Holy Angels'

Main Office

The property and capital committees are looking for parishioners’ feedback and opinions before undertaking a new campaign for Holy Angels Church. Numerous projects/repairs/maintenance items within the Church will require significant funds to undertake them.  

After being transferred to St. Thomas, Father William Flannery (1870-98) realized that the existing 40 x 26 foot church was inadequate for the 160 families and convinced the parishioners that a larger structure was needed. Consequently, Henry Langley of Toronto was selected as architect, the cornerstone was laid on 2 July 1871 and Bishop Walsh blessed the structure on 10 November 1872. Dedicated to the Holy Angels, the church cost $14,000 to build. The parish of Holy Angels also included the missions of Port Stanley, Dunwich, Bismark (West Lome) and Alvinston, and the stations of Fingal, Glanworth and Aylmer. Father, later Monsignor, W. Thomas West (1903-33) oversaw the building of a new rectory in 1906, followed by the construction of the present church. The cornerstone was laid 4 June 1911, by Bishop Fallon, who dedicated it 25 February 1912. The total cost of the white stone structure with its twin towers, Munich windows and furnishings, was $94,640. The window depicting Christ raising the daughter of Jariust captured first prize at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. At the turn of this century Holy Angels was beginning to show its age. A major restoration project was begun in 2001, with Patrick Coles as architect and Empire Restoration as contractor. With great joy, and through the generosity of so many people, the project has been completed and the debt repayment continues.