Holy Communion Service to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Bishop John McLean - This event has already occurred
Friday, May 3, 2024 7:00 pm - 8:45 pm
Address:
St. Alban's Cathedral, 1410 Bishop McLean Crescent, Prince Albert, SK
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Category:
- Downtown
- Free Events
Event Details:
Please join us at St. Alban's Cathedral for a Holy Communion Service Friday, May 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the consecration of our first bishop, John McLean. A reception will follow in the Cathedral Hall with coffee/tea, pie & ice cream. Everyone is welcome! tawaw
Our thanks to Lay Reader Fred Payton for this mini-biography of Bishop McLean:
John McLean, the first bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Saskatchewan, was born November 17th, 1828, in the small fishing village of Portsoy, Banffshire, Scotland, to Charles and Jannet (Watson) McLean. Baptised and raised by his parents within the Presbyterian church, McLean received his early education in the parental home. At the age of sixteen, he won a bursary to King’s College, Aberdeen, from which he graduated with a Masters of Arts in Science and Classics in 1851.
Following his graduation, McLean moved to London, where he was employed in a manufacturing firm managed by an uncle. He became interested in the Church of England Young Men’s Society and began studying foreign languages as well as taking theology classes. By 1858, McLean had decided to seek ordination. He emigrated to the city of London, Upper Canada, where he was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Cronyn, the first bishop of the Diocese of Huron in August of that year, and priested in December of the same year.
McLean was appointed as chaplain of the local garrison and curate of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the see city of the Diocese of Huron. While serving in that city, he met and married Kathleen Wilhelmina Flood, daughter of the Reverend Richard and Frances (Blake) Flood.
In 1866, the newly consecrated bishop of Rupert’s Land, Robert Machray, a childhood friend and fellow student from King’s College, invited McLean to join him at the Red River Settlement (now Winnipeg) to become his examining chaplain, the warden and professor of divinity of St. John’s College, as well as Archdeacon of Assiniboia, and rector of St. John’s Cathedral.
In 1873, when consideration was undertaken to split the huge Diocese of Rupert’s Land, McLean travelled to England in an effort to raise funds for the new diocese. While there, he was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Archibald Campbell Tait.
McLean returned to Canada and travelled to Prince Albert in the early part of 1875, where he began the organization of the new diocese. When asked to locate the diocese, his response was usually along the lines of: ‘“it is in Western Canada: it is bounded on the east by the Province of Manitoba, on the west by the Province of British Columbia at the summit of the Rocky Mountains, on the south by the International boundary line between Canada and the United States, and on the north by the Aurora Borealis and world without end.”
The diocese was a vast area, according to one document covering 700,000 square miles and by another document, prepared by Hedley Holmes, covering 900,000 square miles. It was populated by about 30,000 First Nations persons, with a few small settlements of white people. There were no endowments, no missionaries, no churches.
On his arrival here, Bishop McLean had one priest, in Stanley Mission, one lay missionary at Sandy Lake, and one deacon at Fort à la Corne. At his last Synod in August 1886, it had 22 clergy and seven catechists by 1886, with churches and missions from Lake Winnipeg to the Fort McLeod, as well as Saskatchewan’s first university, Emmanuel College.
In late September, 1886, while visiting one of his parishes in Edmonton, McLean became ill. As he started for home, the wagon in which he was travelling overturned, and McLean suffered further physical harm. Although he was able to return to Prince Albert, he never recovered and McLean died on Sunday, November 7th.
For pictures from the Bill Smiley Archives, and the Diocese of Saskatchewan Archives please see the post pinned to the top of St. Alban's Cathedral's Facebook page.
Facebook Event Link:
https://www.facebook.com/StAlbansPA
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