St. Mary the Virgin Clarenville NL

St. Mary the Virgin is serving the Clarenville community and engaging and encouraging others through a life-changing journey in Clarenville, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Our mission is to nurture a diverse and welcoming community, committed to following fearlessly wherever God is leading us and make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of Clarenville and the world!

 

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Anglican Church of Canada  

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HISTORY OF ST. MARY'S

The Anglican Church in Clarenville really had its beginnings with the coming of Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Long, parents of Mr. William Long, Sr., better known to us as Uncle Billy. Mr. And Mrs. Long were originally from Champney’s East but moved to St. John’s where Mr. Long worked as a Building Contractor. During the summer of 1910 the Long family moved to Clarenville where Mr. Long built a Hotel, known as the Central Hotel, near Long’s Crossing. It was operated by the Long families until 1945.There was no Anglican Church in Clarenville in 1910 and there was only three Anglican families there at that time – Mr. & Mrs. Robert Batstone who lived in a bungalow opposite the site where the Centennial Hotel is located – between the hotel and the track; Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Stone (parents of William Stone) who lived on the site which the Department of Highways now occupies and Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Long.At that time (1910) Clarenville was part of Smith Sound Mission with headquarters at White Rock. It was also in 1910 that Rev. Hugh Facey came to the Mission. When he visited Clarenville, he held service in the Hotel dining room which wasn’t too convenient at times. Quite often passengers from the Coastal Boat (The Ethie) as well as people who came from other parts of Random and Smith Sounds in motor boats to connect with trains visited the Hotel when services were being held. This meant that Mrs. Long, popularly known as Aunt Mary, would have to leave to attend to her guests. These interruptions occurred so frequently that Mrs. Long decided that the time had come to do something about getting a School-Chapel. For a start she sought and obtained permission from Rev. Facey to place a Mission Box on the dining room table to obtain contributions from her guests and other visitors to the Hotel.

Uncle Billy tells us that his mother was a good organizer and undertook many projects to raise funds to et a Church. Socials were held at various places in the area. These socials were usually Pie Suppers, Soup Suppers, Soup Suppers and so on. Concerts and Dances were also arranged and the popular Fiddler of the day was Uncle Billy Stanley. He usually played the accordion. Sometimes admission was free with charges of 10 (cents) to 20 (cents) for refreshments. If $10.00 or $15.00 were realized the Social was considered an outstanding success. Socials were held at the following places: The UC School which was located near the present United Church, Clarenville; (Later this building was purchased by Mr. Eli Balsom who moved it to its present location near the Orange Hall and used it for a dwelling.) The Orange Hall, Clarenville; the United School , Shoal Hr., which was located opposite where Harbour Motors is now doing business and the Oddfellows Hall, Clarenville.In 1922 Mrs. Long rented a house opposite where Mr. Albert Hunt now lives – between the old Anglican Church and Mr. William Stone’s. Uncle Billy renovated the building by removing all the partitions and renewing the foundation after which it was converted into a school. Mr. Joseph Long made the seats some of which were 8 ft. Long or longer with desks at the back. Some of these seats are still in use today although the desks have been removed. (They are located in the Anglican Parish Hall, Clarenville.) This school was also used as a chapel by Rev. Rowe who succeeded Rev. Facey. (Note; As a point of interest it may be stated here that Rev. Rowe died while preaching from the Pulpit of his Church in Montreal.)

As a result of her efforts Aunt Mary Long and her friends with the support of members of other congregations raised sufficient funds to commence building a School-Chapel. The rented building was used until 1925when the new School – Chapel was officially opened. Working towards this goal was a little easier than when it started as a fourth Anglican family moved in, Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Blackmore, who were also staunch church supporters.Uncle Billy tells us that the new School – Chapel (still standing near the residence of Mrs. William Adey’s) was built in about one year. Free labour was the order of the day and much credit is due to the four families and in particular to Aunt Mary Long who was the prime mover of the project. It was generally understood that Aunt Mary was primarily responsible for the beginning of the Church in Clarenville. As a matter of interest it may be noted that the first Organist in this School Chapel was Mrs. William Adey who is presently residing in Clarenville. Mrs. Adey was the former Miss Ida Pitcher of Burgoyne’s Cove. The first Teacher was miss Elma Carberry also of Burgoyne’s Cove. Miss Carberry later married Mr. William Quinton of Princeton. Incidentally, the Teacher at the time was boarded free by the Anglican Families, living a couple of months with each family. This School – Chapel was used until the present Church was opened in 1960.

The New St. Mary’s, Clarenville by Angus Drover

Sunday, June 21st., 1964 was a happy and memorable day in the life of the congregation of St. Mary the Virgin, Clarenville. At 11:00 a.m. on that day Bishop J.A. Meadan conducted the Service of Consecration, “setting the building apart from all profane and common uses, and dedicating the same to Almighty God for the ministration of His Holy Word and Sacraments and for public worship, according to the rites and ceremonies of the Anglican Church of Canada.” This is part of the sentence of Consecration read by the Bishop. Before Consecration a building must be free from all legal liability from debt. The consecration of our new Church that Sunday morning in June of 64 came as a result of hard work and Christian dedication of a small band of men and women who, years before, realizing the small church in use at that time was not adequate for the growing Anglican congregation, decided to do something about it and started making plans for a new Church.



Under the guidance of the Incumbent, the Rev. J.F. Ayris, a building fund was instituted. In 1953 land for the new Church was purchased.For the next five years the monthly collections were carried on by members of the Congregation to be put in the building fund. By 1957 some two thousand dollars had been collected by this method. In the following year the Wells Organization was invited to carry out a plan for the building fund. A three year pledge system was introduced with a target collection of fifteen thousand dollars set by the organization. At the end of the three year period approximately fourteen thousand dollars, or ninety-five percent of the figure set, had been collected. According to the Wells people one of the highest percentages of their many years organizing such collections. Truly a splendid response from our people.After two years with the pledge system we felt we had enough funds to start building.



In 1960 the hopes and dreams of our congregation were being realized as the following events took place: On March 6th a congregational meeting accepted the plans of the Church. May 11th the breaking of ground took place. On June 17th Bishop Seaborn laid the corner stone, and on Oct. 15th the official opening of the Church was held, with Bishop Meaden officiating at the service. The first Church Service was held a week prior to the above date on Oct. 9th. This was conducted by Mr. Silas Gardner, one of our Lay Readers. This was a great day for uncle Si as he had the honour of taking the first Service in the new Church and taking it on his 70th birthday. Mr. Gardner is still lay reading and serving his church well.As we did not have enough money to finish the Church, a meeting of the congregation was called on Sept. 6th of that year to discuss ways and means of raising some ten thousand dollars. Ten members of the congregation voluntarily signed a note for one thousand dollars each and a loan was obtained through the bank. Although the cost of the building was some twenty-seven thousand dollars, some thousands more were put into it through donations of furniture and fittings. As always the ladies of the C.E.W.A. were a tower of strength. The organ and the chimes and bells were given by the ladies and paid for from funds of their organization. The cost of these two items was approximately three thousand dollars. Rev. Ayris, who had taken a keen interest in the building of our Church, left the Mission during 1955. He was succeeded by Rev. E. Willis who too worked hard during the planning and building stages. Rev. A. Torraville was posted to the mission in 1959 and was with us for the official opening and consecration in 1964We have refrained from mentioning any particular member of the Congregation up to this point as there were many during the years who contributed, in various ways, to the building of our Church. However, we do feel we should mention, as we conclude this article, the names of parishioners who served on the various building committees during the fifties and during the constructions of the building. The late Alex. Duffitt was the chairman of the Committee. Others were: S. Gardner, C. Hart, A. Baird, E. Tucker, Magistrate G. Trickett, Corp. W. Jillett and the writer.We mentioned at the beginning the consecration of our Church came as a result of the hard work and Christian dedication of a small band of men and women. When we realize that in 1953 our church membership was a mere 185 souls, this can truly be said.