St. Dunstan's Basilica hopes Islanders and tourists alike will enjoy its new audio tour

St. Dunstan's Basilica in Charlottetown is now offering self-guided audio tours of its history, art and architecture.

The basilica serves a parish of about 1,000 households, but it's also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlottetown and was declared a national historic site in 1990 for its Gothic revival architecture. 

The building draws in approximately 500,000 visitors a year from all over the world. 

Parishioner Gwen Chevarie produced and developed the audio tour, which was researched by Father Blair Bernard and voiced by UPEI religious scholar Ariana Patey.

Chevarie said having an officially recorded audio tour "would allow both the Islanders and visitors to have a guided experience of the beauty and spiritual meaning of the basilica."

She says they often see people come in the doors and marvel at the vaulted ceiling, with its connecting ribs and ceiling bosses, but not actually know the story and significance of what they're seeing.

"That prompted the idea to give them an official guided experience," said Chevarie. "Audio tours are very popular in Europe and in other major cities, so it was a great way to have something officially recorded, with pictures, with text, with audio to explain."

The tour is aimed at people like Helen Deharo, who dropped in while visiting from Connecticut.

"Anytime we visit a country, we look at the churches, obviously," she said. "They're so beautiful. The architecture is always fascinating. The huge ceilings — it's just beautiful. The grandeur of a basilica. "

Deharo hadn't noticed the sign for the audio tour but said she liked the idea.

The audio  was an immediate hit with Mary-Ellen Madigan, who was visiting from Pennsyvania with her husband John. 

"When I walked in, I saw the sign on the steps and I downloaded it on my phone ... We love to visit the basilicas and cathedrals as we travel," said Madigan. 

"I'll learn things that I wouldn't learn by just looking — and it's quick, it's easy."

Dates back 2 centuries

St. Dunstan's isn't the oldest church on Prince Edward Island, but its origins are more than 200 years old.

The first iteration was built in 1816, just a small wooden building. That was replaced in 1843 by a larger wooden cathedral. A stone cathedral was built in 1896, only to burn down six years later. 

The current edifice, then known as St. Dunstan's Cathedral, was finished in 1919, and its spires remain the tallest point in Charlottetown. 

Pope Pius XI blessed it as a basilica in 1929 and it remains one of only 27 basilicas in Canada, recognized for their special spiritual, historic or architectural significance.

The St. Dunstan's audio tour was released as part of the parish's celebrations for the 2025 Holy Year of Jubilee for the Catholic Church, Bishop Joseph Dabrowski told CBC News.

"Jubilee year is a sacred time to celebrate our faith and traditions," he said. "We thought it would be also beautiful to explore and offer to people... [the] heritage and history of our Catholic church — especially of this beautiful basilica cathedral."

He says sharing the basilica's story in this way brings it into the next generation, while also paying tribute to his past.

"It encourages not just exploring but also a moment of quiet reflection, curiosity sometimes. In an age where technology bridges distances, this tour creates an open and inclusive space for all that wish to seek to learn and be inspired," said Dabrowski.