Toronto: 100th Anniversary of Michaelite St. Teresa Parish

By Fr. John Puntino, SDB

(Etobicoke, ON – October 9) – On Sunday, October 6, St. Teresa Parish in Toronto, administered by the Michaelites, a branch of the Salesian Family, celebrated its 100th anniversary. His Grace, Francis Leo, Archbishop of Toronto, presided. The occasion was made all the more festive because just hours earlier Pope Francis in Rome announced a consistory to create 21 cardinals, among whom is Archbishop Leo.

The Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel (CSMA), the Michaelites was founded by Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz, who as a priest became a Salesian, professing into the hands of St. John Bosco in 1887. After establishing an orphanage and several charitable works in Poland, he left the Salesians to establish, first, the Michaelite Sisters, and then, the Michaelite Brothers and Priests.

Absorbing the Salesian spirituality of Don Bosco, he gave “Temperance and Work” as one of the mottos of his congregations and established the care of morally and materially poor young people as one of their chief apostolates.

Eleven Michaelites work in the Province of Ontario and in the Detroit Archdiocese. His Excellency Joseph Dabrowski, CSMA (a Michaelite), is bishop of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.