St. Peter's Cathedral

About

St. Peter's Cathedral, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, was founded in 1869 as a result of the influence of the Oxford Movement. Since that time, the parish has remained Anglo-Catholic in ethos and practice.

St. Peter's was designated a cathedral in 1879 by Bishop Hibbert Binney, the Bishop of Nova Scotia. Over the years, it has served as a second cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia (now called Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island). The principal cathedral of the diocese is All Saints' Cathedral in Halifax. The diocese contains two civil provinces of Canada. St. Peter's Cathedral is located on Rochford Square, corner of All Souls' Lane and Rochford Street, Charlottetown.

Attached to the west side of the cathedral is All Souls' Chapel—designated as a National Historic Site in 1990. See All Souls' Chapel (Prince Edward Island).

St. Peter's Cathedral parish was established in 1869. Work on the construction of the building began in 1867 and the first services were held on June 13, 1869. In December 1869, local artist Robert Harris (1849–1919) was commissioned to create scenes for the cathedral's first Christmas celebration.

As mentioned above, the founding of St. Peter's was directly linked to the Oxford Movement — a theological and liturgical revival of the Catholic tradition within Anglicanism, which was underway in parts of the Church of England at that time. The Oxford Movement had begun in England in the 1830s. In the 1850s, when some Charlottetown Anglicans from the Parish of Charlotte (St. Paul's) travelled abroad on business, they were inspired by the effects of this movement on the worship of England's churches. They returned to Prince Edward Island determined that these teachings and observances be practised in Charlottetown.

Anglican parishes on Prince Edward Island were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of the Diocese of Nova Scotia. In the Rt. Revd Hibbert Binney, the travellers found a pastoral leader sympathetic to the Oxford Movement. Before long, he decided that a building then being planned as a "chapel-of-ease" of St. Paul's Church would become instead a cathedral under his own control.

The first services were held in June, 1869. Ten years later, on the Festival of St. Peter and St. Paul (June 29), the cathedral was consecrated. The cathedral building occupies the corner of All Souls' Lane and Rochford Street. It faces a park known as Rochford Square and is across the street from the Prince Edward Island Government offices.

Throughout its history, St. Peter's Cathedral has continued in the principles on which it was founded, as reflected in preaching, teaching, and worship.

Most of the cathedral incumbents or rectors have served for a significant period of time. The present rector is only the ninth since the parish was founded. The first priest-incumbent, the Revd George Hodgson (1869–1885), was succeeded by the Revd Canon James Simpson (1886–1920). He was followed by Canon Elwin Malone (1921–1952). Following Canon Malone, the Revd Canon Gerald Moffatt served as rector from 1952 to 1958. He was followed by Archdeacon J. R. Davies (1958–1967), Archdeacon G. S. Tanton (1967–1973), and the Revd Canon H. M. D. Westin (1974–1990). The most recently retired rector, the Revd Canon Peter Harris, came to the parish as curate in 1989 and was appointed rector in late Fall of 1990. Upon the retirement of Canon Harris on November 30, 2014, the Revd David Garrett was appointed rector.

St. Peter's Cathedral is well known to tourists and visitors because of the noted All Souls' Chapel, which is attached to the cathedral on the Rochford Street side. It was originally conceived as a memorial to the first priest-incumbent, Father Hodgson. The second incumbent, Canon James Simpson, along with two gifted parishioners, brothers William Critchlow Harris, an architect, and Robert Harris, an artist, envisaged what the future chapel would look like. William chose Island sandstone for the exterior and Robert adorned the interior with eighteen paintings depicting the Church Fathers, scenes from the New Testament and, over the altar, the majestic circular painting of the Ascending Christ. Skilled Island craftsmen succeeded in bringing to life the detail they envisaged. Work on the construction of the chapel began in 1888, and it was first opened for worship in November, 1889. In 1990, All Souls' Chapel was designated as a "National Historic Site". An exterior plaque in recognition of this designation was dedicated at a special ceremony in July 1994.

A new parish hall attached to the cathedral was erected in 2004, replacing an older hall that had stood on that site for over 100 years.

A full schedule of Sunday and weekday worship is maintained (Matins, Evensong, and the Holy Eucharist), and there are numerous parish organizations and activities.

was originally conceived as a memorial to Father George Hodgson, the first "priest-incumbent" of St. Peter's Cathedral, and was built in 1888 to plans prepared by William Critchlow Harris, ARCA (1854-1913), a member of the first class confirmed in St Peter's Church in 1869. The arched reredos, with statues of apostles and evangelists occupying the niches, is typical of Harris's altar screens. The Chapel walls are occupied by 16 paintings by William's brother, Robert Harris, CMG, PRCA (1849 - 1919). The round painting above the reredos is of Christ ascending to Heaven, and has been a treasured icon to generations of Cathedral parishioners. The Chapel was built by Lowe Brothers of Charlottetown, and the woodwork was carved by Messrs Whitlock and Doull.

The Sanctuary is that part of the Chapel inside the great arch, and contains the Altar, at which the Holy Mysteries of Christ's Body and Blood in the Eucharist have been celebrated daily since 1890. Set into the front of the Altar are three roundels painted by Robert Harris that show (a) Christ known of his companions "in the breaking of bread" at Emmaus on the Day of His Resurrection; (b) His Crucifixion; (c) Christ administering the Chalice to communicants. In the arched niches of the Reredos are statues of Christ (centre) flanked by St. John and St. James on His right and St. Peter on His left, with additional Apostles, including St. Paul, carrying the instruments used to put them to death. To the right of the Altar is the Credence Table, on which the Bread and Wine are placed before the Offertory. Set high in the side walls of the Sanctuary are portraits (left) of St. Luke the Evangelist, by tradition an artist as well as a physician, a memorial to Robert Harris; and (right) St. James the Just, a memorial to Canon James Simpson, who played an important part in planning the Chapel before his death in 1920. Every subject inside the Sanctuary is drawn from the New Testament Church.

The Arch is made from grey Wallace freestone, from the Nova Scotia side of the Northumberland Strait, and is richly carved with foliage and teardrops to symbolise both the Life Christ gives and the sorrows He suffered. The earliest churches built in Rome in the 4th century incorporated triumphal arches honoring Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, and celebrating His victory over sin and death. William Harris always incorporated this feature in his church designs.

The Nave: the Gospel side is lined with portraits of early Church Fathers, as follows:

St. Gregory the Great, shown with a blond Anglo-Saxon acolyte, illustrates a story told by the Venerable Bede. One day Gregory saw some fair-haired children for sale in the slave market in Rome. "What nation are they?" he asked. "They're Angles (English)," he was told. "Non Angli sed angeli (not Angles but angels)!" punned Gregory. He wished to evangelise the English; but when he was made Pope instead he sent 40 monks under St. Augustine of Canterbury to England in 597, and the Church of England was the result.

St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople 398 - 407, was a celebrated preacher ( chrysostom means golden-tongued ) and reformer who was deliberately killed by his enemies in the Byzantine court and Church by enforced travelling on foot in cold weather. Harris mistakenly shows him wearing the western-style chasuble and alb instead of an eastern phelonion

St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430) was one of the most influential theologians in Church history. Once, while writing his book on God titled De Trinitate (On the Trinity), he went for a stroll on the beach where he saw a small boy running back and forth with a bucket, pouring water from the shore into a hole he'd dug in the sand. "What are you doing?" asked Augustine. "I am pouring the sea into this hole," replied the boy. Augustine thought, "I'm no different - trying to get the great mystery of God inside my little head!"

St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan 374 - 97, is shown refusing the Emperor Theodosius I entry to the basilica in Milan on Easter Day because he had massacred 7000 people in Thessalonica.