Built nineteen years after the neighbouring St. Paul's Anglican Church, St. Patrick's shares its Carpenter Gothic architecture, mimicking its steeply pitched roof, Gothic arched windows, even the small bell tower/steeple above the entrance. The square bell tower is simpler than that of St. Paul's, topped by a hipped roof, now with an Orthodox cross at its peak (see below). Each side has double low arched openings covered in screen. Within, the original bell still hangs, being rehung and pealing again on April 8, 2012, after 30 years of silence.
Like St. Paul's, St. Patrick's has a small narthex at the front and a large chancel/vestry at the rear. Between, the sanctuary was given three Gothic windows on each side, just like St. Paul's. Both churches are wood framed buildings, clad in horizontal shiplap siding.
From 1909 to his death in 1916, St. Patrick's was ministered by the renowned
Father Albert Lacombe, pioneer missionary who built churches, schools and care homes in Alberta, ministering to natives and settlers alike. In fact, part of the
Lacombe Home, built by the Father, still stands to the east of St. Patrick's. The first service in St. Patrick's Church took place on August 14, 1904, with
Father Joseph Jean-Marie Lestanc at the pulpit. The church was officially blessed one month later, on September 11, 1904, with 60 parishioners in attendance.
In 1903, [Father Joseph] proposed the construction of a church at Fish Creek, which was now named Midnapore. Land for a church was offered by one of the local homesteaders named Patrick Glenn, son of John Glenn who, despite being Catholic, had donated the land for St. Paul's Anglican Church 18 years earlier. Patrick had become one of the staunch supporters of the Oblate cause and frequently accommodated Father Lestanc at his home.
Fundraising for the new church soon began, and, with volunteer labour, construction soon followed. A local stonemason named Jim Stevens built the foundation, while a local carpenter named Thomas Patton directed work on the wood frame church building. On 14 August 1904, Father Lestanc conducted the first service in St. Patrick's Church. On 11 September, with 60 parishioners in attendance, the Church was officially blessed. Details such as interior panelling and painting soon followed.
From the Alberta Heritage Register
Given that they were well out in the country when built, each church has a cemetery, St. Paul's being somewhat larger than that of St. Patrick's, which is partially surrounded by hedges behind the church. Find A Grave lists 105 headstones or interments in the cemetery to date. With a relatively new and sizeable columbarium and recent burials, we believe the cemetery to still be in use. Its first known interment took place well after the construction of the church, in 1922, that of Emma A. Evans, born 1868, died 1922. The cemetery is now owned by, and managed by, Mountain View Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home.
The Catholics vacated the church in 1983, as well as the cemetery. What is known about the church and cemetery at present follows. An Alberta Historic Resource, it is now the oldest surviving Catholic church in Calgary.
The 75-seat church building continued to serve the parish until 1983 when the congregation moved into a new and larger church building. In the early 1990s the land on which the church sits and the cemetery around it were sold to Mountain View Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home with the agreement was that the Catholic diocese would move or demolish the church. The diocese applied for a demolition permit in 2000, but that process was stopped when the province declared the church a Provincial Historic Resource in 2001. Beginning in the late 1990s, a group trying to protect and preserve St. Patrick’s repeatedly tried to gain the support of the Catholic Diocese for their aims. The Old St. Patrick’s Preservation Society, a registered non-profit group, was formed in 2006 with the purpose of restoring and preserving the church. Their efforts have been made more difficult by the slow movement of the Catholic Diocese and the undisclosed intentions of Mountain View Memorial Gardens. As yet no structural assessment study has been done on the building, but vandalism is evident and the possibility of fire threatens the building’s survival.
Where things stand
Since 2012, the church has been occupied by an Orthodox community and it is being restored and renovated. The original old bell has even been reinstalled and fire-damaged woodwork replaced. There is a new roof, and efforts are underway to repair and replace siding. It has been described as a successful "revival of the building."
From the National Trust For Canada
Continuing on the above, the building appears presently to be the home of
Saint John Chrysostom Russian Orthodox Church, which was founded in 2005.
St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church
Description of Historic Place
St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church is an early twentieth century wood frame building situated on roughly 0.9 hectares of land on the east side of the Macleod Trail in Calgary's historic Midnapore community. The church features a steeply pitched gable roof, central steeple, and pointed arch windows.
Heritage Value
The heritage value of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church lies in its association with the establishment of early religious institutions in southern Alberta and its representation of early Alberta church architecture.
The arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.) at Fort Calgary in 1883 established the fledgling community as a hub for settlement and development in southern Alberta. The trail south from Calgary to Fort Macleod became a significant transportation route and several stopping houses and small communities emerged along the path, including Fish Creek. The Catholic community in Fish Creek was initially ministered to by several travelling members of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.) religious order, including Father Albert Lacombe, the renowned missionary, Father Joseph-Jean-Marie Lestanc, a well-known itinerant priest, and Father Jacques Riou. In 1904, the area's Catholics united to construct St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church on land donated by Patrick Glenn, son of John Glenn, one of Calgary's pioneer farmers. Lacombe is believed to have become the first resident priest at the church in 1909 and served here until his death in 1916. The cluster of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, St. Paul's Anglican Church, and the Lacombe Home site in the area speaks powerfully to the religious significance of this place in Calgary's history.
St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church is a typical, early twentieth century Alberta church. Unlike many other early Catholic churches in the province, however, which were often inspired by Neo-Classical or Romanesque models, this church is defined by its Carpenter Gothic style of architecture which reproduces the traditionally stone elements of Gothic architecture in wood. This style is evident in the steeply pitched roof and the pointed arch windows. Like many early buildings serving Alberta communities, St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church was constructed using local craftsman.
From the Alberta Heritage Register
