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Authority record
Battock, George W.
Person · 1892-1984

George W. Battock (1892-1984), Catholic priest, was born at Brigus South, District of Ferryland, Newfoundland, on 22 April 1892, the son of Ellen (Gregory) and John Battcock. He died at St. Patrick's Mercy Home, St. John's in 1984. He is buried at Belvedere Cemetery, St. John's.

Battock received his elementary education at the parish school at Ferryland. In 1910-11 he worked with the Reid Newfoundland Railway Company and subsequently enrolled at St. Bonaventure's College, St. John's, where he completed his high school education (1911-14). Battock attended Holy Heart Seminary, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was ordained a priest on 21 December 1918 in the chapel of Presentation Convent, Cathedral Square, St. John's, by Edward Patrick Roche, Archbishop of St. John's.

Almost immediately following his ordination, Rev. Battock was given a temporary appointment as the administrator of St. Michael's Parish, Bell Island. In June of 1919 he was appointed as the parish priest of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, St. Lawrence. He was subsequently granted a leave of absence for health reasons. When he resumed his priestly pastoral ministry in 1923 he was selected as parish priest of the newly established Sacred Heart Parish, St. Vincent's, Saint Mary's Bay, where he served for almost 48 years.

Rev. Battock retired from active parish duties on 31 August 1970 and moved to the Cathedral Basilica Parish Residence, St. John's. As his health deteriorated, he was transferred to St. Patrick's Mercy Home where he resided at the time of his death.

Bay St. George Parish
Corporate body · 1957-

The Bay St. George Parish is a parish of the Anglican Church of Canada in the Diocese of Western Newfoundland.
Churches include:
St. Mary Magdalene (Jeffrey's)
St. George (Robinson's)
St. Michael and All Angels (St. David's)
St. Mary the Virgin (St. George's)
Holy Trinity (Barachois Brook) (? - 1976)
Stephenville (1964 - 197?)
Stephenvile Crossing (1964 - 199?)

Corporate body · 1951-1965

Bay St. George Parish
General/Correspondence/Property and Plans.
St. George's, St. Mary the Virgin
Jeffrey's, St. Mary Magdalene (1986-1988)
Robinsons, St. George (1963-1989)
St. David's, St. Michael and All Angels (1979-1989)
Sandy Point [Heritage Village] (1966-1977)

Bélanger, Alexis
Person · 1808-1868

Alexis Bélanger (1808-1868), Catholic priest, was born at Saint Roch des Aulnaies, Québec, on 18 January 1808, the son of Marie Talbot and Pierre Bélanger. He was educated at the College de Sainte Anne de la Pocatierre and the Grande Seminaire de Québec. Bélanger was ordained a priest in 1835 by Joseph Signay, Bishop of Québec.

From 1835 to 1839, Rev. Bélanger served as an assistant priest in the parish of Sainte-Marie de Beauce, Québec. In that year, he was sent by his bishop as a missionary to the Roman Catholic population on the Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Gulf of St. Lawrence. During the 1840s, he traveled throughout the Gulf of St. Lawrence region, spending winters at Rustico, Prince Edward Island, Caraquet, New Brunswick, and as far north as Blanc Sablon on the Labrador Coast.

In 1850, Rev. Bélanger was sent by the Bishop of Québec to minister to the French population along the west coast of Newfoundland. Most likely, this appointment was requested by John Thomas Mullock, Bishop of St. John's, who had been endeavoring for a number of years to have a Francophone priest minister to the inhabitants of that region of Newfoundland. Bishop Mullock appointed Rev. Bélanger as his vicar general for the district, with his residence at Sandy Point, St. George's Bay.

In the community, Rev. Bélanger also acted as a doctor, dentist, carpenter, teacher, farmer, and logger. During his residency in St. George's Bay, he helped build the first church at Sandy Point, under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, on a site staked out by Bishop Mullock during his visit to the area in 1848. The wooden church, measuring 13.7 m by 6.7 m (45 ft. by 22 ft.) was replaced by a much larger one in the 1870s. In 1904, it became the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, headquarters of the newly created Diocese of St. George's.

In addition to Sandy Point and the surrounding area, Rev. Bélanger's parish included the coastline of western Newfoundland and the Bay of Islands area. After 1854, he also began regular visits to the Codroy Valley area to minister to the Roman Catholic population there. Rev. Bélanger died at Sandy Point on 7 September 1868. In accordance with his wishes, his remains were embalmed and returned to his home town and were buried under the parish church at Saint Roch des Aulnaies on 29 September 1868.

Bemister, John
Person · 1815-1892

John Bemister (1815-1892), politician, was born in Carbonear, Newfoundland in 1815. He died at Harbour Grace on 23 December 1892.

Bemister entered politics in 1855 as a Conservative supporter of Sir Hugh Hoyles and represented the district of Bay de Verde in the first House of Assembly after the granting of Responsible Government. Bemister continued to represent this district up to 1870 when he retired from politics.

In 1861 he was appointed to the cabinet as Receiver General, the major financial portfolio. In 1865, he was appointed by the Prime Minister Frederick Carter to the position of Colonial Secretary. Confederation was a key election issue in 1869, and Bemister, who supported union with Canada, maintained the support of his district despite the controversial nature of the election. Religious tensions flared as the Catholic Church advised its faithful to vote against the issue, while the Protestant Churches took the opposite stand. In the end, the anti-Confederates were successful and Confederation became a dead issue.

Upon his retirement from politics in 1870, Bemister was appointed a sheriff of the Northern District, where he held the position until 1892.

Corporate body · 1816-

The Benevolent Irish Society (BIS), one of the oldest charitable and social organizations in Newfoundland, was established on 5 February 1816 in St. John's to assist the poor and distressed in the town. It was founded by prominent Irish residents to aid orphans, neglected children, the sick, the old and disabled on a nondenominational basis, although membership in the society was restricted to those of Irish descent. Officially nondenominational (its first three presidents were Irish Protestants), in practice the BIS became essentially an agency of Roman Catholic charity and education. The BIS also served as a catalyst for the St. John's Irish community. Funds were raised through donations and membership fees. The BIS seal featured a figure of St. Patrick and the motto "He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord."

The BIS took a special interest in the many orphaned children in St. John's, and, in 1827, established the Orphan Asylum School (OAS) which, despite its name, actually functioned for the education of poor children generally. Although intended to be nondenominational, the OAS was attended only by Roman Catholics. When the Presentation Sisters arrived in St. John's from Ireland in 1833, girls were moved to their school and the OAS devoted its efforts to educating boys. In 1847 the OAS was taken over by the Order of St. Francis and, in 1876, by the Irish Christian Brothers.

In 1826/7 the BIS constructed a small two-storey building located on what is now Queens Road overlooking St. John's Harbour. The OAS was housed on the ground floor and a banquet and meeting hall on the second floor. This building was enlarged in the 1840s to meet increasing school enrollment and to accommodate BIS social functions, as well as to provide space for the distribution of charity. In the late 1870s, the BIS constructed St. Patrick's Hall on the same site; it was considerably larger than its predecessor and made of stone masonry in the Second Empire Style. The BIS building was opened in August 1880 but destroyed in the Great Fire of 1892.

St. Patrick's Hall was rebuilt and reopened in 1893-94. By this time the cost of the school absorbed all the society's charity efforts, but members also used the hall regularly for social purposes. The BIS building housed reading and games rooms, and a theatre for live performances. A new wing, the O'Donel Memorial Hall, was added in 1905-6, extending space for the three main activities of the BIS: the school, the theatre, and social functions. In 1906-7 the theatre of the BIS was renovated and became a moving picture venue, the Nickel Theatre (1907-60).

The OAS accommodated students until 1985. By 1944 the boys were relocated to St. Patrick's Hall School and the space was used to house an overflow of girls from Presentation School. Until recently, the BIS also sponsored regular bingo games to raise funds for charity and education.

Faced with a declining membership and soaring cost of maintenance, the BIS was compelled to sell St. Patrick's Hall recently and the building was converted into residential condominiums. The BIS relocated to a modern building on Harvey Road. The society supports education by awarding scholarships, functions as a social club, and maintains Irish culture and traditions.

Bergin, Martin Joseph
Person · 1809-1841

Martin Joseph Bergin (1809-1841), Catholic priest, was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1809. Bergen died at Tilton Harbour 28 September 1841.

At the invitation of Michael Anthony Fleming, Bergin came to the Vicariate of Newfoundland, arriving in 1834. He served St. Patrick's Parish, Tilton (Tilting) Harbour, Fogo Island, from 1834 to 1841.