St. Leo's Roman Catholic Church, Mimico
| St Leo's Roman Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
The second St. Leo's church on Royal York Rd (formerly Church St)
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| 43°36′51″N 79°29′51″W / 43.6142°N 79.4974°WCoordinates: 43°36′51″N 79°29′51″W / 43.6142°N 79.4974°W | |
| Location | 277 Royal York Road Toronto, Ontario, Canada M8V 2V8 |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | saintleosmimico |
| History | |
| Founded | 1909 |
| Dedication | Saint Leo |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Archdiocese of Toronto |
| Clergy | |
| Pastor(s) | Fr Francis Carpinelli |
St. Leo's Roman Catholic Church is a Catholic church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Royal York Road (formerly Church Street) at Stanley, in the Mimico neighbourhood, part of Etobicoke. It is the oldest Catholic church in Etobicoke and the only Catholic church in Mimico.
The first services were held at Eden Court (515 Royal York Rd) the home of Mr Edward Stock, one of only three remaining Victorian Houses on Royal York with St. Leo's Rectory, the building has recently been declared a historic building. Mr. Stock donated land for the original church in 1895 which opened as a mission of Holy Family in 1903.
In 1909 St. Leo's became a parish serving Swansea south of the College St extension (now Morningside Ave) and Mimico with its original boundaries: Lake Ontario, the Humber River, North Queen St (now Delroy Dr) and Mimico Ave (now Kipling Ave). One of ten famous races run between athletes Tom Longboat and Alf Shrubb took place for St. Leo's parish picnic at an old Mimico park in 1912 the same year St. Leo's extensively extended the church, doubling its capacity. St. Leo's casualties for the First World War were 1 killed (Pte. Ed Doherty), 5 wounded out of 30 enlisted. In 1920 the former western portion of Mimico became the Town of New Toronto, leading in 1924 to the building of St. Teresa's Catholic Church and the separation of this area from St. Leo's. In 1923 the Town of Mimico had opened a second Public school and in 1926 the parish built St. Leo Elementary School across from the church on land bought from Mimico's Werden family which led to the creation of the Mimico Separate School Board which often met at the old Rectory, 48 Station Rd across from the Mimico Library. St. Leo Elementary School is the oldest Separate School in Etobicoke still open. Like the Town of Mimico and its other churches, St. Leo's went deeply into debt during the Great Depression. With much post war Italian immigration to the northern half of Mimico, in 1947 the Mimico Separate School Board opened a second Catholic school for the parish north of the QEW; St. Louis Elementary School the name likely suggested by the name of the pastor at the time (the first Italian-speaking pastor) Fr. Louis Markle. All of St. Leo's early clergy served at the mother church of Holy Family (except Fr. Markle, whose brother Fr. Basil Markle served there). All the early pastors but the first (Fr. Doherty) taught at St. Augustine's Seminary, a tradition carried on by the current pastor.
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