St. Andrew's Cathedral, Victoria
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St. Andrew's Cathedral is the Roman Catholic cathedral for the diocese of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. Built in the High Victorian Gothic style, St. Andrew's was Victoria's third cathedral to be built. (The first, 1858-1884, is now the Chapel of St. Ann's Convent on Humboldt Street; the second, 1884-1892, is now the St. Andrew's Square building, adjacent to the present cathedral.)
Construction for the new cathedral began in 1890. At 8:00am on October 30, 1892, Bishop Lemmens blessed the building before Pontifical High Mass was celebrated at 10:00am. The cathedral is now a designated historical building and a protected heritage site.
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[edit] Architecture
- Architects: Maurice Perrault and Albert Mesnard
- Cost: CAD$ 81,052.00
Based on the plans for a church built in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Perrault and Mesnard borrowed much from the medieval architecture of European churches. The double asymmetrical towers are typical of Quebec churches and a characteristic of the High Victorian Gothic style. This was an attempt to follow the "unfinished" look that made fourteenth and fifteenth century churches popular.
The centre bay is seventy-two feet long, with a rose window. The main tower boasts a 175-foot spire that was originally designed to hold a clock and a set of bells.
[edit] The altar
An altar was commissioned for use on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Bishop Remi J. De Roo's episcopal ordination. Carved by Charles Elliott, the first Native American to graduate from St. Louis College, the altar consists of two brentwood boxes. The boxes can be rotated to show four separate designs for the different liturgical seasons. The top of the altar or is carved from yellow cedar (Nootka Cypress) and weighs approximately four hundred pounds.
[edit] The lectern
The cathedral also displays a carved lectern by artist Roy Henry Vickers. It depicts a black and red image of Christ, representing the crucified Christ and the risen Christ.
[edit] The crypt
The cathedral houses a crypt, where three of Victoria's former Bishops are interred:
- Bishop Modeste Demers, the first Bishop of Victoria.
- Charles John Seghers, the second and fourth Bishop, murdered in Alaska.
- Rt. Rev. John J. Johneckau, a former Vicar General of the Diocese of Victoria who was named as Bishop but died before being consecrated.
