The ruins of a church built in 1815 stand in Glengarry County, Ontario. The empty shell of the stone structure is all that is left after a fire ravaged the church in 1970. A modern church structure stands adjacent to the old one and continues to serve the community today.
Roman Catholicism started in the region when Scottish Highlanders settled the area in the early 19th century. The church was the headquarters of the first bishop of the parish, Alexander Macdonell. A stroll in the graveyard behind the ruins shows that the area is inhabited by many families with the Mac- and Mc- prefixes, presumably of Scottish heritage.
While the centre of Catholicism is no longer located at St. Raphael’s, it remains a part of the province’s religious history.