Origin of the Millennium Cross 2000

On Easter Sunday, 1994, Joseph Bayda, Sr. was looking out his kitchen window and was inspired to erect a cross on a hill, across Highway 41, on the Bayda Plantation. Later that summer, on a trip back from Mother Cabrini Shrine at Denver, Colorado, he shared his inspired dream with Myra Olver. Myra informed him that she and her husband, Garth, would pray a novena to Ste. Therese, the Little Flower, for a sign of roses, if the cross is to be built. Myra prayed that the sign be given to her daughter, Catherine Rose, age 10, or to her husband, Garth.

On January 02, 1995, the anniversary of St. Therese’ birth, the Olvers attended Divine Liturgy at St. Ann’s Nursing Home in Saskatoon. As they were leaving the chapel, Catherine Rose, ahead of them, came back and gave her father a rose with an attached birthday card to St. Therese. This card and rose were given to her by an elderly lady. They went to look for the lady in order to thank her but she was nowhere to be found. After arriving home, Myra phoned Florence, Joseph’s wife, to tell her that their novena prayers had been answered and that the cross would be built.

The inspiration to erect a cross on the hill persisted in Joseph’s mind. Four years later he related his ‘dream’ to the Brother Knights of SS Peter & Paul Council 11775 in Saskatoon during the October meeting. He stated that he and his wife would donate several acres of their farmland for a site on which to erect a large cross. The Grand Knight, searching for a millennium 2000 project, accepted his proposal. The K of C State Council, at its annual convention in 2000, presented SS Peter & Paul Council 11775 with the Program Director’s Award as ‘the best millennium project.’

The Original Wooden Millennium Cross

To bring his inspiration to reality, Joseph Bayda built a large wooden cross from some power poles. On October 23, 1999, this 40 foot cross was installed 7 feet into the ground on top of the hill on his farm. A month later, on November 18, his son, Fr. Bryan Bayda CSsR, blessed this cross. Strings of small bulbs had been attached to the cross and were illuminated with a gasoline-powered generator. Since the motor would run out of gasoline during the night, KC Charities of Saskatoon donated a grant of $5000 which paid for electricity that was brought in on October 1, 2001. At the second annual pilgrimage to the cross site six days later, Bishop Basil Filevich tripped the switch and officially lit up the cross.