Page 177 - Transcriptions d'actes notariés - Tome 20 - 1682-1686

Catholicism in the Hamilton Area before
the Establishment of the Diocese in 1856

Arthur P. MONAHAN, M.A., L.M.S., Ph.D.,
Si. Jerome's College, Kitchener, Ontrrw

A convenieiit thoupli admittedly arbitrary date with wliich 10
begin the prediocesan histury of Hamilton is 1850. On May 20th of tliet
year ~he Right Reverend Arm~nd Francis Mary, Comte de Charbonnel,
beceme the second tishup of Toronto in Canada West (U per Ceneda).
Bishop de Cherbonnel sueceeded the Right Reverend d iehael Power,
who had been elevated to episcopal rank when the dioceee of Toronto
was formed iii 1841. Uuder the guidauce of de Cherbonnel, a ae11-
eflacing but indefatigable French eristocrat tliruet unwillingly into a
newlv-esteblished we in the eeiitre of the Canadian wilderneae. the imme
diate' fouiidations of Hamilton diooese were laid.
The diocese of Toronco, even though but e portion of the original
diocese of Kingston, was vest in aree by sny standards. It extended
roughly from Oshawa to Sandwieh i Windsor) east and West, aiid from
Goderieh to Port Colborne north and 30urh. includin~ es well the
L n
missions of Lakes Huron and Superior. Its seund hishop, immediately
on taking ofice it seems, saw the uecessity of a further division of
episeopal jurisdiction if Catholicism was to prosper in this pioneer
couiitry. Almost irom the beginning of his tenure, de Charbonnel
eought assisiaiiee for the many problems he faced. At 6rst this desire
took the furm of a request for a eoadjutor bishop, wliom de Charhonnel
wished 10 instrrlI in Hamilton. ('1 But the mail he ehose for this role, the
Reverend Patrick Dowd, oi the Suplician Seminary in Montreal, refused
the positiaii, despite de Charbonnel's efforts and two supporting letters
irom Rome.t2' De Cherbonnel aleo tried unsuceessIully to encourage the
Oblates of Mary Irnmaculate to send several prieets frum Montreal to
aid him, oflering them Hamilton as a location for a hou* which could
serve as a recriiiting centre for their c~mmuniiy.'~' He then decided
on the alternetive of reducing the size of his owii diacese by the esteb-

(1) At iliie iinie Haniilion was B rapidJy-growing lakepori iown wiib a popula-
of
..-- sbour 14,MX) perron;;, arcording io the Dominion Ccnsus Report of
tion
ltl5l.
(2) See Francis J. Boland, C.S.B., An A~lysis oj the ProLbms and fiificdtks of
the Bwiliars Fdherr in Toronto, 18jû-ll160, unpublislied Oiiawa Uniuersiiy
Ph.D. Diswriaiios p. 45.
(3) See Candid~ C~unsp. O.!J.(1.. Euique d'or, Cruisse de bof, Vie de Monsrigneur
dc Charbonnel, Euiqw de Turonto, p. 73.