The earliest reference to a Catholic church in Hamilton is in 1833, when it was reported that “there was a Catholic church in the town under construction, but not yet completed.” The building was located near the present site of St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, but while it remained in an unfinished state, Mass was occasionally celebrated by Rev. John Cassidy in the King William Engine House in Dundas.
Hamilton’s little church was completed under the direction of the town’s first residential priest, Rev. William Peter MacDonald, who took up his duties in October 1838.
The completion of the building came just as Hamilton was to begin receiving a massive influx of Irish families attempting to escape what became known as the Great Potato Famine.
During the 1840s, St. Mary’s parish grew in importance under the direction of Rev. MacDonald, who came to be regarded as a controversial Catholic. Prior to his Hamilton appointment, he served in Kingston and there founded The Catholic, the first Catholic religious weekly paper in Upper Canada, which lasted just a few months. In Hamilton, he again began publication of his newspaper, which received the support of the newly-appointed Bishop of Toronto, The Rt. Rev. Michael Power. The weekly only lasted until the end of the year, when MacDonald was forced to discontinue publication due to finanical reasons, and offer the paper for sale.
Later in the year, Bishop Power suspended MacDonald over his personal failure to abide by the constitution of the Toronto Diocese and although reinstated in November 1846, old age forced him into retirement and he died in Toronto on Good Friday, April 2, 1847.
In June 1854, the bishops of Canada West petitioned Rome, requesting two new dioceses be established. On Feb. 19, 1856, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamilton was established, followed by the installation of the Rt. Reverend John Farrell as the first Bishop of the Hamilton Diocese on May 24, 1856.
At the time, the Catholic community consisted of St. Mary’s in the city, St. Augustine’s in Dundas and the church in Waterdown that had been re-named St. Thomas the Apostle at its opening in 1852. Diocese records identified it as a “mission station” that occasionally received visits from priests attached to St. Mary’s, but otherwise its adherents still walked or rode down Snake Road to Hamilton or St. Jude’s, Oakville to receive Mass.
Sylvia Wray is the former archivist with the Flamborough Archives. She can be reached through the Archives at archives@flamboroughhistory.com.
This article was originally published in the Flamborough Review, 22 July 2016.
