A Tour of St. Paul's Church, Halifax

[Floorplan of St. Paul's]
  1. The Baptistry
  2. The Organ
  3. The Wooden Plaques
  4. The Stained-Glass Windows
  5. Memorial Tablets
  6. The Royal Pew
  7. The Coats of Arms
  8. Underneath the Floor
  9. The Halifax Explosion
  10. The Colourful Banners
  11. The Display Cases
  12. The Narthex
  1. The Baptistry contains two fonts. The small, alabaster font, with the dove alighting on its lid, is said to date from a century or more before St. Paul's was founded. Just to the left, mounted on the wall, is an old wooden offering box of the type used in the church in its early days.
  2. The Organ, installed in 1908 and restored in 1947 and 1960, is the fifth at St. Paul's Church and the second to occupy the chancel. The original is said to have been purchased in 1765 from the cargo of a captured Spanish ship. The two cherubim on the rear wall of the gallery are part of the original mahogany cabinet.
  3. The Wooden Plaques on the chancel wall, on which are inscribed the ten commandments, the Lord's prayer and the apostles' creed, would originally have stood in a more prominent position, well within the view of the whole congregation. They date from a time when few could afford the luxury of their own copy of the Book of Common Prayer. Today as we kneel to receive the Holy Communion, they serve as an ongoing reminder of God's unchanging laws, of the personal relationship which we can enjoy with him through faith in Christ, and of the basic tenets of the Christian faith.
  4. The Stained-Glass Windows, of which the small window on the side wall of the chapel is the earliest (dating from 1868). The one in the chancel (assembled in 1893 and restored in 1976) depicting Christ's crucifixion, resurrection and ascension is the most rivetting. The other windows around the nave depict Jesus' life and ministry from his childhood (to the right of the baptistry) through to his resurrection (over the communion table in the chapel) as well as other themes, including the conversion of the apostle Paul, after whom the church is named.
  5. Memorial Tablets. St. Paul's is said to have more memorial tablets on its walls than any other church building in North America. They form a fascinating record of the men and women who have occupied its pews over the centuries, many of whom also occupy significant places in the history of Halifax and Nova Scotia. The earliest of them are to be found on the side wall of the chapel.
  6. The Royal Pew, reserved for her Majesty the Queen and her appointed representatives, serves as an ongoing reminder of St. Paul's royal foundation.
  7. The Coats of Arms of the Diocese of Nova Scotia and its daughter dioceses, as well as the Diocese of London (under whose jursidiction St. Paul's fell from 1749 to 1787) and the Anglican Church of Canada, decorate the front of the gallery. On the outer walls of the gallery hang several large, diamond-shaped Hatchments which are paintings of family arms ordinarily kept within the home of the bearer, but hung outside the door at the time of his death. The Flags are reminders of St. Paul's history and royal foundation, as well as Halifax's long association with the military. The Union Jack without the cross of St. Patrick is the flag which would have flown in Halifax in the earliest days of St. Paul's and is also known as the Loyalist's flag in memory of the refugees from the American Revolutionary War.
  8. Underneath the floor of the church are the graves of twenty of the early worshippers at St. Paul's, including Bishop Charles Inglis. A list of them is to be found in the memorial book in the narthex.
  9. The Halifax Explosion of 6th December 1917, is memorialized in the "explosion window" (upper level, third from the back of the church) and the wooden sill embedded in the wall over the memorial doors in the entryway. The apparent profile in the broken glass of the window is said to resemble that of the Rev. Jean-Baptiste Moreau, an assistant at St. Paul's from 1750 to 1753. Following the explosion, the vestry was used as an emergency hospital and the bodies of hundreds of victims were laid in tiers around the walls.
  10. The Colourful Banners, which are used in the worship services each Sunday morning, celebrate the seasons of the church's year from Advent to Trinity, as well as significant events in the ongoing life of St. Paul's parish.
  11. The Display Cases at the back of the nave offer a pictorial representation of some of the events in the long history of St. Paul's up to the present time.
  12. The Narthex is outside the original north wall of the building. It contains a display case with the retired colours of the Princess Louise Fusiliers, a Halifax militia regiment with a history dating into the early 19th century. It also contains a memorial to a crewman killed in the capture of the Chesapeake by the HMS Shannon in the War of 1812. The Shannon sailed into Halifax harbour with the Chesapeake on a Sunday morning. When word reached the church, the service was concluded and the church emptied in record time!
Last Updated: 20 May 1999
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