Holy Cross Church 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 ...

Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Reserve, north-eastern

Manitoulin island Manitoulin Island is an island in Lake Huron, located within the borders of the Canadian province of Ontario, in the bioregion known as Laurentia. With an area of , it is the largest lake island in the world, large enough that it has over 100 ...

. It was founded by the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

(Jesuits) in 1844 and was their first

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...

since their

suppression Suppression may refer to: Laws * Suppression of Communism Act *Suppression order a type of censorship where a court rules that certain information cannot be published * Tohunga Suppression Act 1907, an Act of the Parliament of New Zealand aimed ...

in 1767. The mission played a significant role in increasing literacy in Canada of the

Ojibwe language Ojibwe , also known as Ojibwa , Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algonquian lan ...

.Alan Corbiere,
Exploring Historical Literacy in Manitoulin Island Ojibwe
, Papers of the 34th Algonquian Conference, ed. H.C. Wolfart (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba, 2003), pp. 57-8, retrieved from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

, 3 September 2018 The church building itself was constructed in 1852. It is situated to the north of Wiikwemkoong on Wikwemikong Way, next to the Giizhigaanang Community Centre.

History

Foundation

The first known European person to go to Manitoulin Island was a Jesuit priest, Fr. Joseph Poncet. He arrived in 1648. No one followed to sustain a European presence on the island. After the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, the Odawa,

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

and Potawatomi tribes moved to the island. Further First Nation people also moved to the island after the Treaty of Washington in 1836. In 1838, a Roman Catholic priest, Fr. Jean-Baptiste Proulx, was asked to come to the island to serve the local Catholic population, marking the first Jesuit mission to Northern Ontario in the nineteenth century. In 1845, he left and the Jesuits continued in his place. They built a school, a residence, a sawmill and an agricultural training centre for the local people.A Synopsis of the History of Wikwemikong, Ontario
from Archives of Algoma University, retrieved 3 September 2018 As the Jesuits who worked in the Wiikwemkoong had to learn the

and then teach the young people there how to write it, an exchange in skills and languages emerged. This exchange of language meant that the Nishnaabeg of Manitoulin Island wrote in the Ojibwe language not only in about religious matter but also in their personal and political correspondence, serving multiple uses to multiple audiences. Also, over the course of the 19th century most of the written Ojibwe texts were produced by non-Native people, usually missionaries and linguists, such as the Jesuits, so a burgeoning Nishnaabe literacy movement emerged.

Construction

In 1848, plans were made to build a permanent church structure. One of the Jesuits there, Fr.

Nicholas Point Nicholas Point; (10 April 1799 – 4 July 1868), was a French Catholic priest, artist, and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He is known primarily for the drawings and watercolors he created during his missionary work in the mid-19th cen ...

, was an architect and designed the church. The foundation stone of the church was laid on 31 July 1849. It was built using limestone bricks. The builders were local people. Construction finished nearly three years later and the church was opened on 25 July 1852. In 1899, the church steeple was built.Shelley J. Pearen, ''Exploring Manitoulin'', Third Edition, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1992, page 153.

Rebuilding

In 1954, both the church and the residence next to it were damaged by a fire. The church interior was burnt, and was rebuilt. The residence was more severely damaged. The building had to be abandoned. The interior was demolished, leaving only the exterior walls. In 1988,

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

's ''People Patterns'' documentary featured Holy Cross as part of its history of Manitoulin Island and the people there.

Mission ruins

Since 1994, the ruins of the residence next to the church have been used by the

De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre Group The Debajehmujig Storytellers, also Debahehmyjig Theatre Group, or informally Debaj, is a First Nations theatre group and multi-arts organization based in the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island in Northern Ontario. Debaj is the lo ...

, the longest-running professional indigenous theatre company in North America. Since the company's creation, every summer, between July and August, the theatre group use the empty space enclosed by the external walls as a venue to show theatrical productions. The first one was ''The Manitoulin Incident'' written by Alanis King. During the Good Friday

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

, the theatre group stage a production of the

Passion of Christ In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

for the parish community in the Holy Cross Mission Church. In 2016, there ruins were used as a backdrop by Crystal Shawanda in her music video for "Pray, Sister Pray", which was nominated at the 41st American Indian Film Festival.Crystal Shawanda music video nominated for American Indian Film Institute Award Nov. 5
by Michael Erskine from ''The Manitoulin Expositor'', 26 October 2016, retrieved 3 September 2018

References

External links

Anishinabe Spiritual Centre site

De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre Group site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiikwemkong, Holy Cross Church Buildings and structures in Manitoulin District Jesuit churches in Canada Roman Catholic churches in Ontario First Nations theatre Roman Catholic churches completed in 1852 1852 establishments in Canada 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Canada