St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica

St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, Canada, and one of the oldest churches in the city. It is located at 200 Church Street in Toronto's Garden District. St. Michael's was designed by William Thomas, designer of eight other churches in the city, and was primarily financed by Irish immigrants who resided in the area. The Cathedral has a capacity of 1600.On September 29, 2016, the feast day of Saint Michael the Archangel, the Cathedral was elevated to a Basilica.DioceseThe cathedral is home to Canada's largest English-speaking Catholic diocese. The current archbishop is Cardinal Thomas Christopher Collins, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on 16 December 2006.HistoryOn April 7, 1845, construction began on St. Michael's Cathedral (Toronto) and the Bishop's Palace, a three story rectory adjacent to the Neo-Gothic Cathedral. Both buildings were designed by William Thomas. Townspeople dug out the foundation by hand in return for a barbecue. Shipwrights made the interior columns out of maple and oak. On May 8, 1845, Bishop Power laid the cornerstone for the Cathedral in the four-year-old diocese. Some fragments of a stone pillar from the old Norman-style York Minster Cathedral in England and some small pieces of the oak roof of that same cathedral were sealed within St. Michael's cornerstone. St. Michael's is a 19th-century interpretation of the Minster's 14th century English Gothic style. The connection with York Minster is appropriate as Toronto was known as the town of York from its settlement in 1793 until it was incorporated in 1834 and the name was changed back.