Saint Patrick's Parish - Hamilton Ontario
A Photo Essay
Recently my son was spending a day in Hamilton as part of the Frassati Leadership Program, I choose to spend the day in Hamilton rather than drive back and forth twice. I arrived for the end of the day with some time to spare to explore the church and take some photos. After the service I talked with Father Jarek Pachocki OMI about some of the statues, icons, and stained glass.
I was informed it is the oldest Catholic church in Hamilton. I was also told that the stations of the cross matches a set at St. Patrick's in New York City. In a book I have A History of the Diocese of Hamilton it states construction began in 1875, and the dedication of the church was on the first Sunday of July 1877. The style of the church is 13th Century French Gothic and the interior is Victorian Gothic Revival. And the interior is built from Canadian wood and stone.
The logo of the church is a cross silhouetted on a shamrock. The shamrock is half green to represent the Irish heritage f the parish and half silver to represent the multiethnicity makeup of the current congregation. I really enjoyed the service I attended there, and my son enjoyed serving meals at the De Mazenod Door Outreach.
We identified the saints in the stained glass windows behind the altar as:
St Michael the Archangel
Saint George
Saint Patrick
Saint Brigid
Saint Columbia
and
Joan of Arc
Our family has devotions to almost all of those saints as either namesake saints, or confirmation saints. We could not positively identify the 10 saints on the high altar. And there we many saints on the stained glass on the side walls of the church. I only spent about a half hour in the church both before and after mass. Some time for prayer and to explore. I would love to take some time on a future trip and get photo's of all the stained glass and saints and be able to identify them all.
It is a beautiful church that is part of the Diocese of Hamilton. If you are in the area or just passing through check out the mass times. It is well worth the visit.
440 King St East
Hamilton, ON
L6N 1C6
905-522-9828
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