The Secret of the Old Church

The Secret of the Old Church

Stan Skrzeszewski

A bell once rang out in that wooden church spire

incense rose over a candled altar

the empty spire holidayed in Virgil

the silent altar crawled towards Port Dover

no one wept as the old church died

I am that ancient traveller

voyaging back in time

wayfaring to the past

sad that I cannot enter

wish the old church "Farewell"

I feel nothing but shame

that this church vanished

and a feeble power died

I was never in the little church in the Facer District of St. Catharines, but I do know a lot about it. In 1876, the Dean of St. Catherine of Alexandria Church decided to build a small, wooden mission church to serve the largely Irish, followed by Italian Catholic, canal workers. It was called St. Joseph's Mission. It was located at the corner of Niagara and Garnet Streets. St. Joseph's Church is listed in the 1887-1890 City Directory with a service at 10 am.

The original Irish canal labourers are almost entirely forgotten except for an ancient plaque that hangs on the wall in Saint Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral. The last line on the plaque reads in Latin: "Hibernici in Canal Velland laborantes" which even if you are not a Latin scholar clearly states that the plaque was put up by the Irish who laboured on the Welland Canal. I often wonder to myself "Who were these Irish workers? What became of them? Where are they buried?"

In 1914, the abandoned little church was bought by Polish labourers who worked on the Welland Canal and it was renamed Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It could accommodate about 125 penitents. Soon after the Polish community bought the church a major ceremony was held to bless a new bell that was installed in the small church spire. The bell, christened the St. Stanislaus bell, was blessed by the Reverend Dean Dennis Morris. In the 1950's the bell was moved to the new "Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church" on Oblate Street. A small parish hall had been built right behind the little church in 1930.

In March 1967, long after the little church and parish hall had disappeared, a large granite monument dedicated to Polish pioneers was officially dedicated. The small triangle of land on which the little church had stood was christened Casimir Gzowski Park.

Everyone in the Facer area went to the small church which stood on the small triangle of land bordered by Niagara, Garnet and Currie Streets. Everyone went to church regularly. Everyone was baptized there, married there and was buried from there.

In the early days, the church and a few houses sat along the gravel roads that bordered it, while Currie Street was just a laneway at that time. Irish labourers, and later Italians and Poles came there to work on the canal. They introduced a Roman Catholic ethos into what had been very much a Protestant town and since they were not really welcome in the town, they built their homes, churches and shops within easy walking distance on this side of the ribbon of water which separated them from the town. That is how the Facer district was born and this little church was its centre.

There are few pictures of the church but one shows the church in winter and it is quite a romantic image. The day that the photo was taken must have been very cold. The church is covered in snow and everything is frozen in winter stillness. The snow had fallen on the neighborhood of small, well-kept houses covering everything with a clean whiteness. The church, with its small single spire, sat on a small triangle of land, began to look positively enchanting, just like in a Christmas card. Winter had barred the trees which framed the church, stripping everything down to basics so that the little church stood out alone and bold against the dark grey sky. Around the back you could see the simple front entrance to a small parish hall in which most of the important events in the neighborhood took place. A single light lit up the entrance to the hall. It was quiet on that day although it was often the site for many public occasions. It was often the place where young people had their first dance and snuggled against the warmth of their boyfriend or girlfriend or just someone who asked them to dance.