This Saturday marks the start of a two-week anniversary Open House exhibit in the chapel of Nativity Church on Montreal Road near McConnell Avenue.

Treasures of the Diocese presents more than 100 artifacts providing a visual history of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall. Most of the artifacts have not been seen in public in decades.

Event Coordinators Thom Racine and Kim Walsh have been collecting old artifacts from basements, attics and archives.  Thom has been busy creating attractive displays to showcase the artifacts.  Monsignor Rejean Lebrun and other clergy have been contributing the interesting stories behind the various items.

The exhibition includes portraits, historic photos and documents, vestments, church vessels, and relics. The pieces include:

◦The crozier belonging to the diocese’s first bishop, Alexander Macdonell.

◦A garnet episcopal ring, a gift from King-George IV to Bishop Alexander Macdonell, the first bishop of Upper Canada.

◦A set of fiddleback chasubles that date back to the 1800s.

◦Relics of Canadian Saint Brother Andre.

Every church in the diocese stems either from St. Andrews Parish (those in Stormont) or St. Raphaels Parish (those in Glengarry).  Both were founded in 1802.  Formed in 1829, St. Columban is considered to be the “mother church” of all Cornwall Catholic churches and is one of the parishes which pre-dates the diocese and also pre-dates Canada’s Confederation.