On this day 100 years ago: the Guelph Novitiate Raid

On this day, 100 years ago, the St Stanislaus Jesuit Novitiate was raided by military police in plain clothes looking for anyone who, in their opinion, was evading military conscription. The event became known as the Guelph Novitiate Raid, and was an event that involved two of my cousins, Hon. Charles J Doherty, Canada's Minister of Justice at the time, and his son, Marcus, who was a seminarian there.

There were countless stories in the Canadian media for several months after the raid. I've read several of those accounts in archived digital copies of the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail, which are available via the Toronto Public Library's website to anyone holding a TPL library card. Aside: library cards are golden, especially for genealogists and, well, anyone who loves to read.

I first wrote about the Guelph Raid here in 2016, but again researched events now, finding an excellent and well-sourced 1978 paper, The Guelph Novitiate Raid: Conscription, Censorship and Bigotry submitted to the Canadian Catholic Historical Association by a Basilian priest/academic, Brian Hogan. It's worth a read.The title says it all: the raid came down to Protestant bigotry directed at Catholics.

A new article about the raid was published on May 4, 2018 in the Waterloo Region Record. Waterloo Region is very near Guelph. That article prompted me to write this post. I wonder why their editors didn't wait just a few weeks to publish today, on the the 100th anniversary.

The never ending story continues....



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