Cathedral of St. John (Saskatoon)
Encyclopedia
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
.
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
. The building's foundation is made of fieldstone
(which includes granite
, gabbro
, diorite
, gneiss
, schist
and dolomite
).
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
Anglican Diocese of Saskatoon
The Diocese of Saskatoon is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land of the Anglican Church of Canada. Its territory is a band across the middle of the province of Saskatchewan. It was separated from the Anglican Diocese of Saskatchewan in 1933. The motto of the diocese is Sursum...
.
History
Methodist Church of Canada
The Methodist Church of Canada was a united church formed in 1884 and comprising most former Methodist denominations in Canada including some that had been active along Canada's eastern coast and north of the St...
and to a lesser extent Presbyterian
Presbyterian Church in Canada
The Presbyterian Church in Canada is the name of a Protestant Christian church, of presbyterian and reformed theology and polity, serving in Canada under this name since 1875, although the United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939...
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
Tyndall Stone
Tyndall stone is a dolomitic limestone quarried from the Selkirk member of the Ordovician Red River Formation, in the vicinity of Tyndall, Manitoba, Canada. It was first used in 1832 for building Lower Fort Garry, and has since become popular for building purposes throughout Canada and the United...
and terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
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
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the shared British and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha royal family who served as the Governor General of Canada, the 10th since Canadian Confederation.Born the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and...
. The building's foundation is made of fieldstone
Fieldstone
Fieldstone is a building construction material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally...
(which includes granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, gabbro
Gabbro
Gabbro refers to a large group of dark, coarse-grained, intrusive mafic igneous rocks chemically equivalent to basalt. The rocks are plutonic, formed when molten magma is trapped beneath the Earth's surface and cools into a crystalline mass....
, diorite
Diorite
Diorite is a grey to dark grey intermediate intrusive igneous rock composed principally of plagioclase feldspar , biotite, hornblende, and/or pyroxene. It may contain small amounts of quartz, microcline and olivine. Zircon, apatite, sphene, magnetite, ilmenite and sulfides occur as accessory...
, gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
, schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
and dolomite
Dolomite
Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....
).
St. John's was designated a pro-cathedral in 1924 while Saskatoon remained part of the Anglican Diocese of Saskatchewan
Anglican Diocese of Saskatchewan
The Diocese of Saskatchewan is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land of the Anglican Church of Canada formed in 1874. Its headquarters are in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The diocese of Saskatoon was split off from it in 1933....
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
Norman and Beard
Norman and Beard were a major pipe organ manufacturer originally based in Norfolk. They were founded in Diss in 1870 by E.W. Norman, but soon moved to Norwich to a building which still exists, and formerly had its own rail link. The company merged with Hills of London in 1916, moving its production...
organ was built; it was replaced by a two-manual Casavant Frères
Casavant Frères
Casavant Frères is a prominent Canadian company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building fine pipe organs since 1879. As of 2008, they have produced over 3800 organs.- Company history :...
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