Professor Mark McGowan on Bishop Micheal Power's sacrifice
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Michael Power was the first Bishop of Toronto. He was a Haligonian by birth, trained in Montreal. Arrived in the city in 1842 and really had to create the whole infrastructure for the Catholic diocese of Toronto.
Interior shot of man with brown and grey hair, beard, and moustache wearing a dark blue sweater and chequered shirt underneath sitting in front of large window speaking to Camera.. Behind the window can be seen a large building with “Arena” sign and elevated highway and fast moving traffic beneath it. On screen text: Professor Mark McGowan. Department of History, University of Toronto.
But during the Famine period he has a very unique role because he’s one of the few Torontonians actually to be in Ireland where he was recruiting the Loretto Sisters to come to Toronto. So he saw famine conditions first hand in Ireland. And then he returned home with the ability to warn those in the city of Toronto of the numbers that would be coming.
Interior shot of Bishop Michael Power’s Portrait.
Now what he does when he’s here firstly, he calms down the population in terms
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of the alarm that had been set by the press
Black and white engraving appears on screen, lots of emigrants huddled in middle ground with woman nursing baby on the left, dog and child looking away from viewer in immediate foreground, people looking at signs posted on wall in background. Camera pans up to reveal sign over building that reads: “Government Medical Inspectors Office. Hours from 10-4”. On screen caption: Illustrated London News.
both in the United States, and in Ireland about the pending arrivals.
Interior shot of Mark McGowan speaking to camera.
Second thing is he asks people in Toronto
Black and white engraving of priest in black robe and hat standing on left, ministering to huddled, kneeling peasant family of man, woman, and child on right in hat, shawl, dress, and country clothes, looking despondent, with stone wall behind them.. Cabin visible in right background, bog land and mountain in centre and left background, with stormy sky.
to exercise their Christian charity
Interior shot of yellowing document with camera panning horizontally from left. Top of document reads: “Pastoral Letter, On the Occasion of the Great Distress and Famine in Ireland. Michael Power. Several paragraphs visible below. Camera centres document and pans down. On screen caption: Bishop Michael Power’s Pastoral Letter. Courtesy Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto (ARCAT)
because the temptation was as rumours of typhus being spread rapidly in places like Quebec City, and Montreal were taking hold in Toronto
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people were fleeing the city. And I think the third most important thing
Interior shot of Bishop Michael Power’s Portrait.
is he put his own life on the line. What happens is, is that Michael Power is almost alone as one of the few Catholic clergymen
Interior shot of Mark McGowan speaking to camera.
in that region of the country to visit the sheds not once, but twice a day. And so he’s setting by his own example Christian witness to helping those in need.
Exterior shot of church in red brown brick, sculptural pieta figure on plinth with plaque mounted on it, tree with no leaves and blue sky in background. On screen caption: Bishop Michael Power Memorial, St Paul’s Basilica.
Exterior shot of sculptural pieta figure Jesus naked from chest reclining in arms of robed Mary, camera pans up to reveal her face gazing up in the sky. On screen caption: Bishop Michael Power Memorial, St Paul’s Basilica.
What happens to Power is that he contracts typhus himself in September of 1847 and dies on October the first 1847.
Exterior shot of plaque mounted on sculptural plinth, with slightly protruding facial portrait bust of man with moustache and clerical collar and robes on top. It reads: To the Memory of the Irish Immigrants who were Buried in the Adjacent Ground During the Year of 1847 and in Honour of the Right Rev Michael Power D D First Bishop of the Diocese of Toronto who Laid Down his Life for the Fever Stricken Members of his Flock This Monument is Devoutly Dedicated. On screen caption: Bishop Michael Power Memorial, St Paul’s Basilica.
Interior shot of Mark McGowan speaking to camera.
I think one of the great testaments to his example was the fact that when he was finally buried it was the largest funeral cortege in the city’s history. Catholic and Protestant all came out universally
Interior shot of Bishop Michael Power’s Portrait.
to tribute this individual
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who eventually was buried in the crypt of the Cathedral that he had begun but was not complete by the time he died.
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