some of the most harmonious traditional features of the interior.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Sowing the Seeds of Catholicism in Canada
The seeds of the Catholic Faith in Canada were sown by France, eldest daughter of the Church. So in a sense Canada is the senior Granddaughter of Our Holy Mother the Church. Even before the arrival of Jacques Cartier, French sailors had landed and, as good sons of the Church, had consacrated the lands of Canada to God and to His Blessed Mother. The first Mass on Canada's shores was celebrated on 7th July, 1534 by the Chaplain to the Cartier expedition. The foundation of the settlements at Sainte-Croix and Annapolis (Port Royal) was the first permanent presence of Holy Mother Church in Canada.
The first serious missionary endeavours began with the foundation of Québec by Samuel de Champlain. Franciscans (1615), Jesuits (1625), the Ursuline Nuns (1640), the Congregation of Notre Dame (1653) and Suplicians (1657) were the early pioneers.
Until 1659, Canada, known as New France, was a vicarate of the Archdiocese of Rouen. In that year, Pope Alexander VII Chigi appointed François de Montmorency-Laval as Vicar Apostolic of New France. In 1674 Pope Clement X Altieri created him first Bishop of Québec, the first Diocese of Canada.
1763 was a year of potential disaster. By the Treaty of Paris, Angican English forces occupied New France. The Protestant English proposed to substitute an Anglican for a Catholic Hierarchy, as had been done in England and Ireland two centuries earlier - in violation of the Treaty of Paris, which had confirmed the liberty of Holy Mother Church in New France. The English authorities proceeded to protestantize education and to interfere in the nomination of Bishops and insisted upon the title of Superintendent of Catholic Worship for Catholic Bishops, reserving the title to their own Anglican pretenders. They forbade the Franciscans, Jesuits and Suplicians to accept novices. Only the latter retained their property in the general confiscation of 1774. Providence has strange ways and it was the wave of refugees from the French Rebellion that swelled the diminishing ranks of the Clergy of Canada. However, this period of open persecution was not to end until 1819, with the elevation of the See of Québec to an Archdiocese, with Suffragan Vicarates Apostolic of Upper Canada (based upon the Diocese of Kingston) and Nova Scotia (based upon the Archdiocese of Halifax).
The first serious missionary endeavours began with the foundation of Québec by Samuel de Champlain. Franciscans (1615), Jesuits (1625), the Ursuline Nuns (1640), the Congregation of Notre Dame (1653) and Suplicians (1657) were the early pioneers.
Until 1659, Canada, known as New France, was a vicarate of the Archdiocese of Rouen. In that year, Pope Alexander VII Chigi appointed François de Montmorency-Laval as Vicar Apostolic of New France. In 1674 Pope Clement X Altieri created him first Bishop of Québec, the first Diocese of Canada.
1763 was a year of potential disaster. By the Treaty of Paris, Angican English forces occupied New France. The Protestant English proposed to substitute an Anglican for a Catholic Hierarchy, as had been done in England and Ireland two centuries earlier - in violation of the Treaty of Paris, which had confirmed the liberty of Holy Mother Church in New France. The English authorities proceeded to protestantize education and to interfere in the nomination of Bishops and insisted upon the title of Superintendent of Catholic Worship for Catholic Bishops, reserving the title to their own Anglican pretenders. They forbade the Franciscans, Jesuits and Suplicians to accept novices. Only the latter retained their property in the general confiscation of 1774. Providence has strange ways and it was the wave of refugees from the French Rebellion that swelled the diminishing ranks of the Clergy of Canada. However, this period of open persecution was not to end until 1819, with the elevation of the See of Québec to an Archdiocese, with Suffragan Vicarates Apostolic of Upper Canada (based upon the Diocese of Kingston) and Nova Scotia (based upon the Archdiocese of Halifax).
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