2015-07-03 St. John the Baptist Angelican Cathedral, St John's Newfoundland

Our first day in St. John, Newfoundland and at the top of our list of places to go and things to do was this Cathedral

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The oldest church in Canada is such a beautiful church that dates back to 1843 when the cornerstone was laid. Construction was began in 1847 and regular services were started in 1851. The Great Fire of 1892, St. John's third major fire of the century, destroyed the Cathedral along with the rectory, the church orphanage and the school which stood nearby.  The rebuilding began a short time later and reached completion in 1905.

The Parish was founded in 1699 in response to a petition drafted by 32 townsfolk to the Bishop of London, England.  They asked for a spiritual leader to help them.  The Rev. John Jackson, a former Royal Naval Chaplain, was appointed.  Over time six small wooden churches existed, but they were destroyed by rigours of the weather, fires or hostilities by the French.

The building is constructed of several types of material which includes walls made of Newfoundland Blue Stone (which can no longer be found), and Pillars made from Sandstone brought over from Scotland. The church burned during the great fire of 1892 when about half of St John's was destroyed. Rebuilding was completed in 1905. After that came the Reredos, the Casavant Organ and refurbishing.  The Reredos behind the High Altar contain Christ in the center and two angels at either end with patron saints filling in the rest.  The photograph below shows the Reredos under the stain
glass windows.




We were able to get a tour from the employee, (yes, he was proud to be the only employee among all the volunteers) David Hewson.  He is a knowledgeable 18 year old who gave us the tour and one who enjoyed sharing that knowledge with us. We met Mary Steele, another guide who assisted us in gaining entrance to the church. Due to vandalism over the years they have to keep it locked when no one is there.

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The earliest organ was a Robson organ that was installed in 1853 and was destroyed by the fire in 1892. The current Cathedral organ originally built in 1904, was the only organ in Canada designed by the Englishman Robert Hope-Jones.  The organ in its present form is largely the work of Casavant of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, who rebuilt it in 1927.  However, some of the pipes remain from the Hope-Jones organ.  The organ has four keyboards for the hands, a pedal keyboard for the feet, 52 speaking stops, and approximately 3,600 pipes.

                      

The stain glass windows were created by Charles Kemp of London whose professionalism is evident by there being no plain windows and the exacting details of his artwork

         Just a few of the many stain glass windows in the Cathedral, all so very beautiful.

Lectern

The Altar Frontal, gold-embroidered by two sisters was presented to the church in 1895 and is only used at Easter and Christmas.

Edward Field--Second Bishop

Aubrey Spenser--First Bishop

                                

                                        Past Bishops                                                     Parishioners who gave their                                                                                                                                  life in W

View from the choir 

Lady's Chapel                                       Stained Glass in Lady's Chapel

Lighting from the 1910's

Original drawing of church with steeple which hasn't  yet been built.

The tripartite Resurrection Window c.1887 is the only stained glass to survive the fire of 1892.  The stained glass in the upper right window was installed upside down. 

We did not get a picture of the plaque, (as there is carpet over it now), but  in the northeast porch  there is an engraveing in the floor of the church where John Wesley preached his first sermon. The plaque reads as follows:

God is Here

Enter this door

As if the floor

Within were gold

And every wall

Of jewels, all

Of wealth untold;

As if a choir

In robes of fire

Were singing here

Nor shout, nor rush

  But hush -

For God is here

  Author Unknown

We would like to dedicate this page to our home church, Immanuel Episcopal Church, Bay Minette, Alabama, and to our friends and Reverend Albert Kennington there..

We stayed over for an additional day just so we could attend a service at the church and we are so happy we did. Only a small number (about 25) of the regular congregation was there plus the choir ( and of course the pastor, Deacon  and Organist)..It was absolutely beautiful. The organ was everything we expected..