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Blessing and laying of the cornerstone of the new cathedral of this city to be
erected under the invocation of St.
Michael the Archangel "whom we had
already and publicly announced as the Principal
Patron - protector of the City of
Toronto"
Special Collections: Letterbooks, LB01.133
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This past Sunday, September 29, 2013 the whole Archdiocese
of Toronto celebrated the Solemnity of St. Michael the Archangel, our patron
saint. One hundred and sixty-five years
ago on September 29, 1848, St. Michael’s Cathedral was dedicated. The naming of the
Cathedral and the dedication of the diocese to St. Michael the Archangel has
much significance. Not only was our
first bishop, Michael Power named for him, but as a warrior and protector, St.
Michael would have been a powerful and fierce saint to invoke in nineteenth
century Ontario. Toronto was at the edge
of the frontier and the Catholics of the time would have felt the need to keep
the forces of evil and Protestantism at bay.
The image above is the record of the laying of
the cornerstone of St. Michael’s Cathedral on May 8, 1845. This record can be found in a letterbook, which is an
oversized bound volume. Before photocopiers
and even carbon paper, letterbooks were the way bishops in the past kept copies
of outgoing correspondence, recorded special events, and documented important
appointments, policies and regulations of the Diocese.
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