This past week, some of us here at ARCAT attended the Catholic Archivists Group Annual Conference. The conference is a great opportunity for some professional development and an occasion to meet with fellow archivists working in Catholic environments.
This year, the conference was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Having just celebrated 200 years of history in Manitoba, the Roman Catholic Church has a rich history in Winnipeg. The structure of the church in the city is also rather unusual as there are three archdioceses in the city area: the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, and Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg - all with their own Archbishop and own Cathedral.
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| The logo for this year's conference incorporated silhouettes of all three Cathedrals in Winnipeg: Sts. Vladimir and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral, St. Boniface Cathedral, and St. Mary Cathedral |
One of the highlights of the trip was visiting St. Boniface Cathedral. The current Cathedral is built in the ruins of the older, imposing Cathedral building that was destroyed by fire in 1968. Built in 1908, it was the fifth church building on this site and would have seated 2500 people.
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| Architect Étienne Gaboury designed the new Cathedral which opened in 1972. The new church is half the size of its predecessor, incorporating an outdoor square into the ruins as well. |
Now that we're back in Toronto, I was interested in seeing if we had any photographs of St. Boniface Cathedral in our own collection. I was pleased to find one photograph of Cardinal McGuigan in the Cathedral, showing what the interior looked like before the fire:
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| Cardinal McGuigan participates in a Boy Scout Jamboree procesion in St. Boniface Cathedral, April 1948. PH09B-01 ARCAT Photographic Collection |
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