Record of the Week: Pope Paul VI Mosaic

This Sunday, Pope Paul VI (1963-1978) will be beatified, which is the first step towards sainthood.  The ceremony is scheduled for the closing Mass of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family.

For many years, this mosaic portrait of Pope Paul VI has stood over the Archives' workroom.  It's one of those pieces that has been here for as long as anyone can remember; no one knows how it got here.

Everything about the mosaic remained a complete mystery to us until the Summer of 2021, when the daughter of Luigi Nasato contacted us identifying her father as the creator. Italian by birth, Mr. Nasato moved to Argentina before settling in Canada in 1959. He worked as a mosaicist for years before the focus of his career shifted towards helping redesign churches after the Second Vatican Council. Thanks to a photograph shared by Mr. Nasato's daughter, we know the mosaic was completed and hanging in the Conn-Arts studio by 1965. 

Luigi Nasato's prolific public works of art were donated  to York University. 

How this Pope Paul VI mosaic came to the archives is still a mystery, but it looks very nice in the Archives.  

One interesting factoid about mosaics: all of the "paintings" that decorate the interior of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome are not paintings at all; they're mosaics. As a tour guide once explained to me, paintings fade but mosaics last forever. And all of the artwork inside the Basilica was designed to stand the test of time.

You can read more about the Paul VI's beatification in this Catholic Register article.

Mosaics like this one and those in St. Peter's Basilica are made of tesserae, small pieces of coloured glass.

Feasts of Thanksgiving: Historical Menus

At Thanksgiving, we gather with family and friends to be mindful of our blessings.
Thanksgiving is also a harvest celebration; there is no denying that many of us will indulge in the abundance of food prepared for the Thanksgiving feast.

In the spirit of food and feasting, we decided to post some historical menus from various celebrations...some of them featuring a variety of very weird and wonderful dishes.

Archbishop Lynch's 1884 banquet was held at Rossin House, which stood at the Southwest corner of King and York streets from 1857 to 1969.
Anyone for Arches of Buffalo Tongues? Aspic of Lobster a la Parisienne?
Duck en surprise on Pedestal? Sweetbreads Larded, a la Financiere?

Green Turtle Soup and Haunch of Venison? Sign me up!

By 1944, menus for episcopal events were becoming somewhat more simple. 

This menu (courtesy of the General Archives of the Basilian Fathers) is interesting for its hockey-reminiscent food names, but it is even more interesting because of the note on the front, which indicates that the banquet was cancelled because of VE Day.

We couldn't resist finding recipes for some of the more interesting dishes from these menus:

From The Gastronomic Regenerator: A Simplified and Entirely New System of Cookery (1847) by Monsieur A. Soyer, p. 427.

From The Royal Cookery Book (1869) by Jules Gouffé, p. 490.

From White House Cook Book: A Selection of Choice Recipes, Original and Selected (1889) by Fanny Lemira Gillette, p. 329.

From White House Cook Book: A Selection of Choice Recipes, Original and Selected (1889) by Fanny Lemira Gillette, p. 321.

Are you inspired to make Turkey Galantine for your family this weekend? Perhaps they would prefer Boiled Turkey with Oyster Sauce, or a Pyramid of Spring Chicken, or Arches of Buffalo Tongues. 

For more historic menus, check out the Toronto Public Library's virtual exhibit Local Flavour, and the New York Public Library's What's On The Menu project. 

Record of the Week: Hockey season opens

Today the 2014-15 NHL season begins.

Thirty-five years ago, G. Emmett Cardinal Carter, then Archbishop of Toronto, opened the 1979-1980 hockey season at Maple Leaf Gardens. A postcard was printed to commemorate the occasion.  

It was a significant year for Carter; he was elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals in June of 1979. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be playing another home opener tonight, this time against arch rivals, the Montreal Canadiens. Cardinal Carter was born and educated in Montreal.  We wonder who he would have been cheering for...

Postcard showing: G. Emmett Cardinal Carter shaking hands with Dave Maloney of the New York Rangers; Harold Ballard (president of Maple Leaf Gardens); and Darryl Sittler (Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs)
ARCAT Photographs Collection, PH 18/28PC

We may have kept a few more copies than strictly necessary.

30 years since the first Papal Visit

In 1984, Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit Canada.  From September 14 to 16, he was in the Archdiocese of Toronto.  To mark the 30th anniversary of this unprecedented event, ARCAT installed a small display of photographs, memorabilia and ephemera from the Toronto leg of 1984 Papal Visit:

1984 Papal Visit to the Archdiocese of Toronto.
Photographs of the 30th anniversary display at the Catholic Pastoral Centre, Archdiocese of Toronto

The photos (courtesy of Concacan Inc., Ottawa) include an awesome shot of the pope emerging from a military helicopter after being flown to Midland to visit Martyrs' Shrine and Sainte-Marie among the Hurons.

Archival items in the display include: a plastic smock worn by volunteers at the mass at Downsview Airfield; ciboria for distributing the Eucharist during the mass; tickets for the Papal Audience; and commemorative medals and coins.

Read more about St. John Paul II's 1984 visit here.

A new coat for Michaelmas

Today is the feast of St. Michael the Archangel - or Michaelmas, if you prefer the more antiquated term.

St. Michael is the patron and protector of the Archdiocese of Toronto, as well as grocers, mariners, police and paratroopers.

Michael led the army of angels against Satan in the battle for heaven. In Hebrew, Micha'el means "Who is like God?".  The name was the war cry of the good angels - a rhetorical question demanded scornfully of Lucifer and his fallen angels. The motto of the Archdiocese of Toronto is Quis ut Deus, which is Latin for "Who is like God?" 

Our patron saint has been represented on both renditions of the archdiocesan coat of arms. In 1935, Archbishop of Toronto James McGuigan formalized the first corporate crest, which included the golden wings of the archangel.

From the archives, this undated document gives the official description of the coat of arms that appears on the old letterhead.

"The arms consist of the erect, golden wings representing St. Michael, the Patron of the Diocese..."

In the archives, we also store the (very heavy) metal shield that used to grace the entrance of the former chancery building:

In 1984, G. Emmett Cardinal Carter asked the College of Arms in London to create new corporate arms that would strongly reinforce the image of St. Michael as the protector of Toronto.

Our current crest is therefore dominated by the diagonal spear of St. Michael, which overcomes and controls the dragon’s head, symbolic of the Devil. The rays of light at the upper end of the cruciform shaft also allude to the Archangel, whose light overcomes Lucifer.

Description of the 1984 archdiocesan coat of arms on parchment.  The redesign was initiated by Cardinal Carter and registered with the College of Arms.  This version includes the archdiocesan motto "Quis ut Deus," or Who is like God?

A year ago, Thomas Cardinal Collins updated the coat of arms to include a mitre and more stylized shield. All archdiocesan communications now boast the new logo:

Celebrating 10 Years of the Catholic Archivist Group

"Keep Calm and Archive On."
That was the theme of last week's Catholic Archivist Group conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The conference, which celebrated CAG's tenth anniversary, was held at the beautiful Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre overlooking the Falls.

We were extra excited because it was the first time that our entire ARCAT staff was able to participate.  The forty or so attendees included (arch)diocesan archivists and religious order archivists from across the country. It was wonderful catching up and exchanging ideas and initiatives with our colleagues.

ARCAT gave a presentation on our new website and this blog.

A special shout out to our own Gillian Hearns, who is the outgoing CAG Treasurer after serving a three year term.

The ARCAT archivists in front of Brock's Monument dedicated to Major General Sir Isaac Brock, one of Canada's heroes of the War of 1812

No trip to Niagara Falls is complete without a visit to Clifton Hill.
The staff at one of the many wax museums.

Record of the Week: The Reinstatement of Scotland's Catholic Hierarchy

If you've been reading the news lately, you will have noticed some stories about Scotland. The news got me wondering what kind of records about Scotland we might have in the archives.

The most interesting item I found was this:

"In the wild and brutal fury that raged in the Sixteenth century, laws the most cruel, unjust and persecuting were put in force against the Catholic Church - her doctrine, her discipline, and her children; and to cut off instruction and propagation of true faith, bishops and priests were thrown into prison and put to death, because they would not renounce the religion of Christ preached to them by holy Apostles. In England and Scotland the laws were so rigorously enforced that not a single bishop was left alive or in the country, and their hierarchy was broken when there were no longer chief pastors to rule the flock. In Ireland, too, the laws were equally cruel and were enforced with the greatest vigilance; the bishops concealed themselves in the caves and fastnesses of the mountains as well as in the cottages of the poor, and thus evaded most unjust edicts and preserved an unbroken succession of bishops; though at one time the number was reduced to three, still the line was never severed... In thanksgiving to God for His mercies to Scotland and her people, our brethren in Christ, we ordain that the Apostolic Letter of our Holy Father Pope Leo XIII, establishing titular bishops in that country, be read, and a solemn Te Deum be chanted in all churches of the Diocese at the conclusion of Mass, on the most convenient Sunday after the reception of this letter."

In 1878, Archbishop Lynch wrote a circular letter to the clergy asking them to read from the pulpit an Apostolic Letter of Pope Leo XIII which reestablished the Catholic Hierarchy in Scotland. For various reason, including the rise of Protestantism and the Scottish Reformation, there hadn't been a bishop in that country since the early 1600s. Though Catholicism remained in some areas, Scotland became heavily Protestant.

For more information about Christianity in Scotland, see here, here, here and here.