page_title: Saint Boniface Cathedral
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Saint Boniface Cathedral / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Rindisbacher, Winter Fishing on the Ice of the Assynoibain and Red River, watercolour, 1821. (Note: Peter Rindisbacher's watercolour appears to show Fort Garry (Fort Gibraltar) and an early St. Boniface church at the forks of the frozen Red and Assiniboine rivers)
context_page_description: Saint Boniface Cathedral is a Roman Catholic basilica and the cathedral of Saint Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is an important building in Winnipeg, and is the principal church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Boniface, serving the eastern part of Manitoba province as well as the local Franco-Manitoban community. The basilica sits in the centre of the city at 190 avenue de la Cathédrale, Saint Boniface.
  The Cathedral faces the Red River. In Verendrye Park is a statue of Pierre La Vérendrye by Joseph-Émile Brunet. Across the river is The Forks in Downtown Winnipeg.
context_section_description: In 1818, newly arrived Rev. Norbert Provencher and two colleagues constructed the first church on land on the east bank of the Red River donated by Hudson's Bay Company's Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk. The  small log building measured 50 feet by 30 feet and served as chapel, residence and school. It was soon replaced with a larger building. In 1832, Provencher, now bishop, built the first cathedral. "The bells of St. Boniface" are mentioned in John Greenleaf Whittier's 1859 poem "The Red River Voyageur". "On December 17, 1891, Whittier's 84th birthday, Archbishop Taché had "the bells of the Roman mission" rung in the poet's honour." 
  On December 14, 1860, a fire destroyed "Provencher’s cathedral". In 1862, Bishop Taché went to Quebec to raise funds to rebuild the cathedral in stone. This second cathedral was somewhat smaller; the bell tower was completed eight years later. 
  Between 1888 and 1906, the number of Catholics in Saint Boniface had increased from 2,154 to 4,615, almost all of them of French heritage. By 1900, Saint Boniface was the fifth-largest city in the West and needed a larger cathedral. Local contractors Senecal and Smith were engaged to build a new cathedral to plans by Montreal architect Jean-Omer Marchand. On August 15, 1906, Monsignor Louis-Philippe Adélard Langevin dedicated the cathedral, which became one of the most imposing churches in Western Canada.
  On July 22, 1968, the 1906 cathedral was damaged by a fire which destroyed many of the structure's features and contents including the rose window, vestments, 1860 bells, and parish records. Only the façade, sacristy, and the walls of the old church remained. In 1972, a new, smaller cathedral, designed by Étienne Gaboury and Denis Lussier, was built behind the 1906 façade.
  The Institute for stained glass in Canada has documented the stained glass at St Boniface Cathedral.
caption: Second Saint-Boniface Church in the distance (1821)
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