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The Church of the Holy Cross is a National Historic Site of Canada, located on one of the Indian Reserves of the Skatin First Nation, in southwestern British Columbia. It is located on the east side of the Lillooet River on BC's first inland Gold Rush trail, the Douglas Road. Skatin Nations is the St'at'imcets language rendition of the reserve-town's usual name in English, Skookumchuck Hot Springs (often just "Skookumchuck", which means "strong water(s)", is also the name of three other places in British Columbia and in general use means a rapids - a set of rapids, historically called the "Falls" of the Lillooet River are nearby). ==History== Missionaries from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate had first traveled through the Lillooet River valley starting around 1860. They established missions at Port Douglas and Skookumchuck Hot Springs, and encouraged the native people of the area to settle together in small villages. Earlier churches are no longer standing. There has never been a resident priest assigned to the villages in the area; priests travelled through on their way north from St. Mary's Indian Residential School in Mission, or came down from Mount Currie. Usually they came only once a year, and there are many examples of five or six couples all being married or a number of babies being baptised on the same day, when the annual visit of the priest took place. The services often took place outdoors, or in the home of a community leader. There had been at least 2 other places of worship in Skatin before they embarked on the present building. Some of the families travelled outside for seasonal work, and had seen the large churches in Sechelt, British Columbia, and New Westminster. They were also inspired by the prayer cards with pictures of European cathedrals, and chose to create a place of worship that is also a work of art. Although some men may have worked building other churches, they were not trained carpenters, and used the tools available to them at the time. Local aboriginal craftsmen laboured for years on the elaborately carved altar and finely worked wood details of this remarkable building, which was completed about 1905. Materials from the local area were used, huge trees from the forests; some of the milling may have been done at Port Douglas or even as far away as Harrison Mills at the south end of Harrison Lake. Materials were transported by horse-drawn wagons, rafts and canoes, or carried on their backs. Many generations have been baptized, married and buried from the Church which continues today as a place of worship and ceremony for people in the surrounding communities of Samahquam, Douglas First Nation and Mount Currie. The Church was blessed by the Catholic Archbishop in 1908, but the building belongs to the people of the communities who built it. Some restoration work was carried out in 1982 to 1984, and the church was blessed by Archbishop Carney. At that time, elders Henry Peters and Margaret Ann Peters (Williams) celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary, and baptized a great-grand daughter, Jessica. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Church of the Holy Cross (Skatin)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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