Dedication- July 3, 1831

From: Irish Catholic Genesis
of Lowell, by G. O'Dwyer

The town of Lowell was a busy place that July of 1831.  Preparations were in place for festivities to celebrate the 4^th.  The Mechanic Phalanx was preparing a grand meal along with a reading of the Declaration of Independence.  Other citizens were in deep discussions debating if Belvidere should be annexed to Lowell.  Reverend Edson was preparing his homily for Sunday.  The doings of President Andrew Jackson and talk of temperance were popular topics heard in the streets.  The shops along Merrimack and Lowell Streets were busy with buyers making their purchases before closing for the Sabbath on the 3^rd.

In the Acre things were just as busy.  For a year the neighborhood had been watching the progress of the first Catholic church to be built in the city, and only the third in Massachusetts.  The agent for the Corporation, Kirk Boott, had donated a parcel of land on which to build.  Just weeks before a series of riots broke out along Lowell Street with some Yankees calling to burn down the church.  Others called for calm.  Michael Connelly had overseen the foundation and construction with frequent check-ins with Bishop Fenwick.  The two would later have a number of discussions about payment for labors rendered.  Slowly, but surely, the 70’x40’ wooden church rose.  The tower surmounted by a golden orb and cross was in stark contrast to the surrounding shanties.   At this point there were about 500 people living in the Paddy Camps.  Already it had gotten a reputation for being rather seedy with its make-shift cabins and pigs running between the alleys that passed for streets.  The little church had outgrown itself even before it opened. 

The Bishop, along with Rev. Dr O’Flaherty, the well known orator, arrived the day before having taken a carriage from Boston.  The two would spend the night at the Stone Tavern near the falls.  The weather that day of July 3^rd of 1831 was unusually hot, but that did not deter the crowds.  Over one hundred singers from the Cathedral choir came by stage to provide the music for the Mass.  Edward Kitts, the shoemaker, Miss Catherine Hogan, a teacher in the Irish School, and Mr. Hector, all of Lowell, also accompanied the Boston choir.  The pastor assigned to the new Catholic Church was John Mahoney, who had been serving the Lowell community for several years and had just been informed that he would not be returning to his previous post as pastor in Salem.  When Fr. Mahoney arrived a few years before to celebrate the first Mass, some of the Irish wept to hear their mother tongue being spoken.

Many of those in attendance for the dedication were likely among the first pioneers who traveled from Charlestown to build the foundations for the mills and widen the canals.  There was Cummiskey, Murray, McManus, Smith, Green, Fitzpatrick- all of them surely vying for a front pew.  The pews would be auctioned off at a later date to help defray the cost of building extensions to the church just 2 years later.  The church could not hold the crowds that showed up.  It was filled to overflowing with the open area around Fenwick Street packed with spectators as well.  Some reported that the crowd surpassed two or three thousand.  Considering the entire population of Lowell was about 7,000 at this time, it must have been quite a crowd.  The Bishop claimed the church under the patronage of Saint Patrick and anointed the altar with sacred oils.  Reverend O’Flaherty chose his sermon from the Book of Chronicles. “I have chosen this place to be a house of sacrifice and prayer.”   O’Flaherty was well known throughout the area as a gifted speaker and thus many Protestants attended just to hear his address.

The heat persisted through the afternoon when the priests and Bishop chanted evening Vespers.  The Bishop also confirmed 29 individuals.  The church still crowded to overflowing.  The event was recorded in newspapers across the state and even the country.  It was remarked that the church was one of the finest buildings in the city and represented things to come for the Irish and the Town of Lowell.  Surprisingly the only mention of the event in the Lowell newspapers is a single sentence in the Lowell Mercury, “The Catholic Church recently erected in this town was consecrated last Sabbath with appropriate services.”  The Irish were here to stay.

The Parish has a single remaining artifact from that original church.  When the wooden structure was dismantled to make way for the present structure the lead construction man was given a piece of the cross that topped the tower of the church.  Luckily a thoughtful collector returned the item to the church where it is in safe keeping.  We are always looking for pieces of our past that fills in the jigsaw puzzle of our story.  Can you help us? Family photos, business advertisements, graduation diplomas, musical programs, newspaper articles, class pictures, school uniforms, First Communion certificates…….  All tell a part of the story of the Acre.  So many have told us of what they thought was worthless, yet could tell us so much.  A picture can be worth a thousand words.

The Bells of St. Patrick's

It had been two year but many in the crowd recalled the fire of 1904.  That night crowds stood there and watched as the fire consumed the steeple.  As the wood and slate burned away only the metal bars that held up the tower kept it upright.  Soon the tower began to lean.  The cross that surmounted the steeple began to topple.  All stepped back as the bells glowed red with the heat and fell to their descent.  Some in the crowd claimed they could hear the last of their peels as the hot metal toppled to the ground.  And yet, just two years later in January of 1906 the new chimes of St Patrick Parish were to be dedicated.

Months prior to the dedication service of January, 1906 Father William O’Brien, pastor of St Patrick’s, Mr. M J Johnson, church organist, and Mr. William Goodwin, a well know chimes expert (and father of the late John Goodwin) traveled to Troy, New York to the Meneely Bell Company to commission a new set of chimes.  They made repeated visits during the casting and were present at the final tuning of the bells.  Mr. Kehn of the Meneely Company guaranteed that they would be among the finest set of chimes in the country.  The previous set of bells were 17 in number, and to be honest, were difficult to play, and, as listeners noted, the quality of tone just was not there. 

The 11 bells were delivered and set in carriages ready to be installed in the tower.  The formal dedication was to be on Sunday, January 21, 1906.  Each bell was inscribed with the name of a saint; Patrick, Immaculate Conception, Michael, Sacred Heart, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Bridget, Peter, Lawrence and Francis.  The combined weight was over 30,000 pounds.  Patrick, the bell with the deepest tone, weighs 3600 pounds. 

Fr. Walsh was the curate on the day of the dedication; he shared with the congregation how he was an altar boy at the dedication of the bells in 1854.  On this day the bell Patrick was located within the sanctuary surrounded by greenery and candles awaiting its baptism.  A brief history of the church was cast onto the bell commemorating the date of the church fire and rebuilding.  The remainder of the bells were arranged in the front yard of the church so that passersby could inspect them.  According to ancient rites, the bell would be sprinkled with water and given a Christian name since it would sing out to God.  The ceremony began with Solemn Vespers.  The De Profundis was sung asking God’s mercy upon the crowd and then the christening began.  The sermon was preached by Fr. Dorgan of the Immaculate Church.  He spoke of how the bells of St Patrick’s once rang in times of danger in the times of hatred by the Know Nothings in the 1850s.  Now they ring out as the church triumphant. 

Note: The original bell that hung in the 1831 church was located a few years ago.  When the church was dismantled in the 1850s, it was moved to the firehouse on Mammoth Road.  From there it remained on private property where it is today.  The present set of 11 bells is played by a system of straps and chains that pull clippers to strike the bells.  A winding staircase with 53 stairs rises to where a wooden stand is displayed where the bells are struck. 

The Nunnery Under the Church – 1837

St Patrick Church, 1831

Rumors grow wings.  They take on lives of their own.  The hatred that grew into the Ursuline Convent fire in 1834 was not the end of anti-Catholic feelings as people had hoped. Bishop Fenwick walked a fine line between protecting his flock and maintaining a relationship with the Boston Brahmins.  The Boston papers of the 1830s claimed that 600 priests were being sent over from Europe to spread Catholicism.  That may have seemed unlikely to some people, but the stories of Maria Monk and Samuel Smith, well they had to be true.  Didn’t they?  Everyone knew of the atrocities that Maria recounted of her life in a Quebec convent.  Her book was a best seller of the day.  Samuel Smith, a rogue priest, wrote a number of books revealing the truths of popery and how the Vatican was planning its takeover of the Americas; the most famous was entitled The Downfall of Babylon.  The American Revolution had only been over for 50 years and the fears of being taken over by a foreign power were still very much alive.  Bookstores took out ads publicizing the myriad of novels and pamphlets that described scenes of the Inquisition and plots to overthrow the government by Catholics.   Others questioned why the government would allow Europe’s poor and uneducated to be part of the political process.  Elections took on some questionable campaigning where candidates would accuse their opponents of aligning themselves with the Popish Irish.  A hint of such could cost a candidate the election.

Lowell Advertiser, 1837

The Lowell newspapers were ripe with such controversies.  The Lowell Patriot said, “The Pope sends foreign paupers here to out vote us, foreign chains to bind us, and foreign gold to rear the hideous walls of Convents and Monasteries in the midst of us.  The Inquisition is not far off.”  One of the most heated was an accusation that the Lowell Catholics had built a secret nunnery under the Catholic Church (St. Patrick’s).  The truth of the story was that the basement of St. Patrick’s had been outfitted as a classroom for Irish children funded by the Lowell school committee.  The rumors flew all the way to New York and Philadelphia.  Some thought that Lowell was becoming “too “Popish.”  Papers accused each other of “fanning the flames of discord.”  The voice of reason could be heard for those who listened.  “We are ready to vindicate for them as fellow citizens,” quoted one paper.   Another thought such remarks “an insult to our Constitution and laws.”  But the hatred grew.

Addendum: Super Sleuth, Walter, had this to add to our story-

More on that “nunnery” of 1836

The New York postmaster, and other anti-Catholic bigots, could not have been more wrong!

The Lowell School Committee had appointed a committee of one, the Rev. Lemuel Porter*, to investigate the possibility of establishing a classroom under the Catholic Church.
His Report to the Committee on 25 July, 1836 read:
The Committee chosen to engage a room under the Catholic Church as a school room – to take a lease of the same for five years – and to furnish the same for a primary school at an expense not exceeding with the rent $300, begs leave to report that he has agreed with Rev. Mr. McCool the Catholic Priest and agent for the House, to give him the sum of $150 and a suitable stove on condition that he cause a room under he Catholic Church to be fitted up for a primary school and furnished with seats to the satisfaction of the School Committee and provided he guarantee the use of said room to the City of Lowell for five years free of rent.
s/Lemuel Porter
Voted: that this board ratify the contract made by Rev. Mr. Porter for a room under the Catholic Church as reported by him July 25, 1836 and that he be instructed to carry its provisions into effect.

Source: Lowell School Minutes, 1836

* Lemuel Porter was the minister of the Second Baptist Church, Corner of Lowell and Suffolk Streets.

The Sanctuary Choir, 1922

The day before George Russell took this photo in June of 1922, the sanctuary choir was part of the annual show put on by the Saint Patrick’s Boy School.  This was the 40^th year that the boys sponsored a variety show to benefit the work of the Xaverian Brothers.  Benefits of the show went to supplement the “meager salaries” that the Brothers earned from their “mission.”  The RKO Keith Theater on Bridge Street was filled beyond capacity.  Tickets had been sold out days ahead of the show.  The beginning of the show had the boys of each grade marching and performing intricate military drills to the thrill of the crowd.  The 100 member strong Sanctuary Choir took the stage with a series of hymns and chants.  The choir was made up of boys and alumni from the school, all under the direction of Brother Nilus. 

The definition of Parish has evolved over the decades.  Being part of the Sanctuary Choir was almost an assumption.  If choir wasn’t your choice there were a myriad of other choices.  There was the Matthew Temperance Society (senior and junior divisions), a debating team, and a literary society.  The Cadet band was considered one of the finest in the city.  The Holy Name Society also had a senior and junior division.  The feeding of the poor was the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.  Many boys and young men served the parish by assisting at Mass as altar boys; their numbers rivaled those of the Choir.  At certain feasts, 80 altar boys would process into the church.  One of the most well-known societies of St Patrick Church was the Catholic Young Men’s Lyceum (CYML).  This was the male-only club that was means to draw Catholic youth away from the popular YMCA. 

The maintaining of Catholic identity was of major importance.  The rise of parochial schools, athletic, social, and religious clubs and organizations was meant to keep men and youth on the straight and narrow.  These were just the male societies.  Women and girls had many opportunities as well.  They were caught between two worlds.  They were second and third generation Americans in a fast changing America, yet still tied to the beliefs and culture of their ancestors.  The Parish was where the two merged.

This week’s blog was inspired by fellow historian and blogger, Eileen Loucraft’s (http://loucraft.blogspot.com/ ) post about the Russell Collection photos at the Center for Lowell History.  You can see the original Sanctuary Choir photo at their site.  (http://library.uml.edu/clh/Russell/In.htm ) The Archives of St. Patrick Parish also has a fine collection of Russell photos.  Details from these photos give us a glimpse into their lives and personalities.  You can see a YouTube video of the photos at http://youtu.be/higq3ASYdhQ .  You can see other videos by clicking the links to the right.