Holy Rosary Church (Toronto)
History
In 1882, Basilian Fr. Lawrence Brennan, parish priest of St. Basil's Church, purchased 50-acres of what was then remote farmland on St. Clair Avenue West. The land was intended to be a farm for St. Michael's College and Fr. Brennan constructed a novitiate to train priests. On May 8, 1892, the cornerstone was laid for the novitiate and a chapel to serve as a parish church for the Irish population in the area. The parish was established in 1909.
The parish grew rapidly and in 1924 Fr. Michael Oliver was appointed priest and instructed to oversee the construction of a new church. Archbishop Neil McNeil laid the cornerstone for the new church on May 30, 1926. Fr. Oliver admired English Gothic churches and modeled the new Holy Rosary Church after St. Mary's Church in St. Neots, Huntingdonshire. The church was designed by prominent Toronto-based Catholic architect Arthur William Holmes. Construction cost $150,000. The new church was blessed and opened on May 8, 1927.
The first stained glass windows were dedicated in 1928 in memory of John Franklin Brown Jr., a parishioner who died in the First World War. Another memorial window was dedicated in 1945.
See also
References
- ^ "Parish History". Holy Rosary Church. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
- ^ "Holy Rosary Parish Toronto". Architectural Conservancy Ontario. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
- ^ "Holy Rosary Church" (PDF). City of Toronto. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
- ^ "Holmes, Arthur William". Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada. Retrieved July 13, 2022.