|
June 26, 1864
Cornerstone St. Patrick’s Church, St. John’s
On this day June 26, 1864, Bishop John Thomas Mullock laid the cornerstone of St. Patrick’s Church, Patrick Street, St. John’s.
St. Patrick’s Parish can trace its founding to Bishop Mullock’s purchase of a piece of land at Riverhead (old West End of St. John’s), on March 23, 1852, on which he intended to build a church, school, and convent to serve the spiritual and educational needs of the area. However, the evolution of the parish was slow, extending over a period of several years.
The foundation stone for the parish church was first laid in September 10, 1855 in connection with the celebrations surrounding the consecration of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
However, construction did not proceed after this ceremony, a lack of funding and skilled manpower was to blame for the delay in the construction of the parish church. In any case, a provisional wooden church was erected on the present site of the Deanery, in September of 1860, to service the needs of the parishioners until the church proper could be completed.
On February 7, 1864 slides laden with stone accompanied by bands playing music for the entertainment of the workers hauled huge stone slabs from Signal Hill across the snow covered streets to the site of the new proposed church.
On June 26, 1864, Bishop Mullock laid the cornerstone (as distinct from the foundation stone) of the present day church. However, progress on the structure again was sporadic. It was finally opened for public worship and consecrated on August 28, 1881.
The building is one of only four examples of the Gothic Revival style in Canada. J.J. McCarthy of Dublin designed St. Patrick’s and it is his only known Canadian work. 
At the time of its founding, the parish’s boundaries encompassed the West End of St. John’s then known as Riverhead. Although the boundaries have been altered over time with the establishment of additional parishes in St. John’s, St. Patrick’s still takes in most of the old West End of the city.
St. Patrick's Church, Patrick Street, St. John’s was declared a National Historic Site by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada on June 26, 2005
In 1997 the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador declared St. Patrick's Church a Registered Heritage Structure.
For more information on this and other related subjects contact the Archives of the R.C. Archdiocese.
Other “Archival Moments” will be posted at this site on a regular weekly basis. If you have friends or colleagues who would like to receive these "archival moments" please send us their e mail address or forward this moment to them from your desk!!
E-mail: ldohey@nf.aibn.com
We hope that you have enjoyed this archival moment.
|
|
