By Ed Stozek
For the Herald
The Sunday closest to Aug. 15 commemorates a special church event. On Aug. 13, the annual Mass occurred at the Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church located six miles northeast from Oakburn.
Completed in 1902, the St. John Cantius Church was built from logs and was inadvertently situated on the road allowance. The church soon became the spiritual centre for the Polish and Ukrainian settlers who arrived in 1899 and settled north of the CN line.
Church records show that from 1901 to 1910 there were 178 marriages, 1,103 baptisms and 76 funerals. Once other churches were built in the district, membership at St. John Cantius began to decline. A new church was constructed in 1925, however, it burned down on Nov. 2, 1928. It was replaced with the current church building in 1929. On Aug. 15 of that same year Archbishop Sinnot gave it the title of Our Lady of the Assumption.
Even though the church is presently used only once a year, it still holds many interesting family stories. On Feb. 12, 1906, my maternal grandparents exchanged their wedding vows in the original church building. Even though they practiced the Ukrainian Catholic faith, the St. John Cantius Church was one of the few churches in the district where a priest was available. In the early days when a priest visited a parish it was not unusual to see couples standing in a row in front of the altar waiting to be married. There were also many other couples waiting to have their babies baptized.
My parents joined the congregation shortly after they started their mixed-farm operation in 1945. My father became the organist and choir director. When my sister Cornelia passed away at the age of 10 in 1951, my father played for her funeral service.
In conversation with my older sister Alice, she noted that going to church was a regular Sunday event. Everyone got up early in anticipation of the 11 o’clock morning service. First the daily chores were quickly completed. Then the family dressed up in their “Sunday clothes.” My father wore his suit and my mother and sisters wore dress clothing ordered from the Eaton’s catalogue. Traditionally the men sat in the pews on one side of the church and the ladies sat on the other side.
During the winter months the roads were often full of snow drifts and driving a car was not possible. Instead, two horses were hitched up to the caboose. With the small stove providing heat for the passengers, everyone sat in comfort for the trip to church.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the loft would have been occupied with a choir and an organist. For the Aug. 13 service, Fr. Bisson brought his guitar and we all sang familiar hymns. At the end of the service Fr. Bisson drew our attention to an impending problem with the church structure and noted, “While it looks picturesque there is a need to keep it that way as water in the last few years is infiltrating the church at the steeple. If this is not soon remedied the structure of the church will be compromised and will over time become too costly to be repaired if we keep delaying the problem.”
Even though the interior of the church is still in excellent condition it would be a tragedy if the leak in the steeple led to the deterioration of the historic building.
Following the service, Fr. Bisson carried out the tradition of blessing each grave. Then it was time for food and fellowship in the outdoor setting on the church grounds. Since it had been many years since I last attended a service, it was great to recognize some familiar faces and names and touch base with the past. Along with a cup of coffee, cold cuts, buns and a variety of desserts, there was ample fellowship and all too soon it was time to head back home to Dauphin.
Hopefully, the leak in the steeple will be fixed and we can look forward to many more Sundays closest to Aug. 15.
