From their very first hour in Victoria in June, 1858, before attending to any other material or practical needs, the newly-arrived Sisters of St. Ann fortified themselves spiritually.  From accounts of that first day is this notation:

            The premier lesson of the importance of praise and thanksgiving -- ‘Te Deum Laudamus’ -- given by the pioneer Sisters, pervades the atmosphere of St. Ann’s Academy to this day, though much has changed in and around the chapel and the Academy.

            The Chapel of Saint Ann’s is fittingly described in a 1997 brochure[ii] published by the Provincial Capital Commission chronicling the history and restoration of this unique site, as a “little gem of Christian art.”  It was originally built in 1858 to be Victoria’s first Roman Catholic Cathedral.  The builder, Father Joseph Michaud, CSV, captured every spiritually uplifting and poetic feature of churches in rural Quebec, reminiscent of his childhood there.

           The chapel structure was framed with hand-hewn local timbers, joined together with pegged mortise and tenon joints.  The redwood on the interior was imported from California and when first built the closely-joined ceiling planks resembled plaster.  The November 23, 1860 edition of the Victoria Daily Colonist sums up Father Michaud’s work:  ‘When the lower portion of the building is completed, the whole interior of the church will be one of the finest places of worship in the city, and will reflect the taste and skill of Father Michaud.”

            When the Catholic population of the city outgrew the little cathedral in 1886, it passed to the Sisters of St. Ann.  The ever-resourceful Sisters had the cathedral raised up on log skids, and dragged by horses over to the Academy, where it was slid over a foundation pre-built for it.  The miracle of the re-location is that the building and the foundation it was to rest upon were built thirty years apart, yet the cathedral church fitted perfectly on the cement footings!

            Research and writing[iii] at the time of the re-construction of the Chapel in the mid 1990’s clearly depicts it as “…the centre, the calm and peaceful core, of the building.  Complementing the intrinsic beauty of its simple architecture are hand-carved ornamentations, stained glass windows, and three large oils painted in Lachine by Sister Mary Helen of the Cross.  In the central scene, St. Ann and St. Joachim are depicted teaching their daughter, Mary.  Beside it are paintings of Mary with the Angel Gabriel and Jesus with the elders in the Temple.”

            Today, the Chapel appears much as it did in the late 1920’s.  The restoration work was completed using historical records and photographs, and through microscopic analysis of layers of paint and fibre.  The decoration includes approximately 350 hand-carved rosettes which were individually gilded.  For placement of the rosettes on the ceiling, and to do interior reproductions, local trades-people were engaged.  In all, there is over 500 square feet of 23 karat gilding in the chapel, work which required more than 1200 hours of labour to apply.  The art-glass on one of the entry doors had been vandalized, and only 20 pieces of glass were unbroken – all were carefully reproduced by gifted artisans in the city.

            The altar is a replica of the original altar which was removed in 1968 during a renovation after Vatican II proposed a more simplified and modest décor in churches and chapels.  The pews in the chapel date to 1948, and are serving until the 1920’s vintage pews are located.  Much of the chapel furnishings were sold off when the building was closed, but many are being returned by donors.  In May, 2004, the ‘Bishop’s Chair’ was located in an auction catalogue and negotiations were successful to have this irreplaceable artifact returned to the Academy and placed in the sanctuary.

            In the choir loft can be seen the pipes of the Cassavant organ purchased by the Sisters in 1913.  Originally, the pipes of the organ were decorated with stencilled patterns, but they were painted over.  The restoration of these stencils, and the completion of the 1920’s ‘Stations of the Cross’ are on-going projects of friends and supporters of St. Ann’s Academy National Historic Site.

            Today, the chapel, while not consecrated, is dedicated to praise, worship, and thanksgiving once again, as an interfaith centre.  It serves as a gathering place for people attending weddings, christenings and memorials, and is the site for appropriate concerts and learned lectures.  The chapel is open for drop-in visitors, and many a former student[iv] stops in to awaken a memory.