St. Peter's Abbey outside Muenster, Saskatchewan is the oldest Benedictine monastery in Canada. It was founded in 1903. The original cathedral church was completed in 1910. The interior of that church is astonishing, covered completely in paintings by Berthold Imhoff, circa 1919.

Upon discovering that the first pipe organ my father built (Casavant opus 1775) was now combined with another (owned by the late Dr. Hart of Saskatoon) and was housed in the new Abbey church, I determined to make the pilgrimage that my father had not lived to make, and in the summer of 2001 my cousin and I visited St. Peter's community. We were warmly welcomed, and had a chance to explore the surrounding area as well.

There are numerous old churches in the area, many of them, like the cathedral church, with painted interiors similar to the Abbey church. A few kilometres from the Abbey is a shrine on a hilltop that overlooks the surrounding prairie. This is a pilgrimage site, with an open chapel and on the top of the hill, a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel carved of Italian marble, that is well over 20 feet high. In the bushes and small trees that ring the base of the hill, is a footpath that takes the visitor through the Stations of the Cross. At every Station is an exquisite brass plaque.

Please see the Image Gallery above for photos of the organ(s) in stages of re-construction at St. Peter's Abbey Church in Muenster, Saskatchewan.