Celebrating Scarboro Missions

Photo courtesy of the Archives of the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society

Today is the anniversary of the opening and blessing of the St. Francis Xavier China Mission Seminary in Scarborough, 1924.

This November, Scarboro Missions will celebrate its centenary.

This homegrown Roman Catholic mission society was founded by Msgr. John Mary Fraser. The son of Scottish immigrants, Fraser was born in Toronto in 1877 and studied for the priesthood at the Collegio Brignole Sale in Genoa, Italy. It was here that his vocation came into focus and he was ordained for mission work in 1901. In 1902, Fr. Fraser became the first North American missionary priest to work in China, where he was assigned to the Diocese of Ningbo.

Eight years later, Fr. Fraser returned to Canada and spent two years trying to raise interest in mission work in China. On November 9, 1918, Fr. Fraser received authorization to establish the China Mission College in the Archdiocese of Ottawa to train priests to accompany him overseas. The college building in Almont - a converted flourmill - was quickly outgrown by the increasing number of vocations.

In 1921, the college relocated to a temporary site in the Archdiocese of Toronto. In 1924, the staff and students moved into a new building on the Scarborough Bluffs, beside St. Augustine’s Seminary. Today is the anniversary of the opening of the St. Francis Xavier China Mission Seminary in Scarborough.

Photo courtesy of the Archives of the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society

A crowd gathers for China Mission Seminary Opening Day, ninety-four years ago today. Father John Mary Fraser can be seen in front of the main doors, presiding over the festivities.
The new edifice was built on property near the Scarborough Bluffs.

In 1940, with the approval of the Holy See, St. Francis Xavier China Mission Seminary was renamed the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society and its graduates Scarboro Foreign Mission Fathers (S.F.M).

Following the Communist Revolution in 1949, all Canadian missioners were arrested and eventually expelled from China. The Mission Society changed its focus to other countries in Asia, and Latin America. In 1950, Msgr. Fraser was invited to Japan, where he built churches and established schools in Nagasaki, Fukuoka and Osaka.

Back in Scarborough, the seminary continued to expand. The Mary Monaghan Wing was completed in September 1956. A new chapel and motherhouse were built between 1958 and 1959:

ARCAT, Photographs Special Collections, Religious Orders series, PH27S/46P

 Photograph of Msgr. John Fraser at the sod-turning ceremony for the seminary extension, 1958.

ARCAT, Photographs Special Collections, Religious Orders series, PH27S/47P

Msgr. Fraser, Fr. McQuaid, and construction superintendent Charles Giardelli discuss the building specifications for the chapel and extension.

ARCAT, Photographs Special Collections, Religious Orders series, PH27S/49P

St. Augustine's Seminary, for the training of diocesan priests, can be seen in the background, on the adjacent property.

ARCAT, Photographs Special Collections, Religious Orders series, PH27S/48P

Construction of the chapel (background) and motherhouse (foreground) on Kingston Road continues.

ARCAT, Photographs Special Collections, Religious Orders series, PH27S/52P

The new chapel and motherhouse are completed in the Spring of 1959.

Msgr. Fraser died in 1962 in Osaka and was buried there. Read more about Scarboro Mission's remarkable founder here.

The reforms of Vatican Council II emphasized the important role of the laity in the Church. Since 1974, single men and women, as well as married couples, have been invited to join with S.F.M. priests as global missioners. 

The organization is now called Scarboro Missions and defines itself as a society of Canadian Catholics, both priests and laity. Scarboro Missions is currently present in China, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Canada.

To celebrate their 100th anniversary, the Scarboro Missions Archives has produced an excellent five-part commemorative slideshow featuring archival photographs and records from their collections.

Record of the Week: A Sappy Photo

March in Southern Ontario is maple syrup season. With warmer weather, starch that was stored in tree trunks over winter gets converted to sugary sap - perfect for making syrup.

This undated photograph shows seminarians trying their hand at collecting sap in jars.  Let's hope they found a lot of maple trees on the grounds of St. Augustine's Seminary; the conversion ratio of sap to syrup is approximately fifty to one.

Seminarians collecting sap, [191-]
St. Augustine's Seminary Photographs Collection
PH26S/62P

Is there any better way to entertain children during March Break than feeding them sugar in the form of rich maple syrup poured over snow?

With no end of winter in sight, maple syrup celebrations have been extended this year.  In the archdiocese, you can visit the Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival in Woodbridge or Stouffville until April 13th to get your maple fix.

A Look Back at a Scarborough Landmark: St. Augustine's Seminary

The past month has seen the beginning of a year's worth of events celebrating the centenary of St. Augustine's Seminary.

While looking at some of ARCAT's old photos of the Seminary building, I was reminded that our records show not only the history of the Archdiocese, but also the history of Toronto and the other communities of which we are a part.

Take for example the following aerial shots of St. Augustine's. They illustrate how the area along Kingston Road looked before post-war development of the Cliffside neighbourhood of Scarborough occurred:

In this 1940 photo, Kingston Road is running off to the north-east in the upper left hand corner. The top of the photo shows Lake Ontario and the vicinity of the present Cathedral Bluffs Park and Scarborough Bluffs Sailing Club. The layout of the roads behind the Seminary is visible. Today, these streets are lined with houses and mature trees.

In this photo from the same year, Kingston Road is visible along the bottom with Lake Ontario at the top. The white house in the foreground is at the corner of Kingston Road and Chine Drive. It still stands today, though the front is now covered with ivy. Three houses have been built between that house and the house just out of view on the far right. Chine Drive and Kelsonia Avenue, which is parallel to Kingston Road, are now lined with houses as well.

The same corner today as shown on Google Streetview.

In this expansive photo, Kingston Road is again visible across the top. Resthaven Memorial Gardens can be seen across Kingston Road from the St. Augustine's. R.H. King Academy, which was founded as Scarborough High School in 1922 can be seen in the distance near the top centre. 

This wintry scene looks out from St. Augustine's towards Chine Drive. Kelsonia Avenue and Glenridge Road (which was known as Ardmour at the time) can also be seen.

In 2013, nobody would consider the St. Augustine's area rural, but as shown on the following 1916 map, St. Augustine's was surrounded by farmland when it was first built:

View this map on the University of Toronto Map and Data Library Website

These photos remind us that our bustling, busy city with its streets full of cars and shops and people was once fields and trees. It's easy to imagine that when the site for the seminary was chosen, the pastoral setting would have been idyllic for reflection, contemplation and study in preparation for the priesthood. The view from the windows has changed dramatically, but the will to serve the Catholics of Toronto and abroad has remained the same.

To compare the above photos with today's Cliffside, you can use Google Satellite:

View Larger Map

For a look back on 100 years of St. Augustine's check out the special feature in the Catholic Register.

The Toronto Public Library has more historic photos of Cliffside, the neighbourhood that surrounds the Seminary.