For more than seventy years the Capuchin Franciscan friars have served the people of St. Philip Neri. This is the story of how a parish of 75 families in a farmhouse became one of the largest communities in the Archdiocese of Toronto.
The Capuchin prelude
In 1951, at the request of James Cardinal McGuigan, Archbishop of Toronto, Br. Thomas Van Laer, Vice-Provincial of the Capuchin Friars of Central Canada, sent two Capuchin priests to serve as assistants in Toronto parishes: Br. Willibrord Van Eslander at St. Paul’s and Br. Francis McCarroll at St. Mary’s. Toronto’s ties to the Capuchins go back further still: its second bishop, Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel, was himself a Capuchin friar.
The foundation of St. Philip Neri Parish
In July 1952 the Cardinal entrusted a new parish district in Beverly Hills, now Downsview, to the Capuchin Friars. It was named after St. Philip Neri, the joyful “Apostle of Rome”, and covered an area five miles by three. When Br. Damas Van Dycke celebrated the first Mass on Sunday, November 16, 1952, in a former farmhouse converted into a rectory, about 75 Catholic families lived in the parish.
Like a mustard seed
Under its 67-year-old first pastor, the young parish quickly organized the Holy Name Society, the Catholic Women’s League, a youth society and a choir. Within a year it had the district’s first Catholic school and a temporary basement church seating 250. By 1957 the parish had grown to 625 families, and the present church was opened on August 1, 1959 and blessed by the Cardinal on October 18, 1959.
Growth in the 1960s was extraordinary: from about 1,293 families in 1962 to some 5,000 by 1965. New Catholic schools followed — St. Raphael’s, St. Jerome’s, St. Jane Frances and Madonna High School — and on November 9, 1969 Archbishop Philip Pocock blessed the new rectory and parish centre with its gym and halls.
After the Second Vatican Council
In the 1970s the parish embraced the Council’s renewal: lay readers at every Sunday Mass, fuller singing and participation, a folk choir and a parish council. Over the years St. Philip Neri also gave birth to new parishes: St. Wilfrid’s (1965), St. Augustine of Canterbury (1967), St. Norbert’s (1968) and St. Jane Frances (1970).
Early pastors
- Br. Damas Van Dycke, Pastor (1952–1954)
- Br. Vitus (Henri) Van Olffen, Pastor (1954–1962)
- Br. Mark Nelissen, Pastor (1962–1970)
- Br. Joseph Garzia, Pastor (1970–)
The Capuchin Franciscans in Canada
- 1927 — Capuchin friars arrive in Blenheim, Ontario, and St. Boniface, Manitoba.
- 1933 — a fraternity is established at Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides, Manitoba.
- 1938 — the Custody of Central Canada is created.
- 1951 — a novitiate opens in St. Boniface.
- 1952 — St. Philip Neri Parish in Downsview is entrusted to the friars.
- 1956 — a Capuchin presence begins in Georgetown, Ontario.
- 1970 — the custody becomes the Vice-Province of Central Canada.
- 1986 — the Province of Mary, Mother of the Good Shepherd is established.
Learn more about our patron in Our Patron: St. Philip Neri.