Fr. Sylla gave his life to Church in the West

Fr. Anthony Sylla

WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER

Edmonton – Father Anthony Sylla, whose Order of Canada medal has been given back to the governor general, was a Polish-born Oblate who gave nearly 70 years to building up the Church in the Prairie West.

Sylla was instrumental in building the grotto to the Virgin Mary at Skaro, northeast of Edmonton, and also built another Marian grotto, mainly with his own hands, at Rama, Sask.

He served in parishes in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and remained active in parish work at Edmonton’s Holy Rosary Parish until he was into his 90s. He died in 1978 at age 96.

Born in Silesia, Poland, in 1881, Sylla came to Canada in 1909 to serve as a missionary to Catholics of Slavic background in southern Alberta.

Eight years later, he came to northern Alberta and helped to build churches at Round Hill, Kopernick, Skaro, St. Michael, Waugh, Opal and Nisku.

In 1927, he was appointed pastor at Holy Ghost Parish in Winnipeg’s north end and served there for six years. Then he was transferred to Rama where he remained for nearly 30 years, serving five parishes from the small hamlet.

In 1961, he came to Edmonton to serve at Holy Rosary. He received the Order of Canada for his work with immigrant settlers from Gov. Gen. Roland Michener in 1971.

In a 1971 interview with the WCR, Sylla said his most enjoyable work was building the two grottos. “I enjoyed building them, planting flowers and making things nice for the people and our good Lord.”

A book of his memoirs was published by the Oblates of Assumption Province in 1997.

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