St. Patrick

 

Digby

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Our History

St. Patrick’s Church has served the people of Digby and area for almost two hundred years. The original church was built by Irish immigrants and its seating capacity was 100. They were unable to support a resident priest, however, so that for many years their spiritual needs were supplied by missionaries. Late in the 1800s a parish priest was established at Annapolis Royal with jurisdiction over Digby. The original church served as the parish church till the construction of a concrete basement 100 years later. After seven years, in 1934 sufficient funds were raised to complete the church, adding the main body above the basement. In 1941 a new St. Patrick’s Church was built under the guidance of Father Leo Murphy.

Father Murphy worked diligently seeking supplies all the way from Kentville to the far ends of the Acadian Shore or the French Shore as it is commonly referred to today. He received donations from numerous businesses without which the church would not have been completed.

St. Patrick’s Church, Digby NS

The original St. Patrick’s Church … in the location of the
present-day St. Patrick’s Cemetery

The new church was opened on Sunday August 10th 1941 at 3 pm. Rev. Leo Murphy was the pastor at that time and His Grace, the Most Reverend John T. Mc Nally was the presiding Archbishop of the Diocese of Halifax. Thomas Deveau, one of the parishioners, was the builder, this one being the twelfth church he had constructed. The newly constructed church could accommodate approximately 500. Its Baptismal font was modelled Caen stone surmounted by a top with a medallion of St. John the Baptist. The Holy water font in the vestibule is the cornerstone of the first church- a piece of granite fashioned by some early settler, with the date 1834 plainly visible.
The church had additions on each side of the sanctuary, each eighteen feet, which made it cruciform. One of the additions was and is still used as a vestry for the priest. The other was a Sunday school room and Winter chapel. It still functions as a chapel to this day. During this time of social distancing with the COVID19 pandemic, Fr. Raymond uses this chapel on a daily basis to celebrate Mass.

Directly beneath the main section was the parish hall; it still serves as a gathering for the parishioners though it has seen considerable changes over the years. One unique feature of this church not seen in any other church was the installation of a bowling alley in its hall. Youth and adults alike used this four lane bowling alley in the 1960s. The alleys were later removed and if you go into the hall today, you can still see the alleys on the sides of the church walls. Steel posts were later added throughout this hall to give greater support to the structure above; eventually they were boarded in to adhere to fire regulations. The most recent change was the painting of the hall, a cheery yellow hue, two years ago.

Of course, back in the early years, a religious order was sought to teach the children both their academic subjects as well as their religious education. The Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception whose Motherhouse is in St. John, New Brunswick sent their sisters to Digby where both a school and a convent, which contained classrooms, were constructed during the time of Archbishop McNally. Those who attended classes taught by the sisters received an excellent education and their graduates were widely sought to fill positions, especially in the secretarial field.

There was a school constructed in 1890, the Digby Academy, but a separate school, aptly named St. Patrick’s School, was built for those of the Catholic faith. The school served as a place both for religious education as well as academic learning. Later on lay people joined the staff of this school and eventually it became part of the public schools system of Digby. Religious education, or catechism as it was commonly referred to in the earlier days, was taught in the church itself.

At one time the Oblates Fathers came to serve the Digby area; this would have been in the 40s. At that time there was one young athletic Catholic lad who was very much influenced by this order of priests and later became an Oblate himself: Fr. Joseph Hattie. We still see Father Joe when he visits his family in the summertime and he was at St. Patrick’s to celebrate his eightieth birthday; the parishioners were happy to honour him on this occasion. Fr. Joe is still actively working in God’s vineyard.

Fr. Joe Hattie o.m.i.

St. Patrick’s Church was once a bustling community with large families and very active parishioners. The CWL at one time was a beehive of activity. Though it no longer functions, the women now are called The Ladies of St. Pat’s and are divided into teams. Their main duty these days is to provide for receptions following funeral services if the families express a wish to have them. A minimum fee is required and the monies are turned over to St. Patrick’s to pay for a variety of needs for the church.
The men folk, of course, were active in the Knights of Columbus (Council 5648) and, over the years, were responsible for many expensive undertakings. They paid for the concrete ramp found at the entrance to the lower hall so that wheelchairs and people having difficulties can gain access to the hall. They built a side entrance to the upper church hall. The Council put in a concrete ramp in the front of the church, and, they were responsible for the very large and attractive entrance at the front of the church. They helped raise funds which were put towards the steel roof. Many of these work projects took place while Father Keith Billard was pastor. He was definitely a hands-on priest while serving as its pastor. In addition to installing new floors throughout and a much needed new kitchen area, in 1994 we had new windows installed, another project undertaken by Fr. Keith. A crying room was built at the back of the church where the confession box was situated. This, too, was the handiwork of Fr. Keith and his helpers. In the late 90s when Fr. Craig Christenson was the pastor we had a generous benefactor who helped bring us a youth minister, Rose Ballard. She was a blessing to our church and did a great deal in the short time she was here. We had lively Vacation Bible Schools during this time period as well.

Interior of St. Patrick’s Church

As the years passed and the congregations got smaller, changes had to be made especially since the number of priests was also dwindling. Marshalltown’s St. Theresa’s Church which was served by the priest in Digby closed and later Holy Cross in Plympton had to be shut down. Parishioners from these two churches either joined those at St. Patrick’s or they went to St. Joseph’s in Weymouth. Jump ahead a number of years and the priest at St. Patrick’s served St. Patrick’s, St. Ann’s Church in Bear River on the First Nation’s Reserve, St. Joseph’s in Weymouth and the small community church in Southville.

Presently, Fr. Raymond, our priest who lives in the rectory at St. Patrick’s serves this church, plus St. Joseph’s in Weymouth and St. Louis’s Church in Annapolis Royal. These church communities are in the far western zone of the newly formed Corpus Christi Parish.

The number of parishioners at St. Patrick’s has dwindled in numbers like many of the churches throughout the province. That is not to say that all activities have ceased. On Shrove Tuesday there is always a pancake and sausage supper and the hall is filled by many of the town folk; the proceeds go to the soup kitchen, a program started by Fr. Henry Smolennaars during his short two year stay at St. Pat’s. A hearty meal from a chicken stew to a chili, is prepared each Friday and served up by teams of volunteers. This program serves a twofold purpose- it provides a good meal (takeouts are available) and, even more importantly, it provides an opportunity for social interaction which many of the clients appreciate. Other meals and activities take place in the hall from celebrating our patron Saint Patrick in March to having entertainment and potluck suppers.

One usually associates music with entertainment and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Fr. Albeni d’Entremont, better known as Fr. Beni. He served St. Patrick’s for many years and his love for music is well known. While here he directed the choir with Joan Byrne as the organist. There was always a special Christmas program for the local people and Fr. Beni also took the choir on the road performing down the French Shore, and, travelling in the other direction, to Mt. St. Vincent Motherhouse in Halifax. Incidentally, our present pastor, Fr. John MacPherson, sung in the St. Patrick’s choir when he was a seminarian with Fr. Beni in the early 90s.

Fr. Beni also was responsible for establishing the Journey to Bethlehem which takes place on the First Sunday of Advent every year. Four other local churches join St. Pat’s at this time. People meet in a church where they sing, hear a Scripture passage, get a little treat then walk to the next one. When they reach the last church, a large reception follows the service. There is a rotation of churches so a different church is responsible for the reception each year. It has been a constant and popular activity since its inception.

In the last few years we have raised money through dinner theatres which were extremely popular. Like the Journey to Bethlehem, an extra benefit to these was the ecumenical cooperation. Invitations went out to people from the other local churches asking if they were interested in participating. In one particular dinner theatre we had the ministers from Digby Baptist Church and the Grace United Church in addition to our own Fr. Vincent in the play and singing robustly together. We cooperate in other ways such as taking turns hosting the World Day of Prayer service every year near the beginning of March. The organization of these has always been ecumenical in nature.

It is impossible to include all that has taken place at St. Patrick’s over the years but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Jolly Julians. As far as I know we are the only Catholic church in the province with a commissioned Christian Clown Ministry. It was started by Marion Croft (Gurgles) in November of 2005 and on February 12th 2006 the clowns (Bonnie LeBlanc aka Susie Q, Lynn Boudreau aka Rainbow, Sharon Trueman aka Patty Cake, Monika Treleaven aka Mona, and, in absentia, Cathy LeBlanc aka Jelly Bean) were officially commissioned by Fr. Keith Billard at the conclusion of the Sunday Mass. Once commissioned they received a wide variety of invitations to perform from a Ladies Baptist Retreat weekend to a night honouring the Elders on the First Nation’s Reserve in Bear River, from the Fall Sunday School opening at the Digby Baptist Church to a fundraiser for the church in Amherst, Nova Scotia.

In the past year, we have been blessed with some new families who have come to Digby through the Atlantic Immigration Project and these four families bring with them a total eight children. This sounds promising for our church.

As you can see, St. Patrick’s has had a long and interesting history and we are not done yet. We look forward to what this newly constructed parish will offer us that we could not accomplish on our own. May St. Patrick look over us in the years ahead.

The sanctuary at Christmas – with the Calvary Scene from
the former Holy Cross Church in Plympton.

The Jolly Julians

St. Patrick … pray for us!

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