The Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

minor

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

and former

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

dedicated to the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

located in

Labrador City Labrador City is a town in western Labrador (part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador), near the Quebec border. With a population of 7,412 as of 2021, it is the second-largest population centre in Labrador, behind Happy Valley-Go ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

, Canada. The basilica is under the circumscription of the Diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador. The church was completed in 1962, and served as the cathedral of the former

Diocese of Labrador City–Schefferville In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

. The basilica was decreed on June 1, 2007.GCatholic.org
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History

Fr. Jacques Laperriere, OMI, visiting from

Schefferville, Quebec Schefferville is a town in the Canadian province of Quebec. Schefferville is in the heart of the Naskapi and Innu territory in northern Quebec, less than 2 km (1¼ miles) from the border with Labrador on the north shore of Knob Lake. I ...

, said the first mass at Christmas 1959. It was held in a mine garage. The bishop appointed Fr. Theodore Roussel, OMI, as the first pastor in 1960. He led the drive to build the first church. The church was opened in 1962. In response to Bishop Peter Sutton, OMI, request,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

decreed in 1976 that the church become a co-cathedral with the one at Schefferville. When mining stopped in Schefferville, the Episcopal see was transferred to Labrador City in 1980, raising the status of Our Lady of Perpetual Help to a cathedral. Our lady exterior

In 2007,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

decreed that the cathedral was a basilica. It was the second basilica in the province and the twenty-first in Canada.

Building

The basilica is a two-storey postmodern structure with a rock façade and a steeple located next to the front entrance. The tower houses three bells.

Pastors

#Rev. Theodore Roussel, OMI, 1960 - ? #Rev. Jaroslaw Pachocki, OMI, ?-2012 #Rev Joy Paul Kallikatukudy, OMI, -current

Footnotes

External links

Basilica Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lady Of Perpetual Help Basilica churches in Canada Labrador City Roman Catholic Diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador Roman Catholic churches completed in 1962 Roman Catholic churches in Newfoundland and Labrador Roman Catholic cathedrals in Canada 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Canada