Our History

Corpus Christi Parish is one of the many divisions of St. Joseph, the original parish on the North Hill. As the areas of Highwood and Thorncliffe were developing in the 1950's, priests from St. Joseph began celebrating Mass in St. Lawrence School at 44 Ave. and Northmount Drive, and at Corpus Christi School on Thornton Road, just below Northmount Drive. By 1958, 300 people were attending Mass on Sunday with 350 families in the census a few months earlier.

Father Neville Anderson, had bought property in 1954 at 4th Street and Northmount Drive for a future parish. Our parish was officially established by Bishop Francis P. Carroll on June 28, 1959, with Father Franklin Trudeau as our first priest. He chose the name Corpus Christi for the new parish.

Father Trudeau bought a house at 1 Tipton Place as a rectory and location for weekday Masses. In 1961 a hall, which stands on the west side of 4th Street, was built as a temporary church and the first Mass was offered at Christmas.

Construction of the church and rectory began August 1, 1967. Bishop Klein turned the sod and sacred relics were placed in the corner-stone. Once the altar was completed, the relics of St. Maria Goretti and of St. Dulcitiae were solemnly set into place. The first Mass was celebrated in Corpus Christi Church on June 9, 1968 - two days before the feast of Corpus Christi.

The parish has lived through demographic shifts over the past quarter century. St. Lawrence School, opened in September of 1957, closed in June 1978. Corpus Christi School opened in 1958. St. Helena Elementary-Junior High opened in September 1967, became exclusively Junior High with the opening of St. Henry School in 1972. St. Hubert School opened in 1973.

Today, Corpus Christi is a parish of approximately 1,600 families. There is still growth within the parish boundaries in the area immediately north of Hunterhorn Shopping Centre at the corner of 64 Ave. and 4 Street N.E.

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Parish Prayer