Help restore one of Calgary's prominent historiclal buildings
Channel: Zoar Shteinbach
Date: 2011-07-28

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: When the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived at the site of Fort Calgary in 1883, the
small community around the Fort quickly developed into a regional metropolis. With its growth, the trail south to
Macleod became much used, and, with settlement growing in the area, other communities quickly developed, many
as stopping places along the Macleod Trail. Among these, the one nearest Calgary was Fish Creek, where an
Anglican mission, St. Paul's, was built as early as 1885. The Oblate Fathers also began to visit the area from their
base in St. Albert, with itinerant priests such as Father Lacombe and Father Riou frequently conducting services at
several of the homesteads that were rapidly dotting the countryside.
By the turn of the century, the most familiar Oblate priest in the area was Father Joseph Jean-Marie Lestanc. Born
in France in 1830, Father Lestanc was ordained as a member of the Oblate Congregation in 1855 and sent to St.
Boniface. In 1874, he was sent to St. Albert, where, under the direction of Bishop Grandin, he began a series of
postings, mainly to missions in the southern foothills, such as Calgary, Okotoks and Macleod. In 1903, he proposed
the construction of a church at Fish Creek, which was now named Midnapore. Land for a church was offered by one
of the local homesteaders named Patrick Glenn, son of John Glenn who, despite being Catholic, had donated the
land for St. Paul's Anglican Church 18 years earlier. Patrick had become one of the staunch supporters of the
Oblate cause and frequently accommodated Father Lestanc at his home.
Fundraising for the new church soon began, and, with volunteer labour, construction soon followed. A local
stonemason named Jim Stevens built the foundation, while a local carpenter named Thomas Patton directed work
on the wood frame church building. On 14 August 1904, Father Lestanc conducted the first service in St. Patrick's
Church. On 11 September, with 60 parishioners in attendance, the Church was officially blessed. Details such as
interior panelling and painting soon followed.
St. Patrick's Parish took in a significantly large territory, officially defined in 1912 to include 450 square miles.
Missionary activity was also extended to the Sarcee Reserve. Title to the Church land however had not passed out
of the hands of Patrick Glenn, and when Glenn sold a large portion of land to Pat Burns in 1905, it included the
ground on which stood St. Patrick's. Burns, however, was also a staunch Catholic, and not only did he provide an
extra acre for Church use, he went on to donate an additional 200 acres of land, contiguous to the Church, to the
Sisters of Providence in order that they might build a home for orphans and elderly dependent people. Father
Lacombe had conceived such an institution, and, under his direction, the Lacombe Home was built and officially
opened in 1910. It was administered by the Sisters and served as Father Lacombe's main residence until his death
in 1916.
Following the death of Father Lestanc, a number of noted priests went on to serve at St. Patrick's, the longest
serving being Father Newman from 1923 to 1950. The Church building itself continued to serve the parish until
1983, when the Congregation moved into a new and larger church structure. The original wooden church however still remains next to the Anglican St. Paul's and near the Lacombe Home as testament to the spiritual and social
activity of the Oblate Fathers and Sisters of Charity who served there. Its historical significance lies in its provision
of structural evidence of this work and of the spread of the Roman Catholic faith in the region south of Calgary
throughout the greater part of the last century. Indeed, along with the Lacombe Home, it can be seen as the center
of Roman Catholic activity in the region south of Calgary for much of this time.

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