St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church

The congregation of St Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church was established on June 13, 1918. Construction of the church began in the same year and was completed in 1921. The tower at the front of the church (WDM-1974-NB-1136) is built in the style of some Polish buildings from the 16th and 17th centuries. Inside the church, the ceiling, painted with images of stars and clouds, was inspired by a church in Warsaw, which many congregants had attended before coming to Canada. 

The church shared a priest with seven or eight other churches, so services were held every six to eight weeks on a rotating schedule. Services were conducted in Polish and Latin. The congregation began to shrink in the 1960s and 70s and services were reduced to just once a year, on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of the church’s founding. The church was moved to the WDM in 1974, on the condition that the congregation could hold mass in the church every year on St. Anthony’s day (June 13).

Specs  

The church served a large area, covering a 50-mile radius.  

The rotating schedule of church services meant that congregants traveled to a different church every week. 

Hymns were sung in Polish while the sermon and benediction were read in Latin.