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100th Anniversary Celebration
100th Anniversary Celebration of Sts. Peter and Paul Monastery held in Mundare
Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser
An estimated crowd of 400 people gathered together to celebrate Vidpust Divine Liturgy at Sts. Peter and Paul Shrine in Mundare on June 25.
Bishop David Motiuk, Bishop of Edmonton Eparchy, told the faithful that Apostles Sts. Peter and Paul have guided and blessed the parish community and surrounding area for well over 100 years. He also welcomed Bishop Paul Chomnycky, Bishop of Stamford.
Bishop Motiuk stated, “We are marking 100th anniversary of the Basilian Monastery. Bishop Paul is well situated as a member of the order of St. Basil the Great. But we are also marking the 400th anniversary of the Martyrdom, the death of St. Josephat. So, Bishop Paul we are so pleased that you could join us and we invite you to share with us, break open the Word of God.”
Bishop Chomnycky said it was so nice to be back in Mundare after so many years and to preach the Vidpust sermon. “We are celebrating the 400th anniversary of our great Ukrainian saint and co-founder of the Ukrainian Basilian Order, St. Joseph, along with the 100th anniversary of the blessing, the opening of the venerable building standing beside us, Sts. Peter and Paul Monastery.”
The last time Bishop Chomnycky was present at Vidpust, back in 2002, he was also asked to give the sermon was in 2002. “That’s 21 years ago, in case you’re wondering, and at that time we were also celebrating a special event, and that was the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Basilian Fathers in Canada and the beginning of the Basilian mission in Mundare.”
Bishop Chomnycky said anniversaries, no matter what they commemorating provide an opportunity to come together to present a significant event or persons who have, “in a real way shaped us, made us who we are today, so that we do not forget. So that we remember
who we are, where we come from, how we got to where we are today, and most importantly, remembering our past points us in the right direction towards the future to where we are going.”
He noted that, Sts. Peter and Paul Monastery is probably the oldest building in Mundare today…Some of us have driven past it literally hundreds of times and we don’t know much about it, which is a shame because that building is also a symbol of us, of our history as Ukrainian Catholics here on the Prairies of Alberta.”
Bishop Chomnycky said it will be exactly 100 years ago that Sts. Peter and Paul Monastery was blessed on August 28, 1923. However, its history began more than 20 years earlier with the arrival of the first Basilians’ on the North American continent when Father Filas, the Superior of a group of missionaries from Ukraine, that consisted of four other Basilian fathers and four Sister Servants descended the train at Strathcona station in south Edmonton on Oct. 31, 1902 after a long journey from Halychyna, western Ukraine.
The Fathers built their first simple home at Beaver Lake and their first chapel in 1903. The first Sts. Peter and Paul Vidpust was held that same year. The chapel soon became too small to accommodate all the faithful and the plans was to build another church there, but that did not happen because of the laying of the CNR rail line through the area and construction of a station three miles northwest of Beaver Lake at a place named Mundare. Father Kryzanowski convinced parishioners to relocate and build the church in Mundare and on Sept. 8, 1910 the first Divine Liturgy was celebrated there.
It had the distinction afforded to no other church in Canada, then or since, because it hosted two very famous visitors, right at the beginning. The Canadian Prime Minister himself, Sir Wilfred Laurier was present to dedicate the cornerstone in September of 1910 and a month later, in October of 1910, Metropolitan Sheptytsky visited Mundare while on his pastoral visit to the Ukrainian diaspora around the world. He celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the new church on Sunday, Oct. 23 and consecrated the building at that time.”
Father Filas had to return to Ukraine a couple of years later, and following him as the Superior of the Basilian Fathers mission was Father Ignatius Kryzanowski, who was described as a man of great foresight and courage, and decided to prepare priests from among the local population, and initiate the building of the monastery that was constructed in 1922 and officially blessed just over a year later.
“Since that time, a hundred years ago many candidates, myself included, perhaps hundreds have passed through the doors. Not everyone one of them has reached the day of his priestly ordination, but anyone who has spent even a few weeks or months within the walls of the monastery emerged a better man for it and many have become key lay members of the Ukrainian Catholic community.
So, today we give thanks. We give thanks to Father Kryzanowski and those that were with him for their foresight and determination. To all the other Basilian priests and brothers and Sister Servants over the years, and especially, we give thanks to you the laity, many of whom were your ancestors, your grandparents, your great grandparents who supported the Fathers and their mission over the years.”
