In the years following World War I, it would not be unusual for a Catholic family in Newfoundland to have three portraits hanging in their home: Pope Benedict XV, Newfoundland Archbishop E.P. Roche … and Fr. Thomas Nangle.

In 1914 the Dominion of Newfoundland was not yet part of Canada, but as part of the British Empire it too was at war. On Monday evening, Aug. 4, St. John’s soaring Catholic cathedral, the Basilica of St. John the Baptist, will host an ecumenical service to remember the precise moment 100 years ago when Newfoundland Governor Walter Davidson received a telegram informing him that England was at war.