St. Mary's Cathedral in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

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is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

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 () , 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 Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

. The area was called the

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, due to the settlement of Father Albert Lacombe 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

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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, 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

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style. The floor plan is a St. Anthony's Cross (T or

Tau Tau (; uppercase Τ, lowercase τ or \boldsymbol\tau; ) is the nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless alveolar plosive, voiceless dental or alveolar plosive . In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 300 ...

-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 pro ...

occupies a niche above the main entrance. Senator

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donated four bells in to the church in 1904 that were cast by the Paccard Foundry in

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

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

, 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 Eucharisti ...

, candle holders and sanctuary lamp were all designed and cast by ''Gunning and Son Bronze Works'' of

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. The pulpit was designed by the architects and built from hand carved oak by the ''Globe Furniture Company'' of

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. The carvings depict the figures of Christ and the four major prophets:

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

Ezechiel Ezekiel, also spelled Ezechiel (; ; ), was an Israelite priest. The Book of Ezekiel, relating his visions and acts, is named after him. The Abrahamic religions acknowledge Ezekiel as a prophet. According to the narrative, Ezekiel prophesied ...

and

Daniel Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the acti ...

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

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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