Parish celebrates 150th anniversary at St. Mary of the Angels

October 24, 2025

Served by another Father Rankin for 35 years, it was only fitting that as St. Mary of the Angels Parish in Glendale celebrated its 150th anniversary recently, it was highlighted by mass led in Gaelic by Father David Rankin.

A native of Mabou, and an associate pastor in Sydney River, the younger Father Rankin, a Cape Breton step dancer and guitar accompanist, celebrated mass at the same altar as Father John Angus Rankin, parish priest in Glendale from 1959 to 1994. The elder Father Rankin was one of the proponents behind the annual Glendale Scottish concert, which has entertained thousands of Celtic music enthusiasts since 1961.

The Gaelic mass kicked off the celebrations held August 1 to 3. The weekend also featured a second mass – this time in English – with Bishop Wayne Kirkpatrick officiating, an open house with historical displays, as well as a luncheon and ceilidh featuring local musicians, singers and dancers.

St. Mary of the Angels has been served by Father Duncan MacIsaac, a native of Judique, since 2018. He is also parish priest at St. Francis de Dales in Lower River Inhabitants, St. Louis in Louisdale, and a mission church, St. Margaret of Scotland on River Denys Mountain. He also presides during special occasions at St. Margaret’s in West Bay Rd and St. Patrick’s in Whiteside.

Before getting its own Roman Catholic Parish in 1875, Glendale was a mission of Judique parish from 1818 to 1845, Creignish from 1845 to 1871, and Port Hawkesbury from 1871 to 1875.

A public meeting in 1875 laid the groundwork for the new parish, and a collection taken during that meeting raised $30 to go towards the construction of a church and glebe house. The new parish served 220 families in an area that included Kingsville, Queensville, Glenora, MacIntyre Mountain, Glendale, Glendale Mountain, Gladstone, Melford, River Denys Mountain and Dennistown.

Father Donald MacIsaac, a native of Broad Cove, arrived that same year and immediately began construction of the new church, which was completed two years later.

Alex Smith designed the church and also built the original altar, which is now in use at St. Margaret of Scotland Church on River Denys Mountain. That original altar was used at Glendale until Father Donald MacLennan, the parish’s third resident pastor, purchased the present one in 1919.

For the past 28 years, the former glebe house has served as the Father John Angus Rankin Cultural Centre, which hosts cultural events and houses local archives, genealogical documents, weaving looms and a gift shop.

Glendale was a thriving rural community 150 years ago, with all the amenities required to support the main industry of farming, including blacksmiths, sawyers, carriage makers, coopers, masons, millers and weavers.

One of the participants in the 150th anniversary celebration was Jeff MacDonald, who authored a history of the area titled “Gaelic Traditions of Glendale, Kingsville and Area,” which outlined the arrival of Scottish immigrants to the area. Following are excerpts from that publication:

“By the late 1700s and early 1800s, due to economic, political, religious and cultural pressures, thousands of highlanders began leaving their Scottish homeland and coming to the New World. In Nova Scotia, a form of ‘chain migration’ occurred where emigrants chose to settle in districts to which their own relatives and those from their own ‘old country’ districts had come and settled. It was a ‘community migration.’ By the end of the pioneering era in Nova Scotia, Gaelic culture dominated the eastern third of the province. By the turn of the 20th century, it is estimated that there were at least as many as 75,000 Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton.”

“Gaels began coming to Glendale, Kingsville and area in the 1790s and this continued at least until the 1840s. The majority came from the predominantly Catholic areas of Moidart, Arisaig and Lochaber, on the mainland of Scotland. Others came from South Uist, Mull, Lismore, Eigg, Muck and Glenelg.”

“When our ancestors came to this area, they did not possess much of material value, but they took with them a great store of wealth in their language and oral tradition, their faith and beliefs, and their traditions of music dance and song.”

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the parish in 1975, Father John Angus Rankin shared the following message:

“In 1875 Bishop C. F. MacKinnon set up Glendale as a separate parish and appointed Fr. Donald MacIsaac to take over as its first pastor. Father MacIsaac, a native of Broad Cove, Inverness County, was the son of Alexander MacIsaac (Alasdair MacAilein) and his mother was Anne MacIsaac. He was the first native of Cape Breton to labour in this diocese. He laboured in Glendale from July 1875 to September 1901 – 26 years, two months.”

“It is a strange coincidence that during the 100 years of its existence, three priests from Inverness County served the parish for period of 57 years. As the present pastor, I regard it quite a privilege, as a native of the county, to be here to celebrate the end of the first century and the beginning of the second. This celebration is a tribute to the people of the parish who not only preserved and maintained the institution of their ancestors, but in many instances improved on the existing structures so that generations yet unborn will be able to call this their homeland and their parish.”

“This construction of a church 100 years ago was no easy task – there were no power saws, no electrical tools – yet these pioneers built a structure that has endured, and today it is a proof of the faith, the courage, and the zeal of the pastor and people of that time, and it is also a tribute to the people and priest of these times.”

“The number of masses offered to God in the church, all the confessions heard, all the communion distributed, all the instruction preached, kept the people in close contact with their heavenly Father and inspired young men and young women to answer God’s call to the priesthood and religious life. I rejoice with you, the people of St. Mary of the Angels Parish, in this festive occasion.”

“To those who have gone before us we say, ‘well done good and faithful servants, may the joy of the Lord be yours.’ To the present parishioners and those who will follow in your footsteps, we say, ‘Lean gudluth ri cliù do shinnsear (follow closely the fame of your ancestor – Gaelic proverb). As you enter the second century, you may face it with the same courage and determination with which your ancestors faced the first.

(Photos: Dave MacNeil)