Ontario’s Niagara-on-the-Lake is ready to mark a milestone. Home to 38 official heritage sites, the town will celebrate the 200th anniversary of St. Vincent de Paul, the province’s oldest Catholic church still in use.
With origins dating to the 1600s, during missionaries’ efforts in the region, the parish was one of three missions built in the original province of Upper Canada. Founded in 1826 to serve the growing Catholic population in the Niagara region, the church sits on Picton Street, a short block away from the region’s oldest church.
Officially consecrated in 1835, the church is an example of classic Canadian church architecture associated with the 19th and early 20th centuries. The building is framed by Gothic windows and was updated in 1965 to a nonagon structure that incorporated several of the original design features, including three sets of oak doors.
The small lakefront town is set to mark the milestone with several celebrations. Local parishioners Nancy and Gus said they are looking forward to commemorating the special event.
“We love this parish, we love this town, we love our pastor and we happen to be the oldest Catholic church in Ontario, and that, to me, is a milestone.”
One of the most memorable features of the church, according to Connie Pilliterri, a lifelong parishioner, is the church’s organ.
“I remember being a little girl sitting in church, and my aunt Margaret would play the organ, and she would start with the piano on the altar, and then at the end of Mass, she would run with her shoes off over to the stairs and go up the stairs and go and play the organ at the end of Mass,” Pilliterri said.
The daughter of local farmers, Pilliterri said the church has been the site of many of her most special life events.
“My mother was in the choir, I did children’s liturgy in the church, I’ve gotten married here, my kids have had their baptisms here, I had my baptism here,” she said
Now, Pilliterri is ready to celebrate another milestone with a day — Sept. 27 — filled with events marking the anniversary.
There will be a Mass at 2 p.m., followed by a lawn reception on the church premises. Later that evening, a gala will be held at the Prince of Wales Hotel. All tickets for the event have been sold out.
Proceeds from the gala will go toward repairs estimated to cost around $500,000. The work includes renovations to the floors and doors, an accessible bathroom, removal of the choir loft and replacement of the pews.
