St. Michael's Church

The Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. Michael the Archangel is located in a wheat field near Ponass Lake, approximately 250 km north-east of Regina and 17 km west of the village of Fosston. It was recognized as a municipal heritage site in 1992. A church committee that includes descendents of the church builders manages the church and adjacent cemetery.

Built in 1910, from local logs assembled with traditional construction methods, St. Michael's was the first religious building in the area and served Ukrainian Catholics and, on occasion, Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians. The church had three frame additions to the core log structure — a narthex, an apse, and a sacristy — that were constructed soon after the log structure was built. A short time after these additions, the exterior of the building was covered with a milled siding and the interior finished with tongue and grove pine. Because of the interior and exterior treatment of the walls, it is difficult to recognize this as a log building.

Five men are named in a local history as the “architects”. One of these men donated 0.8 hectares for the church and similar log buildings can be seen at his nearby homestead. This individual was an orthodox Christian but had married a Ukrainian Catholic. His decision caused a rift in the family that was never healed. Surviving, and in many ways exemplifying, the vitriol between Catholicism and Orthodoxy that divided the Ukrainian community in Saskatchewan, St. Michael's continued to serve as a place of worship until 1975 when regular services were suspended and moved four kilometers east to the larger Babulynci Church. St. Michael's was used occasionally for weddings and funerals until 1995 when a near disaster gave new life to the small building. A lightning strike started a fire that threatened to consume the structure. Miraculously — a term sanctioned by the Archbishop of the Diocese — the flames stopped after melting a frame holding an image of the Virgin. The paper was charred, but the image of Mary was unblemished and the building saved. This fragile, inexpensive print is now considered an icon and serves as the focus for an annual pilgrimage to the site. The building is well maintained and receives visitors, albeit infrequently, from around the world.