Baptism celebrated in refurbished, reconsecrated font

On Sunday, October 27th, St. Mary the Virgin church in Vegreville welcomed Bishop Victoria Matthews, Episcopal Commissary, and the Rev. Canon Chelsy Bouwman, Canon of Rural Ministry, for a special baptism service.

At the beginning of the service, Bishop Matthews said a prayer of thanksgiving and re-consecrated the church font. The font, which had undergone major repairs, was used in the baptism of Madison Lee Donna Murphy. She was welcomed into the church family with her parents, Courtney and David Murphy, and her big brother, Mason by members of St. Mary’s parish and guests.

The beautiful font was originally hand carved from a single piece of Tyndall stone by Mr. Tom Ashley of Ashmont and presented to St. Mary's Church in 1906. Tyndall stone is available from only one quarry in the world located in southern Manitoba and was first used in 1832 for the building of Lower Fort Garry and later become popular for building purposes throughout Canada and the US. Examples of its use in Alberta include the Federal Building in Edmonton and the Banff Springs Hotel. It was also used in the building of the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, PQ and as a decorative stone in our national Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, ON.

At some point in the font's long history, the original pedestal broke and it was repaired by slicing out the broken pedestal and inserting a new one made from concrete. Last year the concrete pedestal also broke and another repair was needed. 

Today the parish is especially grateful to parishioner, Mr. Marshall Stewart for the work he did to ensure the proper repair and reinforcement of the pedestal with new, matching Tyndall stone.

Submitted by the Rev. Laureta Blondin, rector, St. Mary the Virgin, Vegreville