One of the oldest churches in Drumheller is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
To mark the occasion, St. Magloire’s will be holding a special service on Sunday, October 28, followed by a catered lunch.
However, that’s not all the St. Magloire’s congregation has been doing to commemorate their centennial year.
Each month the congregation chose a centennial project, which over the past year has benefitted groups such as the Drumheller and District Humane Society, Drumheller Public Library, Salvation Army, Women’s Shelter, the Special Olympics, and more.
“We chose to turn it [the centennial] around. Rather than make it about us, we wanted to turn it outwards instead,” said Gisela Sorge, St. Magloire’s congregation member. “We wanted to be able to look back and say we gave to our community. That is our way of celebrating.”
The centennial year culminates in a Eucharistic service lead by the new bishop of the Calgary Diocese, the Reverend Greg Kerr Wilson on Sunday, October 28. That will be followed by a meal for those in attendance.
During the meal, there will be entertainment, including a harpist, and then a slide show about the church will be shown.
St. Magloire’s Anglican Church has been a presence in the Drumheller Valley for 100 years as of this year. The church originally started in Munson on November 11, 1911. Services were conducted by Reverend Morgan, and he served Munson, Rumsey, and Drumheller.
The name of the church was derived through a group of men arriving from the Channel Islands in Britain. They insisted on the name St. Magloire’s, who is reputed to have lived in poverty, eating nothing but barley bread and a few vegetables.
In 1912 a new church building was constructed in Drumheller. The first official records started soon after on January 12, 1913. The first recorded congregation had 16 in attendance.
The church was officially dedicated on August 15, 1915.
In December, 1952, the original church was replaced with the present building. The cornerstone was laid by Bishop Calvert on May 25, 1955, and the building was consecrated on November 3, 1957.
St. Magloire’s, in its long history, has seen the major events of the valley.
The Spanish Flu pandemic hit Drumheller in 1918 and the situation was dire. Drumheller had no hospital and it was Reverend R. Brant—who replaced Reverend Knight—and a few others that helped to transform the school into a clean and comfortable hospital.
The church fell on hard times after World War I, but was going strong by World War II. Over the years, the church played a pivotal role in the social fabric of Drumheller.
“The Anglican in Church Drumheller has experienced and survived the history of the valley. The flu epidemic took some members in 1918. The numbers of the church waxed and waned like the population of Drumheller,” said Sorge.
The centennial service will be held on October 28 at St. Magloire’s Church on 2nd Street West and 2nd Avenue.
