Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate

Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and parish church located at 28 Norfolk Street in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. A Gothic Revival style building constructed between 1876 and 1888 by architect Joseph Connolly, it is considered Connolly's best work. The monumental church contains decorative carving and stained glass executed by skilled craftsmen. The church of Our Lady is one of the 122 parishes in the Diocese of Hamilton and currently has 2,600 families in the congregation. In 1990, the church was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Pope Francis designated the church a basilica on 8 December 2014.

When John Galt founded Guelph on April 23, 1827, he allocated the highest point in the centre of the newly founded town to Roman Catholics as a compliment to his friend, Bishop Alexander Macdonell, who had given him advice in the formation of the Canada Company. A road was also later cleared leading up to the hill and named after the Bishop, called Macdonell Street. According to the Guelph Public Library archives, Galt wrote the following statement in the deed transferring the land on which the Church of Our Lady would one day stand: "On this hill would one day rise a church to rival St. Peter's in Rome." The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Immaculate is the third church to stand on this site, high above the streetscape, overlooking the city of Guelph. The first church, a framed wooden church named St. Patrick's, had been built on the hill by 1835 and was the first structure in Guelph that was painted on both its interior and exterior. It burned to the ground on October 10, 1844. Construction on St. Bartholomew's Church began shortly after St. Patrick's was destroyed. The new building was completed in 1846. The following inscription appeared on the cornerstone of St. Bartholomew's Church: "To God, the best and greatest. The faithful of Guelph, of the diocese of Toronto have built this new Church, in honour of the blessed Apostle Bartholomew, the first church having been consumed in flames." Construction of the new church, based on the Cologne Cathedral, began in 1877 under Irish-Canadian architect Joseph Connolly who had designed many churches in Ireland, England and Ontario, notably St. Peter's Cathedral in London, Ontario. Built of local limestone in High Victorian Gothic Revival style, the Church of Our Lady is considered to be Connolly's masterpiece. The design was inspired by the medieval cathedrals of France, and includes twin towers, a large rose window, pointed windows and an interior design where the chapels radiate from the polygonal apse. Matthew Bell, a well-known Guelph artisan, was responsible for some of the carvings on the exterior as well as on the interior pillars of the church. He died in 1883 as a result of injuries sustained in a fall while working on the building. In 1888, almost twelve years after construction commenced, the church was dedicated to Our Lady Immaculate. The twin towers, which rise to a height of over 200 feet (61 m), were not completed until November 13, 1926. The completed church stands at the head of MacDonell Street as an imposing view terminus, similarly to another major project by Connolly, St. Mary's Church in Toronto. In 1958, the parish added a new entrance from Macdonell Street, but aside from this, the exterior appearance has changed little since 1926. The complete construction of the church took more than 50 years, probably qualifying it as the longest construction project in the city's history. The 100th anniversary was celebrated on 10 October 1988. Long-awaited restoration of the church began in April 2007 and was completed in December 2014, at a cost of over $12 million. Talk of restoration began in the early 1990s, with work

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