A new piece of history for Great George Street and downtown Charlottetown was unveiled on Saturday morning at SDU Place.
A bronze statue of Charlottetown’s first bishop has been completed and placed alongside a plaque in honour of Bishop Angus MacEachern.
Plans for the statue were announced nearly a year ago and the statue and plaque are now in place for the public to see on Great George Street. Island writer Charles McMillan initiated the idea to remember P.E.I’s first bishop by placing a statue and plaque in the province’s capital city.
“He knew the important people, but he also understood the common people. He was one of those individuals who could connect with both,” McMillan says of Bishop MacEachern.
“He had a stunning career. He was friends with the Mi’kmaq tribes, the Protestant community and he traveled everywhere. He was fluent in several languages. In those days people wrote letters, and his letters were always about looking for a priest or looking for help or looking for money or whatever,” said McMillan.
Bishop MacEachern first arrived on the Island in August of 1790. He served the faithful across the Island for 45 years, along with serving Cape Breton Island, the gulf shore of Nova Scotia, the Magdalen Islands and New Brunswick.
McMillan said the bishop spent many years as the only priest on the Island. He conducted his ministry from East Point to Tignish. When he first arrived from his homeland in Scotland, there were only two places of worship on P.E.I. When MacEachern died at age 76 in 1835, 18 churches had been constructed all across the Island.
“It was interesting to see the words like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and terms like that written in Latin. When he wrote a letter he would start it in one location and finish it at the next stop,” McMillan said while speaking outside of SDU Place Saturday.
Both the plaque and the statue sit on bases lined with Wallace stone. The stone matches the stone used to construct the SDU Place, the former residence of the bishop. The statue of Bishop MacEachern stands six feet tall and was constructed by artist Hubert Quade of Idaho.
“It was very much an honour to do so. I hope I have done justice in depicting Bishop MacEachern that will bring the recognition to him that he very much deserves. I hope this is a piece of sculpture that will give a proud feeling to the people of Prince Edward Island,” Quade said in a press release.
“He brought humanity. He just loved people, and he was very educated,” McMillan said of MacEachern.
“The people, the doctors, and the clergy. The second thing, he knew the role of education, as George Coles did. Part of his thing was to get people to be able to read. Primary education. He also saw the positive side of the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada. He knew we weren’t showing all what we could do,” he said.
The 18 churches erected during MacEachern’s time on the Island formed the foundation of the present parish system in the diocese. St. Andrews College, which he opened in his rectory to provide preliminary college training for young men, began a tradition of providing local priesthood, which has continued into the 21st century.
“There is a plaque at St. Andrews, but there is nothing here in Charlottetown honouring him. There is a memorial and stuff at the chapel. Bishop MacEachern bought the highest piece of land in Charlottetown, for the cathedral. He bought this, and there were three churches, this is the third one which was rebuilt, the gothic cathedral built in 1903,” McMillan said.
“This statue is to celebrate his life and legacy. All Islanders gave donations to build this church, and for the statue. We have a fundraising campaign for this and we will raise the money for this work of art,” he said.