St. Augustine’s Seminary took three years to build. When it opened on Aug. 28, 1913, neither the visionary who launched the ambitious project nor the bankroller behind it were at the dedication Mass and celebration. Toronto Archbishop Fergus McEvay, who had envisioned a seminary for the archdiocese, died two years earlier and beer baron Eugene O’Keefe, who had funded McEvay’s dream, was on his deathbed. Yet their contributions were gratefully acknowledged in speeches of that day.

A century later we should again give thanks for not only the magnificent building on the bluffs of Lake Ontario but also for the spiritual legacy of St. Augustine’s. Despite an alarming decline in recent years, the seminary has ordained almost 2,200 priests and deacons who, with faith, humility and sacrifice, have breathed spiritual life into the Church in Canada and abroad. The grand building stands as a symbol of the Church’s majesty but the priests and deacons formed there represent its vitality. Their tireless work in parishes and missions is the brick and mortar of the Church.

In this issue The Register pays tribute to St. Augustine’s with a commemorative section that recalls the seminary’s rich history. The headline on the cover of our 16-page section — “A thing of beauty and joy for Catholics”— is the same headline that ran 100 years ago above the front-page Register story when the seminary celebrated its grand opening. Those eight words still hold true today, as does much of what the paper had to say back then.

“It compels admiration from all as they approach it,” said The Register of Sept. 4, 1913. “From the east and west and from out over the lake it stands as a monument to the faith and enterprise of the Catholic Church in Canada.”

Back then, there was a genuine sense of excitement about St. Augustine’s. And hope. The Canadian Church was young but, due to immigration, growing fast. More than a training ground for Toronto priests, the seminary was conceived as a destination for “all classes and nationalities of our people from the Atlantic to the Pacific.” It was envisioned from the start as a primary place to “do God’s work in forming a holy and erudite clergy for the good of God’s Church.”

St. Augustine’s Seminary has lived up to that promise. The archbishop and the brewer got it right. The magnificent building they created has trained generations of priests and deacons who helped build God’s Church in Canada. The challenges of today in no way diminish that glorious past.