Evangelist Frank Norris, the most famous fundamentalist U.S. preacher in the 1920s. Wikimedia Commons. Early 20th-century naked bigotry, sectarianism and misogyny were on prominent display in the Toronto Star, August 30, 1924, with the reported teaching and preaching of U.S. evangelist and self-styled “Texas Tornado,” Frank Norris (1872-1952). “SAYS KU KLUX KLAN KEPT OUT […]
Tag: Religion
Troubles with the Loyal Orange Order
When the Orange Order rode into Upper Canada in 1822 with a parade through the streets of York, it was very much an establishment occasion, but eight months later a petition was moved in the House of Assembly to have the outfit outlawed. The fraternal organization that commemorated the victory of William of Orange […]
Angel ushers fluster papa, needle mama
Angelic young ushers are adapt at wheedling extra money from pappa when they pass the offering plate at church, much to the consternation of mamma, notes Kit Coleman in the following item from the Toronto Mail and Empire, January 22, 1898. The latest fad is Angel ushers. One Reverend already has them. They are charming. They glide around with the plate and stare […]
Last of the saddleback preachers
English-born Methodist minister Robert K. Peck, Alberta, 1910. “Wearing cowboy clothes, the Reverend Peck used to ride around the country preaching,” notes Calgary’s Glenbow Museum. Glenbow Archives NA-101-13. The passing of the fiery itinerant preachers, who galloped by horse throughout Canada, from hamlet to hamlet, to spread the gospel in the backwoods of nineteenth […]
Lonesome life of prairie missionary
A young Anglican missionary, 14 months out from England, talks to a Regina Standard reporter about the challenges of his parish, a prairie wilderness that extends from Calgary to the American border, September 11, 1891. “My parish is 100 miles long and forty miles wide, and at least once a year I am expected […]
Gold miners pine for preacher
The Hollywood image of the old west gold mining camps as lawless, lustful and licentious did not apply to peaceful, law-abiding Canada, judging by a report on September 19, 1864 in the Vancouver Times (Victoria, Vancouver Island). The biggest complaint of Vancouver Island miners appeared to be a lack of clergymen on Sundays. The editor […]