The Cathedral of St. Peter-in-Chains is the

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 ...

church of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Peterborough The Diocese of Peterborough ( la, Dioecesis Peterboroughensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Ontario, Canada. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Ki ...

, Ontario, and one of the oldest Catholic churches in Ontario. It is located at 411 Reid Street in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. St. Peter's was designed by James Chevette in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

. It was elevated to a cathedral in 1882.

History

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 ...

services in Peterborough were first held in a log building in 1825. The parish of St. Peter's was established in 1826 to serve the large Irish population in the area. A wood church was later erected but it was destroyed by fire in 1835 or 1836. What is now the nave portion of the cathedral was erected in 1837 with stone quarried in nearby Jackson's Park. Further alterations in 1884-1886 added the transept/sanctuary space and sacristy to the north end. The roof over the high altar was raised to correspond with the height of the nave in 1931. In 1967, the south wall was extended to the front façade of the tower adding a fifth bay to the original structure. In 1882, the

was established and St. Peter's became its cathedral. Jean-François Jamot was installed as the diocese's first bishop and he is now buried in the crypt. Until 1908, it was the only Catholic church serving Peterborough and the surrounding communities of

Smith Smith may refer to: People * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland ** List of people wi ...

Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part o ...

, Otonobee and North Monaghan.

Architecture

The current building was designed in a

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly describe ...

, modified English

, then popular in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

, by James Chevette. The

vaulted ceiling In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while rin ...

was added in the 1931 renovation and is supported by

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

columns. Despite later alterations, it retains much of its original style and is an excellent example of

Gothic Revival architecture in Canada Gothic Revival architecture in Canada is an historically influential style, with many prominent examples. The Gothic Revival was imported to Canada from Britain and the United States in the early 19th century, and rose to become the most popular s ...

. On the back wall of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

, there is a 42-foot high and 25-foot wide

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

of the

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

by Alexander von Svoboda installed in 1968. It is made from almost 640,000 pieces of cut glass in 75 different hues and colours and is one of the largest of its kind in Canada.

Gallery

File:302. St Peter's In Chains Cathedral, 411 Reid St., Peterborough, 1911 (26498149836).jpg, The Cathedral in 1911 File:Cathedral of St. Peters in Chains Interior.jpg, The Last Supper mosaic by Alexander von Svoboda File:St Peter-In-Chains Hunter St. side.jpg, The east façade of the cathedral from Hunter Street

References

External links

* {{Peterborough, Ontario Churches in Peterborough, Ontario Roman Catholic cathedrals in Ontario Roman Catholic churches in Ontario Gothic Revival church buildings in Canada Designated heritage properties in Ontario 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Canada Terminating vistas in Canada

History

Architecture

Gallery

See also

References

External links