Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist (Saskatoon)

Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist

St. John's Anglican Cathedral in 2004

Location Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Country Canada
Denomination Anglican
Website St. John's Cathedral
History
Founded 1902 (1902)
Architecture
Status Cathedral
Architectural type Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking 1912
Completed 1917
Specifications
Capacity 800
Length 40 metres (130 ft)
Width 14 metres (46 ft)
Spire height 44 metres (144 ft)
Administration
Diocese Anglican Diocese of Saskatoon
Province Rupert's Land
Clergy
Bishop(s) The Right Reverend David Irving
Rector The Right Reverend Tom Morgan (interim)
Assistant priest The Reverend Shawn Sanford-Beck, Associate Priest
The Reverend Dr. Reg Wickett, Associate Priest
Honorary priest(s) The Reverend Canon Howard Green
Laity
Director of music Gregory Schulte
Churchwarden(s) Jonathan Moore-Wright, Robert Halliday

The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, located at 816 Spadina Crescent East, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada is the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Saskatoon.

Contents

History

Although Saskatoon was founded in 1883, St. John's, its first Anglican parish, was not established until 1902 owing to the substantially Methodist and to a lesser extent Presbyterian character of the early settlement, it having been founded as a temperance colony. The first St. John's church, a wooden frame building, was erected in 1903.

The present brick, Tyndall stone and terra cotta structure was raised in 1912-17, in an unornamented neo-Gothic style. Its chief distinguishing characteristic is a rood screen at the chancel steps. The rood screen, pulpit, lectern, and high altar are made of Carrara ware (Doulton white terra cotta resembling Italian Carrera marble). The cornerstone was laid in 1912 by the Governor General of Canada, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught.[1][2][3] The building's foundation is made of fieldstone (which includes granite, gabbro, diorite, gneiss, schist and dolomite).[4]

St. John's was designated a pro-cathedral in 1924 while Saskatoon remained part of the Anglican Diocese of Saskatchewan with its cathedral in Prince Albert. In 1932 the Diocese of Saskatoon was created and St. John's became its cathedral. The cathedral had only a small reed organ and piano by way of musical instruments until 1956 when a three-manual Hill, Norman and Beard organ was built; it was replaced by a two-manual Casavant Frères organ in 1981-1982.

The nave is 40×14m in size; it together with the transepts originally sat 1100. The seating capacity has been reduced to 800 with the removal of pews at the liturgical west end and to accommodate a nave altar at the crossing. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh have worshipped at St. John's three times (1951, 1959, 1987), and Governor General Viscount Alexander worshipped there in 1948. The Institute for stained glass in Canada has documented the stained glass at St John’s Anglican Cathedral [5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Jackson, Michael D. (1990), "Royal Visits", in Cottrell, Michael, The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre, http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/royal_visits.html, retrieved 30 June 2009 
  2. ^ "Departments > City Clerk's Office > City Archives > Image Galleries > A View From Above > Downtown III: Spadina Crescent to the Bessborough > Note 45". City of Saskatoon. http://scaa.sk.ca/gallery/aerial/landmark_key.html#45. Retrieved 30 June 2009. 
  3. ^ "The New Church (1912-1917)". St. John's Cathedral. http://stjohns.sasktelwebsite.net/history.php. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  4. ^ Mysyk, W. Kim; Christine L. Kulyk (2006). Christine L. Kulyk. ed. Saskatoon's Stone: A Guided Tour of the Geology and History of Stone Architecture in Saskatoon. p. 26. 
  5. ^ Stained glass at St John’s Anglican Cathedral http://stainedglasscanada.ca/site.php?site=150

External links