St. Simon & St. Jude Tignish PE

St. Simon & St. Jude in Tignish, Prince Edward Island is a Christian congregation serving the Tignish community and seeking, engaging, and encouraging others through a life-changing Christian journey.

We seek to be a loving, friendly community that worships God, and serves others. We place a high priority on teaching from the Bible and following the example of Jesus.

Our vision is to impact and renew Tignish and beyond with the transforming message of Jesus Christ through words and actions.

Come as you are - we'd love to get to know you.

 

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St. Simon & St. Jude Church

Known colloquially as Tignish Church is a 19th century Roman Catholic church located in Tignish Parish, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Opened in 1860, it is one of the largest churches on Prince Edward Island. As of 2006, it remains the single largest Brick Church on Prince Edward Island, measuring 185 feet high. It can be clearly seen for 6 miles on flat land, and for many more miles at sea. It is perhaps most famous for its widely publicized apparition of Jesus event.

The church, along with the local Post Office, is one of the few original structures in Tignish remaining in excellent condition. Surrounding churches include Immaculate Conception Church located 6 miles SW of Tignish in Palmer Road, as well as Greenmount United Church located 5 miles S of Tignish. Many from outside the official parish, such as those in Palmer Road or Alberton parishes, will attend the church.

History

Although religious services were held in Tignish by its residents since the very foundation of Tignish in 1799, an established place of worship was not produced for a further two years. In 1801, the Acadian settlers of the community built a log church that measured 30 by 25 feet. Although they had no priest, the settlers would gather at the church and read prayers from the Gospel every week.

In 1826 the log church was destroyed to make way for a new, larger building. This building measured 60 by 45 feet and was located in the same area.

It was in 1844 that the area of Tignish was finally construed as a Parish. With the arrival of new priest Peter MacIntyre, the church received major indoor renovations and Fr. MacIntyre became the first resident Parish Priest of Tignish. He is considered one of the most prominent and iconic religious leaders of the Tignish area, and one of the most favored priests, he also served the third longest as priest, from 1844–1860. In 1851 Fr. MacIntyre introduced church organ into the establishment and in the same year the church was hauled from its location to a new location near the Dalton Schoolhouse.

Construction of the church

The Church of St. Simon & St. Jude is a thing of beauty. It's construction began to be in the works in 1857, and it was built between the years of 1859-1860. The entire build was guided by Rev. Peter McIntyre. There were 300 families living in Tignish at this time. The St. Simon & St. Jude Church can be seen from around the community; it being 100 feet long by 62 feet high, and it's magnificent steeple of 185 feet high was used as a beacon for the fishermen and to reach towards the heavens.

The church is made of 500,000 bricks that came from Hughes` Brickyard, making it the first major brick building built in Prince Edward Island. The architect of the church was Patrick C. Kielly. Patrick designed the church in a Gothic Design. The twelve pillars located inside consist of one large tree that was cut down from "Virgin Forest" located on the Centre Line Road. Each of these pillars were shaped by hand.

In 1885 the stations of the cross were erected in the church. These are very unique, as there are only three others like it in all of Canada. In 1888 a famous artist from Montreal; Francois Xavier Edouard Meloche, painted the twelve life size murals of the Apostles located along the walls, between the stained glass windows. In this same year the church was decorated dark blue with stars. In 1997 the church was once again painted, in creams, greys and a replica of the same blue sky.

With the assistance of many volunteer workers from Tignish and outlying areas, construction on the present–day St. Simon & St. Jude Church began in 1857 and was made entirely of an outer domestic brick structure and wood on the inside. The twelve tall and large columns located in the church were made of only one large tree that was extracted from nearby Center Line Road by bobsled and horses.

The construction of the church was completed, to an extent, in 1860, and was also consecrated in this year. André Roy was the parish priest at the time and would quickly be succeeded by Dugald M. McDonald in 1861.

Famous organ

In 1882 a 1,118–pipe hand–pumped church organ, was installed by long–standing priest Dugald M. McDonald. Although the organ was purchased for $2,400.00 CAD in 1882, its current retail value is an estimated $1 million USD. The organ was featured in many of the documentation done by Henry Gaudet, a former member of the Parish. It has also been featured on many local newscasts and newspapers. The organ was manually operated by hand pump until electricity was first provided in Tignish in 1959. The organ still resides at the church to the present day.

Tignish Parish Reflections

by Rev. A. O'Shea

Eight Acadian families arrived in the Tignish area in 1799, having lived earlier farther east on this Island. The first little church here was erected in 1801, built of logs measuring 25 by 30 feet and closer to the shore. The second church, also close to the shore was built in 1826 and measure 45 by 60 feet. this one would serve the parish for over thirty years and later for a long time as a parish hall. A happy day for the Tignish people, however, came in 1860 when the present day brick church opened it's doors and located closer to the center of the growing parish. A small wooden priest's house was built in the early years while the present rectory, two stories in brick, made it's appearance in 1872. A major update to the rectory's interior was done in 1977.

Two priests closely connected with Tignish became bishops. the first was Fr. Peter MacIntyre, a native of St. Peter's Bay, who was the first resident pastor at Tignish from 1843 to 1860. In that later year he was named the third bishop of Charlottetown. A day or two after his consecration in our cathedral the new bishop, accompanied by four other bishops and some priests came to Tignish to celebrate the grand opening of the new brick church, the building of which MacIntyre who was pastor had worked so closely. He would now become the longest serving bishop here until his death in 1891 with burial in his native parish of St. Peter's Bay. the second bishop closely connected with Tignish was Leo Nelligan, born not for from the church at a section commonly known as Tignish corner. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1925 for the Archdiocese of Edmonton in Alberta. He served there as Rector of the Cathedral and as Vicar General for most of his twelve years in that city. then in 1937, on his 43rd birthday, he was appointed Bishop of Pembrooke in Ontario.

Parish register begin in 1831 while it was still a missionary area. The splendid pipe organ was installed in 1882 and outside of the Basilica's organ, it is probably the best in the Diocese today. The present day

The Parish Centre opened it's doors in 1967, replacing the old one which had been the second church. The Tignish Convent, home of the Sister's of Notre Dame, opened in 1868 and a large number of excellent teaching nuns lived there until the place was sold in the 1990's. this convent celebrated it's centennial year in 1968 very fittingly. For the Anniversary Mass in the church that September, Tignish native Bishop Leo Nelligan con-celebrated and gave a fine homily. That evening in the new Parish Centre the Bishop gave a long talk about the life in earlier Tignish and beyond, filling his message with a generous blend of lively jokes, the telling of which he was well known across the land. Bishop Nelligan stayed at the rectory for a few days with Fr. Michael Rooney and myself (Fr. Art O'Shea) before returning to Ontario where he was retired. He died in 1974 and is buried in Windsor, Ontario.

Tignish Parish contributed a generous number of women religious (nuns) over long years, at least 65 in all. these belonged to eleven different religious orders across Canada and the United States. Likewise, 23 of it's men were ordained to the priesthood, twelve for service on PEI and eleven others for across Canada and the United States. One of these was Bishop Nelligan mentioned earlier. Ten priests are buried in the Tignish cemetery, five natives of the parish and four who had been pastors. One other was from a parish nearby. It is worth noting that one of these, Fr. Dugald MacDonald had been pastor at Tignish for 58 years!

Some brief parish notes:

~ Four from the parish have been appointed as Lieutenant Governor of PEI, living in that large government house in Charlottetown. Three are buried in Tignish and the fourth, Antoinette Perry, is presently serving in that capacity and returns faithfully each month or so to play St. Simon & St. Jude's wonderful organ.

~ One of the many church organists, Minnie Richard, played that grand organ from 1894-1947.

~ A good number of politicians, both provincial and federal, have come from Tignish. One of these, Gail Shea, recently served in the Canadian cabinet,

~ Although the first settlers in Tignish were Acadians, they were soon joined by immigrants from Ireland. From the beginning, the family names in the parish have been a mix of Acadian and Irish.

~ Two major tragedies happened within the parish. On a very cold February night in 1932 a freight train became stuck in heavy snow a mile from Tignish with men and shovels at work, around midnight, without warning the passenger train from Charlottetown arrived and crashed into the stuck train, injuring many and killing four. Then in October of 1954 a car with four Tignish men crashed over the bridge en route to Alberton and were drowned then and there. The funeral for all four was held in the parish church with burial in the nearby cemetery.

~The fishery has been a really well-operated industry of Tignish over many years.

~ The Co-op movement has also been very active in Tignish over long years with great leadership.

~ The church has been painted a number of times with new seats installed in the 1950's. The sanctuary was updated, in line with Vatican II, around 1977.

~ A Major fire raged through Tignish in 1896 with 62 buildings burned and 14 families left homeless.

~ Electricity came to Tignish in the mid 1950's and the village was incorporated in 1952.

~ Train service to Tignish began in 1875. Passenger trains here ran until the mid 1960's and freight trains until 1989. the old railway on PEI is now known as "The Confederation Trail" for waling, cycling, etc.