St. Mary's Cathedral in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Alberta, Canada is a Roman Catholic cathedral and the seat of the Diocese of Calgary. The building's full name is ''The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary''.

History

St. Mary's began as a sandstone church in 1889, built near the Elbow River on land provided by the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

. The area was called the Mission District, due to the settlement of

Father Albert Lacombe Albert Lacombe (28 February 1827 – 12 December 1916), commonly known in Alberta simply as Father Lacombe, was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic missionary who travelled among and evangelized the Cree and also visited the Blackfoot First Natio ...

in the area in 1884. The original Catholic mission was called Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix. The land was used to establish a French-speaking incorporated village called Rouleauville, which subsequently became overwhelmingly English and was annexed by Calgary in 1907 (making St. Mary's part of Calgary). The same land obtained by Lacombe was also used to build St. Mary's School nearby. When

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

created the Diocese of Calgary November 30, 1912, ''St. Mary’s'' became the cathedral as the seat of the Bishop. Demolition of the sandstone cathedral began on July 21, 1955, and on October 30, 1955, the cornerstone for the cathedral was laid. Construction completed in February 1957, and the Most Reverend Francis P. Carroll, Bishop of Calgary, consecrated the sanctuary December 11, 1957.

Architecture

The building was designed by architects

Maxwell Bates Maxwell Bates LL.D (14 December 1906 – 14 September 1980) was an architect and expressionist painter. Biography Born in Calgary, Alberta in 1906, Bates started painting at an early age; his piece ''In the Kitchen'' was painted when he was 15 y ...

, and Alfred Hodges; with Jan Bobrowski and Partners as the project engineers. Bird Construction Company Ltd. was contracted to building the cathedral. The total cost of which was C$1,000,000. The cathedral is built of brick with sandstone accents in a

modern gothic Modern Gothic, also known as Reformed Gothic, was an Aestheticism, Aesthetic Movement style of the 1860s and 1870s in architecture, furniture and decorative arts, that was popular in Great Britain and the United States. A rebellion against the exc ...

style. The floor plan is a

St. Anthony Saint Anthony, Antony, or Antonius most often refers to Anthony of Padua, also known as Saint Anthony of Lisbon, the patron saint of lost things. This name may also refer to: People * Anthony of Antioch (266–302), Martyr under Diocletian. Feast ...

's Cross (T or Tau-shaped) rather than the usual Latin cross that forms most Western Christian churches. A statue of the Virgin Mary with Child in stone, by the Calgary sculptor

Luke Lindoe Luke Orton Lindoe (8 March 1913 – 4 December 2000) was a Canadian potter, painter, sculptor, and businessman who did most of his work in Alberta, Canada. For long periods he was based in Medicine Hat. He had many different jobs, from mineral pros ...

occupies a niche above the main entrance. Senator Pat Burns donated four bells in to the church in 1904 that were cast by the Paccard Foundry in

Annecy Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...

, France. These bells are the only parts from the old building used in the construction of the new cathedral. The tabernacle, chalices,

monstrance A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharistic Sa ...

, candle holders and sanctuary lamp were all designed and cast by ''Gunning and Son Bronze Works'' of Dublin. The pulpit was designed by the architects and built from hand carved oak by the ''Globe Furniture Company'' of Waterloo, Ontario. The carvings depict the figures of Christ and the four major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah,

Ezechiel Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is ackn ...

and

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

. The stained glass throughout the cathedral was commissioned from Franz Mayer & Co. of Munich.

External links

* {{coord, 51.03743, N, 114.06599, W, region:CA-AB_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title

Churches in Calgary Tourist attractions in Calgary

History

Architecture

Further reading

External links