Fr. Vito Marziliano�1955-2022�Pastor of St. Patrick’s Church Wildfield 2014-2022�

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• Previously served in several parishes in the Toronto area, including St. Clare’s Parish in Toronto, and St. Margaret Mary in Woodbridge.

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• Driving force behind a number of projects and initiatives.

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• Chief of which was the planning and fundraising for a new St. Patrick’s Church which, unfortunately, he did not live to see built.

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• Promoted the legacy of Father Frances McSpiritt.

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WILDFIELD

• Founded about 1830.

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• Site of St. Patrick’s Church, the second oldest church in the Archdiocese of Toronto and reputed to be the first church named after St. Patrick in Ontario.

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• Home of St. Patrick’s School, the first Catholic school in Peel County (now Region) and the only one until after World War 11.

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• Site of the Marysfield subdivision, one of the first housing co-operatives in Ontario.

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• Last intact hamlet of the former Toronto Gore Township.

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Map by Sandra Cation of the Ebenezer Toronto Gore Historical Foundation

WHAT IS NOW THE EASTER PORTION OF BRAMPTON WAS THE FORMER TORONTO GORE TOWNSHIP

Map by Sandra Cation of the Ebenezer Toronto Gore Historical Foundation

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����A PAGE FROM THE PAST�

Looking east towards the Gore Road and was taken sometime between 1907 and 1916, this photo shows St. Patrick’s Church, the first parish rectory, and the second St. Patrick’s School. The timeline can be pinpointed because the rectory was demolished in 1916 and the school was built in 1907.

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The 1933 Centennial

ST. PATRICK’S CHURCH CIRCA 1965�

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Taken from almost the same angle this 1960s era photo shows the church, the second rectory, and the school which ceased being operated as school in 1950. Only the church remains. The school building was demolished in 1969 and the rectory was also subsequently demolished in 1994.

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A Building of Cultural Heritage Significance�--Now another landmark demolished

With the exception of St. Patrick’s Church, the 1870s yellow brick house at 11962 The Gore Road was, the hamlet’s only remaining historic dwelling.

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The house was demolished by Peel Region to make way for the widening of the Gore Road. Efforts to find a new site and opposition by a number of concerned residents were unsuccessful.

Nicholas Harrison

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• One of the residents of the heritage house at 11962 the Gore Road was Nicholas Harrison.
• He was a farmer and clerk of Toronto Gore Township for 50 years.
• Following his retirement in the 1920s he moved to the house and lived there until his death in 1933.
• His retirement party was front page news on the Sept. 18, 1924 issue of the Brampton Conservator.
• His obituary was also carried on the front page of the March 31, 1933 issue of the Bolton Enterprise.

(Photo provided by Michael Harrison, a descendant who lives in Toronto).

�THE CHURCH TODAY�Built in 1894 on the same footprint, more or less, of an earlier frame structure�

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The Architect

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Arthur William Holmes (1863-1944)

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• The architects of the church were Post and Holmes of Toronto and a biography of Arthur William Holmes can be found on the Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800 to 1950. According to that biography, Holmes was:

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• A prodigious and talented ecclesiastical architect who devoted most of his active career to the design of buildings for the Roman Catholic Church in southern Ontario.

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• Born in England, he immigrated to Canada in 1885 and maintained an office on Adelaide Street in Toronto for a year before joining the firm of Joseph Connolly.

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• Formed a partnership with Albert Post in 1891 and together they executed several designs for Catholic churches in communities around the Toronto region.

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• The partnership dissolved in 1895, but Holmes continued to design Roman Catholic churches until 1940.

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A DESIGNATED HERITAGE SITE�

Both the church and the cemetery are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. The Brampton Heritage Board recommended designation at the request of an ad hoc citizen’s group who were fighting a plan to erect a cell-tower at the rear of the church.

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The Builder

Father Francis McSpiritt (1836-1895)

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• The driving force behind the construction of the present day St. Patrick’s Church was Father Francis McSpiritt, parish priest from 1887 to 1895.

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• The church’s very heavy bell, which was fabricated in France and took two years to cross the ocean, had its first ringing at his funeral.

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• Father McSpiritt was believed to be a miracle worker and for decades after his death people would remove handfuls of dirt from his grave in the belief it held curative powers.

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• Father Vito Marziliano, who was the parish priest from 2014 to his untimely death last year, was a big proponent of Father McSpiritt’s legacy.

• Father Francis McSpiritt Catholic Elementary School in Brampton is named in his honour.

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Dedication of the Father Francis McSpiritt monument�April 2009

FATHER EUGENE O’REILLY�Pastor of St. Patrick’s from 1837 to 1860�

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• Eugene O’Reilly was a farmer in Ireland. Following his wife’s death he immigrated to Canada with his young daughter Margaret.

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• He decided to become a priest and he entered the Classical College of Chambly near Montreal. He was ordained in 1836. During the 24 years he was pastor of St. Patrick’s, Father O’Reilly:

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• Enlarged and completed the (frame) church and was instrumental in the construction of the St. Cornelius Church in Caledon and St. John’s Church in Albion.

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• Initiated the construction of the St. John’s Agricultural College which was used to teach basic agriculture and basic literacy skills to local children and orphans from Toronto.

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• Encouraged the construction and improvement of local roads. Married 400 couples, baptized 2,000 children and adults and conducted Mass 8,000 times

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• At considerable risk, assisted emigrants fleeing the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s and was one of two people who helped Cholera victims in the area. (Taken from a 2012 City Brampton report recommending the naming of a park in honour of Father O’Reilly.)

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�FATHER EUGENE O’REILLY MONUMENT�

FATHER JOHN LEO O’REILLY�1887-1930�Scholar Adventurer Photographer

• Ordained in 1912 in Berlin (later renamed Kitchener)
• Studied at the Pontifical International Institute “Angelicum” in Rome
• Travelled to the Holy Land in 1913 and compiled album of his numerous photographs. Photo album and accompanying journal has been donated to Archdiocese of Toronto Archives.
• Joined the teaching staff at St. Augustine’s Seminary in 1914, eventually becoming its vice-president.
• Two Hundred and fifty clergymen took part in his funeral procession.

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Russian pilgrims at the Jordan River �What Happened to them?

�WILDFIELD’S SCHOOLS AND POPULATION EBBS AND FLOWS�

• The St. John’s Agricultural College was built in the valley below St. Patrick’s Church. It opened in 1861/2.
• The three-storey structure included dormitories and a dining hall and was built to accommodate 80 orphaned boys who were to be taught agricultural skills. It was staffed by the Christian Brothers.
• St. Patrick’s School opened in the same year in the same building with 86 students and one lay teacher.
• In 1875, the Agricultural College moved. The frame building continued to be used as a school until 1907 when the new red brick structure was built.

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The 1907 St. Patrick’s School�Ceased to be a school in 1950 and was demolished in 1969

• Built with church funds.
• First teacher was a Margaret Heydon, who also taught in the old agricultural college building.
• Peak of school enrollment was in 1914 with 28 students.
• Following the First Word War the area’s population began to decline as residents moved to the city to find employment.
• By the 1930s the situation became acute. In the midst of the Great Depression Wildfield was stagnating, if not dying.

Student body reflected population decline

• By 1940 there were only six students attending St. Patrick’s School.
• Parish priests recognized need to revitalize community and launched a series of initiatives to reverse that decline 
• Those efforts included selling some land off the church property to entice new residents.
• Encouraging Loretto Sisters to come to Wildfield.

The Grady Store/Loretto Convent��The Grady Store/Loretto Convent�Southwest corner of The Gore Road and Mayfield Road

In 1946 the Grady Store was purchased by the Archdiocese of Toronto and became the Loretto Convent. The Loretto Sisters would be the main teaching staff at the ‘old’ and ‘new’ St. Patrick’s Schools. It was demolished in 1969 to make way for an expansion of Mayfield Road. A new convent was built on the site of the second rectory

The ‘New’ St. Patrick’s School

• With the influx of new people into the community following the Second World War, the one-room school was no longer adequate
• In the 1950 the first wing of a new (and still existing school) was built on the west side of Gore Road almost directly across from the 1907 structure.
• Over the decades new wings have been added to the school as the area’s population increased.

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Archbishop James Cardinal McGuigan was the guest of honour at the dedication ceremony

Photo provide courtesy of Davileen Radigan, who grew up in Wildfield and was a teacher at St. Patrick’s for several years.

MARYSFIELD HOUSING CO-OPERATIVE�

• Finding suitable rental housing was difficult in Toronto immediately after the Second World War.
• “If landlords knew you had children they would slam the door in your face.” (Wildfield resident Carl Finlay and a founding member of Wildfield’s Marysfield subdivision Family Home Builder Cooperative).
• In the mid-1950s 14 families from Toronto with limited resources purchased 200 acres of land from St. Patrick’s Church and built their houses in co-operative venture.
• Houses were built around the perimeter and inside of a road shaped in the pattern of a rosary.
• Marysfield was one of number of co-operative housing projects established according to principles developed by the St. Patrick’s College’s Institute of Social Action.

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Image provided by Janet Muise who grew up in a Grimsby co-operative established on the same principles as Marysfield,

THE BUILD

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Construction of the Marysfield houses began in the fall of 1954 and by the fall of 1955 most of the families had moved into their homes. In July 1956 Bishop Francis Marrocco visited the site and blessed each house.

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The City of Brampton is planning to erect heritage signage in Marysfield. Unfortunately, newer residents have been pushing for lot severances which will reduce its heritage integrity.

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Photos courtesy of Bill Varley, whose parents were members of the Marysfield Housing Co-Operative

Father Marrocco

Courtesy of the

Finlay Family

The Vales of Humber

Dedication of the Father Eugene O’Reilly Park�May 2017

��The legacy of Father Leo J. Austin�St. Patrick’s Pastor, 1949-1952 ��

• Co-founded Marysfield Credit Union.
• Began the groundwork for the Marysfield subdivision.
• Would have been involved in the planning of the new St. Patrick’s School which opened during his tenure.
• Achievements in Wildfield were a small chapter in a long illustrious career.
• In 1956 he was transferred to Whitby where he supervised the building of a new church, and was instrumental in establishing several area schools, including Whitby’s first Roman Catholic high school, Archbishop Denis O’Connor.
• Following his retirement in 1975, the town declared a Father Austin Day.
• His service to the Whitby community was the reason the Father Leo J. Austin Catholic Secondary School was named after him in 1989.

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Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Toronto

Sister St. Eugene O’Reilly�First principal of the “new” St. Patrick’s School

• Born in 1895 in Wildfield, Anne Madeline O’Reilly attended the original St. Patrick School.

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• In 1915, at the age of 19, she entered the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary Loretto Sisters at Loretto Abbey in Toronto and received the religious name Sister St. Eugene, making her final vows as a nun in 1924.

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• After teaching at a number of schools throughout the province, she returned to Wildfield in 1946 to assume the position of Mother Superior of the new Loretto Convent, as well being the principal of the community’s original 1907 school.

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• In 1950 she became the first principal of the new and still-operating St. Patrick’s School and would remain there until 1953.

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• When she died in 1986, she had been a nun for nearly 71 years.

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Photo by Chris Millar

Site of new St. Patrick’s Church

FARMER PARISHIONER CIVIC LEADER�MARTIN BYRNE�1908-2002

• Reeve of the former Toronto Gore Township at the time of the 1967 Canadian Centennial. 
• Served on a committee which oversaw and contributed to the book From This Year Hence, which chronicled the township’s history to the Centennial.
• Operated a dairy farm on the east side of the Gore Road in Castlemore. (In close proximity to the Gore Meadows Recreation Complex.)
• His grandfather, also named Martin, helped build St. Patrick’s Church.
• As a boy he witnessed the demolition of the first rectory and construction of its replacement.
• As Reeve, he was also a member of Peel County Council.

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Photo courtesy of Peel Archives

The Forgotten Hero �Connell James Baldwin

• Served with the British Army in the Peninsular War (1808-14).
• According to the Canadian Dictionary of Biography: “He fought with distinction in many of the major battles of the Peninsular War.”
• Baldwin was granted a large tract of land in the late 1820s in Toronto Gore. On that land he built his home, Cloghenagh Lodge, as well as a school and a church.
•  Baldwin served the community as a justice of the peace, a commissioner of roads, and a separate school trustee. During the Rebellion of 1837 he outfitted a Loyalist regiment at his own expense to defend the Niagara Region.
• Later in life Baldwin suffered a number of financial and political setbacks .
• In 1847 after visiting the fever sheds in Toronto, Baldwin turned his home into an isolation hospital for cholera victims.
• One of the few people who visited the home was Father Eugene O’Reilly.
• Image scanned from the book "From McDonnell to McGuigan" by Wm. Perkins Bull.

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The Man who gave Wildfield its name.

Image taken from Tremaine’s 1859 map of Peel County, Canada West.

James (Squire) Ellis’s farm at, what is now the northwest corner of Mayfield and Gore Roads, was known as Wildfield, which eventually became the name of the community.

Williams Perkins Bull

In the 1930s Williams Perkins Bull wrote 10 books on Peel County’s history including: From Macdonell to McGuigan: the history of the Growth of the Roman Catholic Church in Upper Canada. Much of what is known about Fathers O’Reilly and McSpiritt are thanks to his efforts.