St. Ann's Ceremony

The 1871 ceremony laying of the cornerstone at St. Ann’s Convent School on 13 September 1871 was the only ceremony that we have found which mentions women.

The ceremony began at 3:00 PM. Although present, the Sisters played a minor role compared to the male clergy and the visiting federal minister. The Daily Colonist and secondary sources only make mention of the presence of Mother Mary Providence, who added relics to the “tin box deposited in the stone.” The diminished role of women in these formal ceremonies reflected the social stratification of the Catholic Church and Victorian culture as it was reflected in early Victoria. Reporters used the prestige of those in attendance to emphasize the significance of the occasion and men, generally, held more power and prestige than women in secular and church society.

Above all, the address of Father Seghers, the second archbishop of British Columbia, recognized the cornerstone laying ceremony as an achievement of charity and recognition of the charitable work that the Sisters performed everyday. “The building now in the process of erection,” said Father Seghers, “is devoted to a two-fold object – Charity and education.” Further comments reflected the patriarchal structure of the ceremony, prominent men taking care of the religious women, who take care of the “fatherless children” and “needy orphans.”

St. Ann's Academy and Grounds: a postcard dated 1871. This card shows that even this smallest section of the present day Academy was a landmark in its community.

After Father Seghers address, the architect presented the Lieutenant Governor with a silver trowel, with the inscription “Presented to the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone of St. Ann’s Convent School.” Such a trowel was also presented at the laying of the cornerstone for St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1875.

Like the usefulness of a small silver trowel in the construction of a building, the cornerstone for the convent school was symbolic and played no real structural role to the integrity of the building. Hence, it may have been moved without consequence in 1882 or 1886. The prominent men and clergy were not builders and only struck the stone with a mallet after it was declared “laid.”

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