Did you know the cathedral cornerstone contains a coin honouring the day when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the late Queen Mother) visited Moncton in 1939?
The 1939 royal tour took place between May 17th to June 15th, 1939, signifying the first time a reigning Canadian monarch stepped foot in Canada. The intent of the tour was to demonstrate to Canadians that although Canada is an independent kingdom, it still holds a valued relationship to Britain and the monarch. With the approaching outbreak of war, the tour was further used to sustain mutual trans-Atlantic support.
Close to the end of the tour, on June 13th, 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrived in Moncton, New Brunswick. This happened to be the same day that the benediction of the cornerstone of the cathedral took place. In true time-capsule fashion, a coin commemorating the visit of the monarchs was sealed inside the cornerstone along with blessings of the cstone and the cathedral, medallions of the Assumption and the Virgin Mary, and copies of two local French language newspapers: “La voix d’Évangéline” and “L’Ordre Social,”
Passers by can still see the stone honouring this event on the exterior of the cathedral, right at the corner of St George and Lutz.
