Fonds - St. Patrick's Parish (Witless Bay, Newfoundland) fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

St. Patrick's Parish (Witless Bay, Newfoundland) fonds

General material designation

  • Textual record
  • Graphic material

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Other title information

Witless Bay Parish Collection

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

  • Source of title proper: Title based on correspondence in the fonds

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

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Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1830-1996 (Creation)
    Creator
    St. Patrick's Parish (Witless Bay, N.L. : Catholic)

Physical description area

Physical description

20 cm of textual records
1 photograph: b&w
1 microfilm reel

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1831-1996)

Administrative history

St. Patrick's Parish was established in 1831 and included the communities of Bay Bulls, Witless Bay, Mobile, Tors Cove, Burnt Cove, St. Michael's, Bauline and La Manche. Prior to this, these communities were part of the much larger St. John's Parish which stretched from La Manche on the Southern Shore to Holyrood, Conception Bay.

In 1893, St. Patrick's Parish was divided. Bay Bulls and Witless Bay remained in St. Patrick's Parish. The remaining communities were transferred to the the jurisdiction of the newly established Sacred Heart Parish, with Mobile as its centre. In 1921, Mobile was removed from Sacred Heart Parish and transferred back to St. Patrick's Parish.

Additional jurisdictional changes to St. Patrick's Parish occurred in 1921 when Archbishop Edward P. Roche separated Bay Bulls from St. Patrick's Parish and created the Parish of Saints Peter and Paul, with its parish centre at Bay Bulls. This left the communities of Witless Bay and Mobile under St. Patrick's Parish.

In 1965, Sacred Heart Parish was dismembered and the parish came under the jurisdiction of St. Patrick's Parish. In 1996 St. Patrick's Parish and Sacred Heart Parish were canonically suppressed. The successor parish was the newly created parish Our Lady, Star of the Sea.

Freedom of religion had been granted to Roman Catholics in Newfoundland in 1784 and Rev. James O'Donel, vicar apostolic, was selected to organize the Catholic Church in Newfoundland. Sometime before 1796, O'Donel built the first Catholic Church in Bay Bulls, then part of St. John's Parish. The first priest appointed to St. Patrick's Parish was Rev. (later Dean) Patrick Cleary. He chose Witless Bay as the centre of the parish where he built a presbytery and started the construction of a church in the 1830s. This church, the current church in Witless Bay, was completed by Dean Roche ca. 1877. In 1989, when renovations were being made to the presbytery at Witless Bay, newspapers dating from 1840 were discovered in the walls of the house, suggesting that this was the original house that built by Cleary built and the oldest surviving Roman Catholic Parish presbytery in the Archdiocese of St. John's.

Education in St. Patrick's Parish was organized by Dean Cleary. Shortly after the Education Act of 1836, a school was established at Witless Bay and staffed with lay people. By 1844, there were Catholic schools in other communities in the parish, including Bay Bulls and St. Michael's. In 1860 the Presentation Sisters established a convent and school in Witless Bay. They educated the girls while the boys were educated in a separate school by a lay teacher. In 1915, Rev. Patrick J. O'Brien added two new rooms to the convent and school which allowed the boys and girls to be taught by the Presentation Sisters. In 1948 the Convent school at Witless Bay was renovated and called St. Bernard's School after its foundress Mother M. Bernard O'Donnel.

In 1920, Rev. O'Brien also built a new three-room school at Bay Bulls. In 1921 the Sisters of Mercy were invited to St. Patrick's Parish. They established a convent in Bay Bulls and directed the operation of the schools in the community; In the 1970s Rev. William Lawton, who had established the first parish council in Tors Cove-St. Michael's, organized the St. Patrick's Parish Council. By 1975, the men of St. Patrick's Parish had formed a District Council of the Knights of Columbus and called it the Dean Cleary Council in memory of the early pastor. Other community organizations which have been active in the parish include the Ladies Auxiliary of the Knights of Columbus, the Legion of Mary, the Columbian Squires and the Girl Guides and Boy Scouts.

Some of the priests who served the people of St. Patrick's Parish (est. in 1831) are as follows: Dean Patrick Cleary (1831-1882); Dean Roche (1882-1916); Patrick O'Brien (1916-1922); J. J. Greene (1923-1934); T. J. Gough (1934-1954); Richard McGrath (1954-1968); Francis Coady (1968-1970); William Lawton as administrator (1970-1973); E. J. Purcell (1973-1986); Tony Bennett (1986-1987); Francis Puddister (1987-1990); William Pomroy (1990-1995); and Robert Ryan (1995-1996).

Custodial history

Scope and content

Fonds consist of a baptismal register of Bay Bulls, Witless Bay and Tors Cove (1830-80); baptismal register of Witless Bay (1881-1915); financial records (1916-23); parish documents (1856-1922, 1996); parish boundaries (1982); and correspondence (1902-90, predominant 1945-79); Fonds also includes printed material which relates to the Parish's history and activities.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

The immediate source of the fonds is St. Patrick's Parish but additional material has been added by the archivist and other donors.

Arrangement

Language of material

  • English
  • Latin

Script of material

    Language and script note

    English predominates. Some Latin documents included.

    Location of originals

    Availability of other formats

    Some sections of the baptismal registers (1830-99) have been microfilmed. The baptismal register of Bay Bulls, Witless Bay and Tors Cove (1830-80) and the baptismal register of Witless Bay (1881-1915) have been photocopied.

    Restrictions on access

    Restrictions on access may apply. Consult the archivist.

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

    Researchers are required to use the photocopied registers for conservation reasons.

    Finding aids

    Box list available.

    Associated materials

    See Basilica-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Parish fonds for records that predate the establishment of St. Patrick's Parish. Also consult Sts. Peter and Paul Parish fonds, Sacred Heart Parish fonds, and Mobile Parish fonds for additional information on communities that were once part of St. Patrick's Parish.

    Related materials

    Accruals

    Further accruals are not expected as this Parish was suppressed in 1996. If, however, additional material on St. Patrick's Parish becomes available, it will be accepted.

    Alternative identifier(s)

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    Description record identifier

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    Status

    Draft

    Level of detail

    Partial

    Dates of creation, revision and deletion

    Created - April 25, 2013

    Language of description

    • English

    Script of description

      Sources

      Accession area