Saint Michael's Cemetery, 1855

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted June, 2008

Access to this cemetery is via a short lane off the west side of Yonge street just south of St. Clair Avenue. Near the centre of the cemetery is an historical plaque of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto. Here's what it has to say:

Plaque coordinates: 43.686060 -79.396262

Toronto's first Roman Catholic Cemetery was beside St. Paul's Church in east downtown Toronto which was established as a Parish in 1822. This cemetery was rapidly filled as a result of the many deaths following the hardships suffered after the 1847 Irish potato famine. By the mid-1850's another catholic cemetery was needed to serve the growing number of Parishes in Toronto.
Purchased in 1854 by the Bishop of Toronto, Rt. Rev. Armand Francois Marie, Comte De Charbonnel, St. Michael's Cemetery was opened in 1855 at the present location in Deer Park, then well north of the City of Toronto. His successor, Bishop John Joseph Lynch, enlarged the cemetery in 1866. To meet the needs of the ever increasing catholic population Mount Hope Cemetery was opened in 1900 in North Toronto.
Originally St. Michael's Cemetery was administered by the Rector of St. Michael's Cathedral. The Toronto Catholic Cemetery Association assumed the responsibility in 1961. Over the years some 29,000 pioneer Catholics of the Toronto Archdiocese, priests, religious and laity, have been buried in these 4 ha.
As a monument to the dedication of earlier generations to their faith this plaque was blessed and dedicated by Most Rev. Robert B. Clune, D.D., Auxillary Bishop of Toronto, on the Vigil of the Feast of St. Michael, Sunday, September 28, 1980.

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