St Francis of Assisi Church, Kitchener, Ontario, July 24, 2010

This blog is devoted to the discovery and description by two friends of great old 19th century Catholic churches of Southern Ontario. One of the priviledges of creating a blog is being able to break the rules once in awhile - and as we all know there is little more fun in life than sometimes walking outside the box. This weekend we were unable to attend one of the 19th century churches on our list - I had work commitments and my faithful companion had family committments. I wouldn't attend one of our chosen without him so went instead to my own farmiliar childhood parish, St Francis of Assisi Church, located on Blueridge Avenue in beautiful Forest Hill, Kitchener. I hope you will indulge me as I write a wee bit about this church and my experiences there.

St. Francis Church is the antithesis of the 19th century churches we are devoted to investigating. Built in 1960, and celebrating it's 50th anniversary, it is nestled in the heart of quiet suburbia. It's a product of it's era - contemporary angles, open spaces, blonde woods, clean lines. Only the magnificant stained glass window of St. Francis with all his animals located at the front apex of the roof line harkens to the churches of the past. St. Francis is, perhaps, the most beloved saint of all. He was first called to religious life when God tells him "Go Francis and repair my house which you see is falling into ruin." Francis then re-built St. Damians Church and also restored 2 other chapels - St. Peter's and St. Mary's. Even in the 13th century churches fell into disrepair. I think my friend, the builder, would appreciate that about St. Francis.

St. Francis also had a great love of nature and the environment. There is a carved wooden statue of St. Francis with his beloved wolf at the entrance to the church that is my favourite. Francis pleaded with people of Gubbio to feed the fierce wolf that had ravished their flocks. Birds flocked around Francis and nightingales sang with him. My church friend also understands love for animals, especially dogs, and called one in particular friend and family. Blessed is he who protects the birds.

As far as architectural features goes, even I must admit this church is sadly lacking by any historical standards. It's greatest claims may be that it is open and large and bright inside. But the choir voices are always raised in great rejoicing and I always feel happy inside her sturdy walls. I remember sitting in this church with all 8 of my family members where we stretched the entire pew length. Now it is usually just me who attends except on those rare occasions when I am accompanied by my friend. All this made me think what makes a church, God's tent. It's really the people that make the church - yes, the people whose mind and hands have created the church but also the people attending, their history and love of place. Sometimes we can visit palaces, but their is no place like the comforts of home no matter how humble it may be.

Next week we hope to continue our journey discovering 19th century churches. But like all great expeditions, there is also the joy of returning home, from whence we came.
Miss M.

Church of Our Lady Immaculate, Guelph, Ontario

Saturday July 17, 2010 5:15 p.m. Mass

We decided to attend Saturday evening mass at "Our Lady" as the locals fondly call this stunning structure, long considered Connelly's masterpiece and flagship church. The church holds a commanding hilltop presence silently watching over the city of Guelph. John Galt, founder of Galt, once wrote "On this hill would one day rise a church to rival St. Peter's in Rome." I've never been to St. Peter's in Rome, nor even been off the continent, but I must say this is the most awe-inspiring building I've ever seen. One can't help but be impressed by the grand boldness of the vision - both Connolly's and the small community of Guelph's in 1877 to say "ok, this is what we are going to build". The walls in local limestone stand in elegant contrast to the more pedestrian brickwork of St. Clement's in Cambridge.

The towers...my God, the towers. They soar 200 feet into God's blue sky and add to that the elevation of the hill and what a view they create. We first saw the towers when driving into the city looking for the church. We turned a corner and looked over an overpass and there they were rising majestically like some great horned beast. They looked like the towers from a fictional, medieval city - completely foreign in padantic Southwestern Ontario. What awe they inspire, even today when we are used to buildings 50, 100 stories high; one can only imagine their effect on the citizenry almost 100 years ago. Perhaps that is the purpose behind these grand churches - to inspire awe and faith in the humble congregants. I certainly felt awe and respect. We even wore our "Sunday best" as we both instinctively felt that shorts or jeans would not do for "Our Lady". We desended into the bowels of the church basement to change into our finer ware - black pants and crisp white shirt for the man and white skirt and blue blouse for the lady.

We took many photos knowing they would never adequately convey the power and stature of this holy church. We sat near the front to better to view the sanctuary - turned granite and tile mosaics. Almost near the end of the service, the sun shone in through one of the magnificant stained glass windows situated on our right. While it didn't shine directly on us, I was struck by the similiarity of angle and light as during our previous visit to St. Clement's church and somehow felt that light was for us alone.

I marvelled that local labourers had the skill to build this structure and how on earth was it accomplised without modern equipment? It took 50 years(!) to build so some workers may well have spent their entire working lives building this church. I noticed over the statue of Joseph (who was also a carpenter) "Holy Workman watch over us". Indeed.

I could write more about this grand church but will leave off saying that part of the enjoyment of the day was seeing my friend's excitement when we first spotted those two towers and his sheer joy in the builder's dream realized.
Miss M.


Our Lady
Saturday July 17 2010

Lord, Who Shall Be Admitted To Your Tent?

As the title of this entry asks countless before us must have wondered. The sheer size of Our Lady in Guelph has humbled people since her inception in 1877. Joseph Connolly built this one so well it makes me wonder how much of this effort is geographically based. Guelph is S. Ontario’s Stone deposit. This massive structure was for the most part made possible by the plentitude of Shale and other sandstones found locally. Workers took fifty years to complete her and it shows. We arrived in the City of Guelph with plenty of time on our side. After a picnic in a local park we made our way to the big church on the hill. Our Lady is sat on the highest ridge in Guelph and holds that spot by right. She has been given privilege by city fathers who have made it law she has precedence over the view and no one or anything shall obstruct her. Since her inception the town’s shale beds have been heavily mined for granite and other Quarry. The ground level of the town would have been higher when they started building her and even Connolly himself would have not been able to imagine the present view.

The exterior is an absolute work of art and vision. When we first arrived I had to find parking and almost mounted a curb while being distracted by this big building. Our Lady grows out of the hill and just keeps going. I looked at her and the builder’s mind went to work. I thought to myself if this is above the ground, how far down did they dig for her footings? We had to change into our church clothes and instinctively I headed for the basement. The massive support columns are down there and are situated a full ¼ of the width of the building off the exterior walls. These columns share the weight of the roof and upper stone facades with the exterior walls. This technique is daring and even more so for the time. Connolly had been influenced by his mentor however this church is his watermark.

Walking outside we entered the rear of the church via the main doors which just seemed fitting. The twin towers are at the rear of the church and are made of local stone and demand a presence, dwarfing any building in the city of Guelph. There is scaffolding encasing this structure and the grounds that could be and have been immaculate have been left astray. Perhaps it is because the church and her out buildings are receiving massive restorations that the grounds have been left unattended. The Narthex of the church is huge and has founts located on the walls in between the three pairs of doors. I believe this is to control traffic in and out of the doors. There has been some modifications performed over the years and I didn’t notice this work until I was leaving. The side entrances would have emptied their traffic into this massive Narthex making it even bigger at one time. Turning around one can see the entire main street in Guelph and even this awe inspiring view was trumped when I entered the church, walked up the nave and turned around.

We sat in the middle of the church just one in from the center aisle. We were impressed by her magnitude immediately and fell silent as our heads swiveled around to take in as much as we could. The granite pillars that stretch 60 ft or more sit on bigger columns that are buried for an unknown length into the earth. I would suspect 50 ft into earth or drilled and blasted into bedrock which is more likely given the big church’s location. These were trimmed by beautiful bouquets of flowers as there was a wedding at 2 pm that afternoon. The huge vaulted ceilings were trimmed with 8x12 hand sawn oak that was quarter sawn and then steamed or shaped over a fire until perfect. This fine lumber and plaster work encased some of the busiest and gorgeous mosaic tile work I have ever seen. Like her sister churches Our Lady has a massive atrium like Apse which is sun filled thanks to the multitude of stained glass windows above the crossing. It houses the Altar, Tabernacle and chapels that run adjacent to it. Ahead of the Tabernacle a massive stone carving,is the Sachristy where the priests and other clergy walk, work and wait. The very front of the church has a multitude of six sided spires that are slate roofed wonders. The sun was shining in their windows filling the front of this huge building with bright yellow sun and lighting the halos in the stained glass work. The communion of Saints was the running theme in my mind and I suspect that the designer’s vision must have been very similar.

Before Mass started we moved forward to four rows from the crossing and sat. There was a slight breeze and it felt good to be in attendance. The new position offered a great view of the galleries and side entrances/exits. The massive Oak door entrances and walkways were dwarfed by the granite and cement work. Plaster and Masonry were everywhere you looked. As I told my companion I could become a parishioner here just to learn this structure. I would love to run the roofs and upper structures. I would be home and my heart would be still in the towers and bell houses. I noted that as the choir and musicians were warming up that the natural acoustics of this building was very impressive. I turned and looked up at the organ that takes up sixty percent of the rear wall and rises towards the ceiling in an almost defiant manner. It was silent as we waited for Mass to begin. Father Dennis Noon lead an excellent service. As Mass ended and we rose to leave an army of pre instructed help started closing the church and it was then I found that the big girl on the hill was saving the best ‘til last. We were standing in the center aisle looking towards the open main doors. The early evening sky was dark with an approaching storm and the light that was over the tunnel vision view town was breathtaking. We said goodbye to her in our own way and feeling safe and loved we found our car and departed. I would recommend this building to anyone who has a love for anything of beauty.

Lorne

St Clements Church, Cambridge On July 11, 2010



Here are my impressions of St. Clements Church in Cambridge, ON. I'll have to leave the structural analysis to you as I am way beyond my depth of knowledge and focus instead on impressions of the church and the day.

What a unique idea this is...I tried to remember the genesis of the idea and it is all a little foggy. Like all good ideas, I think it was a collaborative effort - part you, and part me. I think maybe I mentioned a long time ago that I'd like to visit other churches and you said you would too but then added the Joseph Connolly, the architect, spin into the mix to give us direction and focus. In any case, here we go!

St. Clements Church, Cambridge, ON

We arrived at the church almost at 9 am - we managed to find the church and get there on time - despite a small detour beforehand of our own making to admire God's own handiwork!). I didn't have time to look at the outside other than to note it is situated on a hill with grand old brickwork. I was happy to see the old wooden staircase inside the vestibule has been left stained and unpainted and took a second to note the fine carving of some artisan from long ago. My hand grasped the newel post and it flashed in my mind the countless hands before me - maybe even Lorne's cousin's hand as this was her parish for years. And I thought how buildings can tie the past to the present. Inside the church is open and airy with grand domed and arched ceilings (Lorne will have to give detail on the construction!). The soft blues and creams of the paints give the church a lightness of feeling - mayble to make our spirits feel light in turn.

We chose a good spot to sit - on the aisle (we both like being on the aisle - me, for slight claustrophobia and Lorne to make a quick exit if necessary (wonder why he needs to make a quick get-a-way...a question for another day). Shortly into the service, the sun streamed into the window and lit the pews around us...it felt like I could feel God's pleasure with our undertaking. Lorne whispered I looked beautiful in the sunlight - a comment to treasure. Or maybe God's light was really shining on the little baby who sat infront of us because she was really a little sweetie. So calm and full of smiles and she liked the music. I couldn't resist touching her toes when we exchanged the sign of peace.

Part way through the service I stopped to admire the paintings and the stained glass. I wondered what the church would look like inside at night. There was a grand old organ in the balcony and you could see the majestic pipes rising above the balcony balustrade...I would really like to hear that organ playing full throttle with a choir of 20 or 30 joyous voices - I think that would be a spectacular sound to behold and God would smile in pleasure.

All in all, a grand first foray into our church project!
Maureen

We share a love of old things and architecture so we decided to attend mass in different churches. I have always loved St. Patrick's church in Hamilton Ontario and have admired her from afar. I know that her builder was an Irishman named Joseph Connolly who over his lengthy career built and refurbished over 40 churches in Southern Ontario. I love the style that was born centuries before he started working and influenced his working career. I smiled when I read that an Irish Catholic made such an impression on a group of Baptists that he was hired to design/build a church for them . The style of church Architecture that was built in the 1800's Ontario was mostly Gothic and was borrowed by the day's Architects. Joseph Connolly was no exception.

St. Clements in Preston Ontario.

Before the tricities there was Preston , Galt and Hespeler. The trades and people who worked and resided in each city or town made it unique. All three towns are located on the either the Speed or another source of The Grand River. With the river came the mills and mill workers were primarily Catholic. The church located at 745 Duke St Cambridge is one street away from the main through fair. It is banked into a hill with the front doors on the top of the hill and the rear at the bottom. She was built in 18... by local talent and has been maintained by some devout parishioners. Most of the repairs including very large repairs have been carried out by non paid parishioners.

The framing which hides behind the brick and under all the glorious plaster is a marvel to me. This church has huge vaulted ceilings and her walls have been pushed away in the style of Gothic churches of the 18th century. This style can be seen in Paris France. The granite pillars would have been found locally and take the position of the exterior walls. The arched ceilings rest on the pillars and the exterior walls which have been pushed away giving precious space to this stunning and very well appointed church. Catholic's have celebrated their faith and their gifts from God for over a century in this building and the little time I spent in it was fantastic. There is a sanctuary with off shoot wings /galleries that are adjacent to the Altar and are a marvel . My Cathedral is St Peter's Basilica in London ON, it and this building share so many traits with one another.

I celebrated mass with my friend Maureen and other faithful on a beautiful Southern Ontario July morn. This is not my first visit to St. Clements. The first time was a little over a month ago when I attended the funeral of my first cousin Catherine Barron. Catherine had a great eye for detail and found solace in this building. I think I will return as something feels like home here. I too would love to hear music from the rear of the church and from the upper balcony. A single fiddle/violin's song would be sweet on a beautiful day such as we had.

Later that same day I , an Irishman by blood used my eyes of great detail to spy a shiny dime where no dime should be. I immediately climbed to it's location , plucked it from the mud , said hello to my watcher as tradition states and put the glistening find in a pocket where I wouldn't spend it.

Lorne