Chapel

Chapel, view of front (click to see larger image)

he chapel has often been referred to as “The Heart of St. Ann’s”. For the Sisters, their lives as Postulants and Novices began in the chapel, and ended there, when they passed away. For students, it was a place of beauty and music, that put them on their best behaviour. Many of the girls received their first Holy Communion there. The chapel became part of St. Ann’s in 1886, when it was added on to the newly built wing of the school and Convent. However, the history of the chapel begins long before that date.

Chapel, view of back c.1920 (click to see larger image)

A chapel for daily use was built into the 1871 wing of the school, on the second floor, consisting of one main room, with pocket doors to allow for the inclusion of the adjacent rooms when extra space was needed. In 1886, the Sisters of St. Ann received, as a gift, St. Andrew’s, the wooden Roman Catholic Cathedral which sat just across the street from the Convent, and had it moved, on skids, over to their side. It was to serve as the place of worship for their religious community, as the Catholic congregation planned to construct a larger cathedral. As well, the construction of a hospital on the site threatened the little church with demolition.

St. Andrew's

St. Andrew's

St. Andrew’s was designed in 1858 by Father Michaud of the Clercs de St. Viateur, who, as Brother Michaud, had accompanied the first four Sisters on their journey from Quebec that same year. A master craftsman, he designed and constructed the Cathedral in the style favoured for rural churches in his home of Quebec. The elaborate ceiling was arched, with vaults made from hand hewn red cedar boards. Brought by ship from San Francisco, they were expertly joined and held together with round pegs.

Ceiling Roundel

Brother Michaud attended to the tiniest details in his little church. 350 rosettes, circular floral shapes, were carved to ornament the interior. Michaud also carved the decorative tops of the columns known as capitals, and the five roundels that decorated the ceiling. These circular symbols, set between the vaults, included the cross, the harp of the book of Psalms, the initials of Ave Maria, a triangle with the Alpha and the Omega, representing the Trinity, the Beginning and the End and Christ’s Latin initials, I.H.S.

The Alter (click for larger image)

The wood frame church was enclosed in brick, upon being attached to the Convent and school. Entry doors were placed between the foyer of the 1886 wing and the chapel and the escutcheon of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Ann was mounted above the entryway. This escutcheon, depicting the symbolic cross and the book, contained the Latin motto “Those who teach and do will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Beneath the chapel, sat the Convent kitchen from which the scent of cooking food often wafted up to those attending Mass and prayers.

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Click here to view a 180 degree panorama view of the Chapel as it is today.