The Cathedral Church of the Redeemer is located in the

downtown core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with two integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive buil ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. It is the seat of the Archbishop of the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of Calgary.

History

The original Church of the Redeemer, a wood-frame building erected just east of the present site, was completed and opened for worship August 3, 1884. It was the first Anglican church to be constructed in what is now the Diocese of Calgary. Originally intended to serve as a parish church, it was proclaimed the temporary pro-cathedral on February 14, 1889, following the creation of the Diocese of Calgary and pending the assumed ultimate construction of a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

The parish replaced the frame church with a more elaborate structure in 1905, during Calgary's famous sandstone era. It is of local, rough cut Paskapoo sandstone, and has one of the oldest tin roofs in Calgary. It was designed by J. C. M. Keith of

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. The original cornerstone (since replaced by a new cornerstone, laid to mark the centennial of the building) stated that it was laid by the

Earl of Minto Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The current earl is Gilbert Timothy George Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynm ...

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

, on September 8, 1904. It was completed and opened for services on July 30, 1905. It was designated a full cathedral in June 1949, when it was obvious that a large edifice of British or European proportions would not be built in Calgary. In September 1974, the cathedral building was designated a Registered Heritage Site, under provisions of the ''Alberta Heritage Act'', 1973. In December 2004, Barry Hollowell, seventh Bishop of Calgary, made the very controversial proposal to undesignate the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer and appoint another church as the diocesan seat. This controversy, in addition to the controversial closures of three parish churches within the Diocese of Calgary (one of which was reversed), led to the resignation of the bishop. Derek Hoskin, eighth Bishop of Calgary, was consecrated and enthroned in the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer on September 29, 2006.

Architecture

The cathedral measures 145 feet long and 70 feet wide. The height from the floor of the nave to the pine ceiling is 45 feet. In 1936, the

Lady Chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chape ...

, the gift of Henry and Eleanor Tomkins, was constructed. In its tower hangs a bell, which had originally hung in the tower of the first wooden church on the site. The bell was donated as a remembrance to Corporal Lowry of the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...

who died during the Riel Rebellion of 1885.

External links

*
Diocese of Calgary
{{Authority control Anglican cathedrals in Alberta Churches in Calgary Anglican church buildings in Alberta 20th-century Anglican church buildings in Canada Tourist attractions in Calgary

History

Architecture

See also

Further reading

External links