The Cardinal
"The Centennial Jubilee of a parish is always a most
significant event because it does not simply mark a considerable
amount of time elapsed but rather represents a century of devoted
and loving service to Almighty God and His Church."
Humberto Cardinal Medeiros
The Blessed Sacrament
"And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and
blessing it, he broke and gave it to them, and said, "Take,
this is my body." And taking a cup and giving thanks, he
gave it to them, and they all drank of it; and he said to them,
"This is my blood of the new covenant, which is being shed
for many. Amen I say to you, that I will drink no more of the
fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it new in
the kingdom of God."
St. Mark XIV
The Pastor
As the 9th pastor of Blessed Sacrament, I am particularly
pleased to participate in the 100th Anniversary Celebration. The
past eight years of my pastorate here have been most rewarding
and very happy. This satisfaction is due to the devotion,
generosity and loyalty of our parishioners for which I shall
always be grateful. I pray that God will continue to bestow his
choicest blessings and graces upon our parish for years to come.
Reverend George P. Gallivan
Associate Pastors
Reverend Walter J. O'Hearn (1967 to Present)
Reverend Richard S. Tierney (1972 to Present)
Pastors and Associates
Pastors
Rev. Francis Gouesse 1872-1901
Rev. Daniel H. Riley 1901-1919
Rev. Timothy Fahey 1919-1933
Rev. John P. O'Riordan 1933-1940
Rev. Bennet J. O'Brien 1940-1949
Rev. John M. Manion 1949-1952
Rev. John J. Costello 1952-1965
Rev. Msgr. Russell H. Davis 1965-1967
Rev. George P. Gallivan 1967-present
Associate Pastors
Rev. James Fennessy 1900-1900
Rev. James H. Courtney 1900-1901
Rev. William H. Walsh 1901-1902
Rev. William N. Ullrich 1902-1908
Rev. Richard S. Millard 1909-1911
Rev. Francis T. Mahoney 1911-1913
Rev. Michael F. Maguire 1913-1917
Rev. William F. Cahil 1917-1918
Rev. Eugene A. Maguire 1918-1925
Rev. Jeremiah F. Twomey 1925-1926
Rev. Rudolph M. Tuscher 1926-1930
Rev. William E. Kerrigan 1930-1932
Rev. Daniel J. Scully 1930-1931
Rev. Richard F. Callahan 1932-1937
Rev. William J. Linehan 1937-1941
Rev. Thomas L. Burns 1941-1941
Rev. John D. Zuromskis 1941-1942
Rev. Frederick M. Walsh 1943-1946
Rev. Daniel J. Gilmartin 1946-1946
Rev. James E. Connelly 1946-1947
Rev. Joseph L. Murphy 1947-1948
Rev. John E. Bowen 1948-1949
Rev. Francis G. McGann 1949-1953
Rev. Donald G. Ballou 1953-1954
Rev. John F. Donovan 1954-1961
Rev. James M. Rogers 1956-1958
Rev. John T. Foley 1958-1959
Rev. Lawrence R. Parlee 1959-1963
Rev. Philip B. Lavin 1961-1965
Rev. Henry M. Cunney 1963-1964
Rev. Arthur J. DePietro 1964-1964
Rev. Bernard L. Sullivan 1964-1967
Rev. Thomas A. Cummings 1965-1971
Rev. Walter J. O'Hearn 1967-present
Rev. Richard S. Tierney 1972-present
Sisters Serving Blessed Sacrament 1952-1974
Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Trinity 1952-1966
Sister Theresa Marie
Sister John Alice
Sister Elizabeth Ann
Sister Paulin Marie
Sister Thomas Jude
Sister Grace Frances
Sister Anita Marie
Sister Ann Mary
Sister Edna Marie
Sister James Ann
Sister Beatrice (CCD Coordinator - 1973-present)
Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, PA
1966-Present
Sister Maria Gross 1966-1972
Sister Martin Noreen 1966-1969
Sister Martha Pooler 1966-1969
Sister Elizabeth Murphy 1966-1971
Sister Helen William 1967-1968
Sister Agnes Rita 1968-1969
Sister Ruth Goodwin 1970-1974
Sister Xavier Matt 1968-1974
Sister Patricia Bove 1969-971
Sister Kathleen Carroll 1969-1974
Sister Patricia Doyle 1969-1970
Sister Ceclia Perone 1970-1971
Sister Mary Coleman 1970-1971
Sister Dorothy Byrne 1970-1970
Sister Marie Secor 1970-1971
Sister Daniel Marie McCarthy 1971-1973
Sister St. Vincent Stynes 1971-1974
Sister Mary Kennedy 1971-1972
Sister Viola Marie O'Keefe 1971-1973
Sister Margaret Christine Sullivan 1972-1973
Sister Celeste Crine 1972-1973
Sister Flavian Kumerant 1972-1983
Sister Iphigenia Feeley 1972-1973
Sister Lareen Francis Sugrue 1973-1974
Sister Rose Louise Murphy 1973-1974
Sister Mary Walsh 1973-1974
Sister St. Francis Coco 1973-1974
Sister Shawn Therese Smith 1973-1974
Sister Corda Marie 1974-
Sister Nora Nash 1974-
Religious Vocations From The Parish 1895-1974
Priests / Ordained
Rev. Thomas Lane / 1875
Rev. Theodore Brandley, M.S. / 1930
Rev. Gregory J. Fynn, C.P. / 1936
Rev.Justin Goodwin, S.A. / 1940
Rev. Canisius D. Hazlett, C.P. / 1936
Rev. Joseph F. McGlone / 1952
Rev. Normand Pepin,S.J. / 1963
Rev. Paul G. Connolly / 1956
Rev. Robert R. Pellini, M.M. / 1960
Seminarians
Bro. James J. McCaffrey, Mary Immaculate Friary, Garrison, N.Y.,
Capuchin
Bro. John D. McLellan, O.F.M., Holy Name College, Washington,
D.C.
Michael F. McLellan, St. John's Seminary
Bro. John E. Tokaz, Mary Immaculate Friary, Garrison,N.Y.,
Capuchin
Sisters
Family Name/Entered/Religious Name/Order
Esther Carboney/1910/Sr. Mary Innocentia/Sisters of St. Joseph
Louise Carboney/1911/Sr. Louise Marguerite/Sisters of Notre Dame
Margaret McCarthy/1912/Sr. Mary De Lourdes/Sisters of Mercy
Mary Parker/1913/Sr. Mary Matthew/Sisters of St. Joseph
Lyda Carboney/1914/Sr. Mary Helena/Sisters of St. Joseph
Gertrude Kelley/1922/Sr. Mary Reparatrice/Adorers of the Precious
Blood
Mary Killian/1924/Sr. Mary Winifreda/Sisters of St. Joseph
Esther Brady/1926/Sr. Parschaline/Sisters of St. Joseph
Mary Kannally/1926/Sr. Maria Thomas/Sisters of Charity of
Halifax\
Ruth Hennessey/1932/Sr. Mary Luella/Sisters of St. Joseph
Gertrude Manning/1932/Sr. Mary Paula/Sisters of Notre Dame
Margaret Downing/1932/Sr. Mary Petrina/Sisters of St. Josephy
Alice Goodwin/1932/Sr. Leo Catherine/Sisters of Charity of St.
Vincent de Paul
Esther Goodwin/1932/Sr. Aime De Maris/Sisters of the Good
Shepherd
Grace Goodwin/1933/Sr. St. Francis Regis/Sisters of the Good
Shepherd
Thelma Patton/1945/Sr. Mary Raphael/Dominican Sisters
Mary Beryl Maguire/1948/Sr. Maguire/Hospital Sisters of St.
Joseph
Harriet Neault/1948/Sr. Mary Bennet/Dominican Sisters
Jeanne Jarvis/1949/Sr. Mary William/Sisters of St. Joseph
Laura Lee Campbell/1962/Sr. Mary Pius/Order of St. Clare
Program of Centennial Activities
Saturday, May 18, 1974 at 10:00 am
Participation of the parish CYO float in the 250th Anniversary
Town Parade
Sunday, October 27, 1974 at 7:00 pm
Centennial Reunion Dinner - Blue Hill Country Club
Friday, November 1, 1974 at 7:30 pm
Memorial Mass for deceased priests and parishioners of Blessed
Sacrament
Parish
Sunday, November 10, 1974 at 3:00 pm
Solemn Pontifical High Mass celebrated by His Excellency Humberto
Cardinal
Medeiros
Sunday, November 10, 1974 at 4:30 pm
Reception and greeting of Humberto Cardinal Medeiros, Archbishop
of Boston, in
School Auditorium
Friday, November 22, 1974 at 7:30 pm
Historical Pageant presented by Blessed Sacrament School children
in
Auditorium
Solemn Pontifical High Mass
Program
Prelude: Organ
Introductory Rite
Entrance Hymn: "All the Earth" (Diess)
Gloria: "Glory to the Father" (Quinlan)
Liturgy of the Word of God - Lectors: Joseph McManus - Irene
Mulrey
First Reading: From the second book of Chronicles, Chapter 2,
Verses 3-8
I intend to build a house for the honor of the Lord, my God, and
to consecrate it to
him, for the burning of fragrant incense in his presence, for the
perpetual display
of the showbread, for holocausts morning and evenings, and for
the sabbaths,
new moons, and festivals of the Lord, our God: such is Israel's
perpetual
obligation. And the house I intend to build must be large, for
our God is greater
than all other gods. Yet who is really able to build him a house,
since the
heavens and even the highest heavens cannot contain him? And who
am I that I
should build him a house, unless it be to offer incense in his
presence? Now
send me men skilled at work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, in
purple, crimson,
and violet fabrics, and who know how to do engraved work, to join
the craftsmen
who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David
appointed. And
send me boards of cedar, cypress and cabinet wood from Lebandon,
for I realize
that your servants know how to cut the wood of the Lebanon. My
servants will
labor with yours in order to prepare for me a great quality of
wood since the
house I intend to build must be lofty and wonderful.
Response: Psalm 138
Second Reading: From the letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians,
Chapter 11,
Verses 23-26
I received from the Lord what I handed on to you, namely, that
the Lord Jesus on
the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and after he had
given thanks,
broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do
this in remembrance of
me." In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup,
saying, "This cup is the
new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in
remembrance of
me." Every time, then, you eat this bread and drink this
cup, you proclaim the
death of the Lord until he comes!
Gospel Reading: According to Saint John, Chapter 6, Verses 47-51
"I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the
desert, but they died.
This is the bread that comes down from heaven for a man to eat
and never die. I
myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats
this bread he
shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh, for the
life of the world."
Homily
Profession of Faith
Prayers of the Faithful
Liturgy of the Eucharist
Preparation of the Gifts: Ave Maria - Soloist - Delphine Brule
Eucharistic Prayer
Preface Acclamation (Mass of Christian Unity)
Memorial Acclamation: "Christ has died, Alleluia"
(Wise)
Great Amen: "Amen, Alleluia" (Szigray)
Communion Rite
Rite of Peace: "Peace, I leave with you..." (Repp)
Communion: "Panis Angelicus" (Franck) - Soloist -
Delphine Brule
"Amazing Grace" (Trad.) - Soloist - Ellen Andre
Pastor's Response
Concluding Rite
Pontifical Blessing
Dismissal
Recessional: "America"
"Glory to the Father"
Dignitaries
Invited Concelebrants
Solemn Pontifical Mass of Thanksgiving
November 10, 1974
Chief Celebrant and Homolist - His Eminence Humberto Cardinal
Medeiros, D.D.
Episcopal Vicar - Reverend Monsignor Robert J. Sennott, P.A.
Concelebrant - Reverend George P. Gallivan
Concelebrant - Reverend Walter J. O'Hearn
Concelebrant - Reverend Richard J. Tierney
Concelebrant - Reverend Leonard R. LaRocque, A.A.
Concelebrant - Reverend Richard F. Callahan
Concelebrant - Reverend James E. Connelly
Concelebrant - Reverend Paul G. Connolly
Concelebrant - Reverend Henry M. Cunney
Concelebrant - Reverend Monsignor Russell H. Davis
Concelebrant - Reverend Arthur J. DePietro
Concelebrant - Reverend John F. Donovan
Concelebrant - Reverend Gregory J. Flynn, C.P.
Concelebrant - Reverend John T. Foley
Concelebrant - Reverend Daniel J. Gilmartin
Concelebrant - Reverend Justin Goodwin, S.A.
Concelebrant - Reverend Canisius D. Hazlett, C.P.
Concelebrant - Reverend Phillip B. Lavin
Concelebrant - Reverend William J. Linehan
Concelebrant - Reverend Monsignor John M. Manion
Concelebrant - Reverend Francis J. McGann
Concelebrant - Reverend Joseph F. McGlone
Concelebrant - Reverend Monsignor James B. Murphy
Concelebrant - Reverend William J. Noonan
Concelebrant - Reverend Daniel J. O'Connell
Concelebrant - Reverend Robert R. Pellini, M.M.
Concelebrant - Reverend Normanc A. Pepin, S.J.
Concelebrant - Reverend James M. Rogers
Concelebrant - Reverend Joseph J. Ruocco
Concelebrant - Reverend Bernard L. Sullivan
Concelebrant - Reverend Michael D. Sullivan
Concelebrant - Reverend Frederick M. Walsh
Concelebrant - Reverend John D. Zuromskis
Master of Ceremonies - Reverend William M. Helmich
Server - Brother James McCaffrey, O.F.M.
Server - Mr. Michael McLellan
Server - Brother John McLellan, O.F.M.
Server - Brother John E. Tokaz, O.F.M.
The History
The story of the Catholic Church in Walpole follows closely the
pattern of growth
of the archdiocese of Boston, just as the Town of Walpole
followed the general
pattern of growth of the towns within the Mass. Bay Colony.
When the first settlers came to Massachusetts in the 1620's, 30's
and 40's they
had nothing but what they could bring in their limited baggage
and very little
money. Massachusetts had two things Europe needed: forests and
fish. So,
hamlets sprang up along the shore wherever harbors could shelter
their fishing
boats, and other settlements followed the retreating forests
inland. Walpole was
one of these, inland about twenty miles from the coast. From
earliest days we
read of crude mills here along the Neponset - saw mills for
lumber, grist mills for
food. The few families who worked them lived nearby.
Walpole developed along the post road to Providence as the
southern extension
of the Town of Dedham, which in its turn had been an extension of
Boston. For
many years Walpole was a part of South Dedham. The first
homesteaders came
to Walpole about 1663, but it was not until 1724 that the Great
and General Court
of the Province of Massachusetts Bay passed:
"An Act for the Dividing of the Town of Dedham and making a
new Town there by
the Name of Walpole....
"Whereas the South Part of the Town of Dedham within the
County of Norfolk is
compresetly settled with inhabitants who labor under great
difficulties by their
remoteness from a Place of Public Worship...
"Provided that the inhabitants of said Town of Walpole do
within the space of
eighteen months from the publication of this Act, Erect and
Furnish a suitable
house for the Public Worship of God, and...Procure and settle a
learned
Orthodox Minister of good conservation and make provision for his
comfortable
and honorable support.
"That the inhabitants of the Town of Walpole...are empowered
to access all
lands...one penny per acre towards the charge of building the
Meeting House and
settling and maintaining a minister there."
In this incorporation Walpole typified the elder town of
Massachusetts Bay. In the
original colony the town grew around a congregation, hence the
name
Congregationalist. The civil unit was established to provide
taxation to pay the
minister's salary, and in course of time, the teacher's. Walpole
was, therefore, a
definite congregation, a group of hard-working, God-fearing men
and women -
Protestant in their belief and their philosophy.
Transients moved into Walpole through the first hundred years
following the
demands for laborers in mills, woods or farms. They were
transient workers of a
different race and faith and made no impression upon the
tightly-knit town. No
mention of them appears in its town records. They were neither
numerous
enough nor permanent enough to attract attention. They paid no
taxes for they
owned no land.
The first Catholics came to Walpole sometime in the years of
1755-56 as
displaced persons. That year, the English Navy expelled the
neutral French
Acadians from what is now Nova Scotia, breaking up families and
scattering their
members among the settlements of the eastern seaboard - a story
Longfellow
has told in Evangeline.
A large number were dropped in Boston. The Great and General
Court, not
knowing what to do with them, in turn divided them among the
towns of the
colony. Eight adults and three children were sent to Walpole.
Ill, destitute,
unable to speak the language, they were a problem to the town.
They had to be
housed in a community with no spare houses, fed and nursed.
For some years they remained in the town, very often in need of
public charity,
always hoping and petitioning to be returned to their own land.
After a wait of ten
years, the Acadians of the Bay Colony banded together to walk
back through the
forests of Maine to their own land. With this group went the
Walpole Acadians,
and so disappeared from town history.
They left behind at least one dead man buried in the old cemetery
at the corner of
Main and Kendall Streets.
In the roster of Walpole soldiers of the American Revolutionary
army are names
of decidedly Irish derivation. In 1754 Nicholas Buckley was a
provincial
volunteer. In the Continental army were Edward Murfee and Timothy
Callahan.
Who these were, whether residents or transient workers, Irish
Protestants or Irish
Catholics, the blank pages of history do not tell.
Just at the close of this period a notable event fastened the
attention of the town
for one brief moment upon a great Catholic figure. When Bishop
Cheverus left
Boston for Europe a large delegation of the men of Boston walked
beside his
carriage as far as Walpole. The Bishop went on to France to
become Archbishop
of Bordeaux, and later a Cardinal.
By 1824, the beginning of the second hundred years of Walpole, a
new influence
had been brought to bear upon the town. Water driven mills were
adapted to
make textiles and all their related products. There were many of
these in
Walpole where, in a series of ten water privileges or mill sites,
the Neponset has
a combined fall of 155 feet. There were many, also, in the
neighboring towns of
Easton, Mansfield, Foxboro and Franklin. These small mills, like
greater ones in
Fall River and Taunton, needed workers, "hands." When
there were not enough
local people available, these hands were recruited from the tide
of immigration
beginning to flow westward from Europe.
Most of these workers were transient, unmarried men, here today
and gone
tomorrow. They made as little impression upon the life of the
town as did the
Acadians half a century earlier.
Yet since it is characteristic of human nature to make homes
where there is work,
it is not improbable that some Catholic families, Irish or
perhaps French, settled in
the town. Gradually, for lack of spiritual attention, their
children drifted away from
the Church they had never really known and were absorbed into
Protestant
congregations.
Even as late as 1833 the Congregational Church was supported by
public
taxation. In that year the Massachusetts legislature severed the
connection
between the church and the State of Massachusetts.
There were a few Catholics in Walpole in these early industrial
days. Here and
there in the old burying ground at the corner of Main and Kendall
Streets are a
few stones upon which are inscribed the letters R.I.P. There too,
are found a
cross or two, a cluster of grapes, a sheaf of wheat, symbols of
the Blessed
Sacrament.
Then, too, in the records of Saint Augustine's parish in South
Boston, established
in 1819 by Father Matignon, are records of marriages and baptisms
of residents
of Walpole.
The first mention of Catholics in Walpole comes, not from town
history, but from
an account of Reverend Peter Connolly, a young priest who from
his parish in
Sandwich on Cape Cod, maintained a roving apostolate among the
transient Irish
mill hands of southeastern Massachusetts. It is recorded that
several times in the
years between 1830 and 1832 he visited Easton, Foxboro, and
Walpole on
horseback, caring for the spiritual needs of such Catholics as he
found there,
saying Mass, administering the sacraments.
Does it seem strange that Walpole should have been tended from
Sandwich
seventy miles away, rather than from Boston, scarcely twenty? It
was, on the
contrary, quite natural. At this time in the whole diocese of
Boston, which
embraced as well Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island and
part of
Connecticut, there were but fourteen priests besides the Bishop.
Of necessity,
these were widely scattered. The few who were in Boston caring
for that heavily
populated section were much too busy to go out into the country.
Sandwich on Cape Cod was a glass-making center. The workers,
recruited
directly from East Cambridge, were originally glass workers from
County
Waterford in Ireland. Sandwich had become in the twenties a small
but flourishing
congregation and a new church was built there. From this center
Father Peter
Connolly, newly ordained and full of apostolic zeal, roamed the
mill centers in
search of Irish workmen, doing missionary work, for at that time
the United States
was a missionary country. Many Irish from Waterford arrived first
at Sandwich
and thence made their way to large centers, Fall River and
Taunton, and to
smaller ones, Foxboro, Wrentham and Walpole. Indeed, many Walpole
families
of today trace their ancestry back to County Waterford.
No mention is made in the unwritten history of the parish, handed
down from one
generation to another, of any serious opposition to the
ministrations of Father
Connolly or of any of the priests who followed him through the
succeeding years.
Yet in 1832 the Congregational Church was still the official
church of
Massachusetts and the salaries of its ministers were paid out of
public tax funds.
Perhaps the Mass and the sacraments were performed so quietly no
one was
aware of what was going on. No one seems to have cared unduly, or
to have
been unduly alarmed.
Yet in Massachusetts throughout the forties and continuing almost
to the Civil
War there was directed against Catholics a rising tide of
political and religious
opposition, known commonly as the "Know Nothing
Movement." There were
several reasons for this.
First there was the threat of sheer numbers. The ever swelling
influx of Irish was
arousing fear that they might overwhelm the established
citizenry.
There was also another, an inherited complication. The native
Protestant
population of Massachusetts had an English background. They were
descendants of that race which had fought for years to compel the
Irish to accept
a status as a dependent and quiescent province within the British
Empire. For
hundred of years the Irish had resisted this status, and had
risen in each
generation to fight long and bloodily against the forces which
were to them still
after so many centuries "the invader." It was
inevitable that conflict should arise
between their descendants in the new world, for none of them as
yet had come to
know the full meaning of the word "American."
Walpole was quite typical of its age and generation. There was
opposition to the
newcomers; that was to be expected. It was bitter rather than
violent, due
perhaps to the fact that the southeastern section of the diocese
grew very slowly.
The industries of Walpole were small and diverse. The number of
hands they
needed to employ was limited. The building of the railroad
brought numbers of
young Irishmen in its wake but these centered in Dedham and in
Norwood, rather
than in Walpole. The Irish who came to Walpole were few, and
therefore were
not so grave a problem. Like the Acadians who preceded them, for
many years
they drifted across the life of the town.
In the years of the 1830's, 40's, and 50's, through the
episcopacies of Bishop
Benedict Fenwick and his successor, John Fitzpatrick, the story
of Walpole and
its neighbors was the story of small missions attached, or rather
detached, from
one city parish after another as the number of priests and
churches grew. Even
during the years of Father Peter Connolly, Walpole was a station
of Saint
Augustine's in South Boston. There is no record that any priest
from this parish
ever said Mass in Walpole, although there are records to prove
that people from
Walpole went there for baptisms and marriages.
When Saint Patrick's Church was built in the south end of Boston
in 1836
Walpole became a mission of that parish and remained so until
1846 when it was
attached to Saint Joseph's in Roxbury, better and more
affectionately known as
Tommy's Rock. There for the next decade the Catholics of Walpole
were
baptized and married; there are records of pre-Civil War days. At
this time Mass
was celebrated with some degree of regularity in the Old
Temperance Hall in
Dedham, and later in a Universalist Church in South Dedham, now
Norwood. To
these some of the Catholics walked for Sunday Mass. Others, in
the 1860's went
to Canton.
That Irish were in Walpole in considerable numbers during Civil
War days is
borne out by town records. Here are but a few names so
distinctively Celtic as to
leave no question. Patrick Hern was killed in 1862 in the Battle
of Bull Run.
Patrick Driscoll appears on the roll of honor of Regiment 12.
There are other
names upon the roster of Regiments: John McGinnis, Patrick Flood,
John Daily,
Michael Griffin, Patrick Kirby and Thomas Shea, to mention but a
few.
In 1866, the year after the Civil War, His Excellency John J.
Williams began his
long episcopate which stretched across one century well into the
first decade of
the next. Just previous to his accession, in 1863, to lessen the
burdens upon the
priests of Saint Joseph's in Roxbury, the missions of Foxboro,
Wrentham,
Walpole, and Mansfield were attached to North Attleboro. At this
time the parish
was attended by a very active priest from Greenville, Rhode
Island, a Father
Philip Gillick. In 1866, Father Gillick resigned from his parish
at Greenville to
devote all his time to North Attleboro and its flock of little
stations.
With Father Philip Gillick the Catholic parish of Walpole, as we
know it, really
begins. He was not the first pastor of Walpole but he is
remembered as the first
priest to care for the religious needs of Walpole with any degree
of permanency
and continuity.
Because of his learning and his integrity he was one of the
best-known citizens of
North Attleboro in his day. Rain or shine, summer or winter, he
traveled in his
familiar horse and buggy over rough roads to tend his missions.
He said one
Mass each Sunday in his church at North Attleboro. The second he
said in
rotation at one of his stations, so that the people of Walpole
had Mass once a
month in their own town. On other Sundays they had a choice of
walking to
Dedham, Roxbury, Canton, or one or other of the missions.
Father Gillick said Mass at Walpole at private houses. We do not
know whether
he tried to secure a public building as he did in Franklin, or a
mill-room as did
Father Gouesse in a later day. We do know that he said Mass in
the home of
Roger Cunningham, who lived first in a section called Honey Pot,
in a house
which stood near what is today the junction of Winter Street and
Route 1-A
opposite the entrance to the Norfolk Prison Colony, and later in
a house to which
he moved on Stone Street. We next hear of Mass being said in a
more central
location in the home of Michael Buckley, a small red house which
stood where
today there is a block of stores opposite the Town Hall.
Parishioners of the day told of Father Gillick's help and
strength at the time an
epidemic struck, a mysterious fatal sickness brought from Russia
in some badly
cured hides, a plague which felled worker after work in the hair
mill of Manning,
Glover, and Cram on South Street. Day after day Father Gillick
toiled, side by
side with Doctor Stone (for whom the street is named), to save
the workers' lives.
The depth of his parishioners' devotion to Father Gillick is
shown by this story,
told here not because it is true - and it may be - nor because it
is not true - and it
may not be - but to show that the Catholics of Walpole paid him
the supreme
tribute Catholics can pay to a priest's work. They credited him
with a miracle. It
was performed during the epidemic, a simple thing and that weighs
heavily
towards its authenticity. When men invent stories they are
usually fantastic;
when God performs one it is apt to be a very simple, natural
thing. One of the
afflicted workers was at the point of death. Father Gillick
anointed him and
immediately the sick man was cured, and in the course of a few
hours was about
his daily occupations.
Father Gillick remained in charge of Walpole until 1872. That
year the new
diocese of Providence was established. Its dividing line was
drawn at North
Attleboro. Father Gillick became a member of the diocese of
Providence.
Walpole and its neighbors remained within the Boston archdiocese.
A new parish
was created with Walpole as its center, and the other three as
missions attached
to it. To this as pastor came Father Francis Gouesse.
Father Gouesse was typical of the many priests who served in the
first years of
the Boston diocese, when the demand for priests was far in excess
of the supply,
when the few native clergy had to be supplemented by priests from
Catholic
dioceses of Europe who volunteered for the missions. It was the
land-lease plan
in reverse. Some of the priests of these early years came from
Ireland; some
from Italy; most of them came from France.
One of these was Father Francis Gouesse, born in Laval in 1817.
He studied
theology in Saint Sulpice but before ordination came to America
in search of a
bishop. Although we have no documentary proof of it, tradition
has it that he was
ordained in 1845 by Bishop Blanc in New Orleans.
His first assignment was as superintendent of Saint Mary's Orphan
Boys Asylum
in New Orleans. After several years' service here, he volunteered
for the frontier
missions of Michigan and Indiana. Later he worked in New York
until ill health
forced him to return to France for a brief period of rest. In
1869, at the age of 52,
he came to Massachusetts to relieve the pastors of several
parishes, especially
those of Southbridge and Randolph. In Marlboro he organized a
flourishing
French Canadian parish and built a church. Almost immediately
upon the
completion of this came his assignment to Walpole, as its first
pastor.
But Walpole had neither church nor rectory. Father Gouesse,
therefore, made
his headquarters in Foxboro where Father Gillick had built a
church and upon its
destruction by fire, had rebuilt it. Before its completion the
diocese of Providence
had been cut off. It fell to Father Gouesse to complete the
church. He remained
in Foxboro until this had been done and the debt was in a fair
way to be paid off.
In the meantime he followed Father Gillick's example and
continued to say Mass
for his Walpole congregation in private houses. Among these were
the homes of
William Mahoney on South Street, close to the hair mill, and of
Timothy Hale,
where a section of the Kendall Mill now stands. Confessions were
heard usually
in the home of William Mahoney.
After the church in Foxboro was well under way towards
independence, Father
Gouesse moved to Walpole. He bought for a rectory a house at 191
Kendall
Street, now the home of Mr. Henry Caldwell. It was not long
before Father
Gouesse made the acquaintance of Mr. Jerome Bonaparte Cram, part
owner of
Manning, Glover and Company, manufacturers of curled hair,
mattresses, cotton
batting and wicking, whose mill stood on South Street. When the
acquaintance
had ripened into friendship, Mr. Cram offered the use of the mill
for services and
for Mass until such time as Father Gouesse could build a church.
Not only did
Mr. Cram give Father Gouesse the use of his mill, but he is said
to have aided in
selecting and acquiring the present site of the Blessed Sacrament
Church.
In the history of the diocese which appeared about the turn of
the century, there
appeared a fantastic story about the secrecy and finesse Father
Gouesse had to
use not only to hold services but to obtain property upon which
to build a church.
It stated that when negotiations were in progress the priest left
town with great
ostentation and remained away for three months. During that time
the property
was bought for him by a straw man. The cold facts of the
Registrar's Office in
Dedham (Book 440, page 4) do not bear out this tale. There does
not seem to
have been any attempt at secrecy. The owner had been in
possession of the
property for some years and transferred it directly to the
Catholic Archdiocese of
Boston on May 8, 1873.
That such a story could have been told and published is evidence
of the fact that
some opposition did exist. It is even possible that pressure may
have been
brought to bear upon the owner not to sell. Such things are not
unknown even in
our own day, in various places and for various reasons. But no
credence can be
placed upon the story embroidered over the fact.
Nor can there have been too great delay in obtaining the
property, for the diocese
of Providence was set off February 16, 1872, and the purchase of
the land at the
corner of Diamond and East Streets was made in May of 1873,
little more than a
year later. We have no written documents upon the transaction
other than the
deed to the property.
Father Gillick, who was an intelligent man, knew it was but a
matter of time
before he would have to build a church in Walpole. His experience
during the
epidemic at the hair mill had given him a better acquaintance
with the town and
certainly with J.B. Cram, the active manager of the mill. Very
probably the matter
of the property had been the subject of more than one discussion
between the
men. When the dioceses were separated in 1872 and Father Gouesse
succeeded Father Gillick, it is not improbable that Father
Gillick turned over to
Father Gouesse the information and perhaps the preliminary
negotiations for the
property, together with the good-will and friendly interest of
the mill-man, old J.B.,
as he was called affectionately.
It was not long before the acquaintance of the mill-owner and
Catholic priest grew
into friendship and the established business man smoothed the way
of the new
pastor.
For many months Father Gouesse worked to assemble funds to start
the building
of the church and to place his missions of Franklin and Foxboro
on a sound
financial footing. Alas, calamity struck in the approved
Hollywood fashion. In
1876, when Father Gouesse was deep in building the Walpole
church, the
Foxboro church was destroyed by fire one week after its fire
insurance had
lapsed. Father Gouesse replaced this church with a small
barn-like structure and
procured the transfer of this mission to Franklin, which he had
cleared from debt
and had caused to be established as an independent parish in
1877.
In November of 1874, Father Gouesse turned the first sod upon the
lot on
Diamond and East Streets for the future Saint Francis Church.
This is the
account of it as it is recalled by William Mahoney, then a little
boy in primary
school. One weekday morning in November - he is sure it was a
weekday
because it had been declared a school holiday for the Catholic
children - Father
Gouesse surrounded by as many of his little congregation as could
take time off
for the ceremony, met on the property where the location of the
church had
already been staked out. There he dug the first sod, followed in
turn by each of
the men present. Some of those whom the little boy of 1874
recalls were his
father, William Mahoney, Michael Dalton, Roger Cunningham, in
whose house
many Masses had been said, Timothy Hale, another parishioner who
had given
his house for Mass, John Rooney, Patrick Smith, James Smith,
Edward Cashin,
Patrick Riordan, Patrick Kivlin, Peter Moore, Patrick Dalton,
David O'Brien and
his son James P. O'Brien, Michael Mansfield, Thomas Kannally,
John Bulger,
Patrick Crowley, and Mr. Gallagher of South Street.
The work of digging the cellar of Saint Francis Church, for
Father Gouesse had
named his new church in honor of his patron, Saint Francis of
Assisi, proceeded
slowly. There were no mechanized helps, no steam shovels, no
bull-dozers.
Moreover, there was no money except for essential needs. Many of
the men
contributed hours of labor instead of money; many worked with
pick and shovel to
save what money there was for work that called for skill. Up to
the time the
ground became too frozen to work, and all throughout the year
following, the
parishioners worked. They labored to lay the foundation, they
worked to gather
funds, but the church grew very slowly.
In October of 1876 a fair lasting for a week was held in Bacon
Hall. A
considerable sum of money was raised through the generosity and
good-will of
the non-Catholics as well as through the hard work of the parish.
Finally in
December of 1876 the basement was ready for occupancy and
service. The first
Mass was celebrated by Father Gouesse on Christmas Day.
The basement of the original Saint Francis Church was not
elaborate. The plan
called for a simple wooden frame building, large enough to seat
about four
hundred people. The pews were simple benches; the altar a wooden
one made
by a carpenter. In the front corner of the epistle side stood a
wood-burning
furnace which gave what heat it could to Sunday morning
congregations. John
Mahoney, the first janitor, did his best to keep it stoked. In
this he was ably
assisted by the first altar boys, Harry and Frank Lane, Thomas
Mahoney, and
Terrence Hennessey. About two years later, when the upper church
was
furnished, a one-pipe, hot-air furnace was installed and two
other altar boys,
William Mahoney and Daniel Dalton, were added. Somewhat later
other altar
boys, among them Hugh McElheney, Patrick Lane, Patrick Mahoney
and William
Hale were added.
While work on the basement was under way, Father Gouesse, who had
been
living on Kendall Street, began the construction of a rectory. By
the time the
basement was finished he was able to move into 10 Diamond Street.
The rectory
of today does not resemble very much the house Father Gouesse
built.
Nevertheless the original building is there. The two front
offices are almost as
they were. One of them was used as a morning chapel for weekday
Mass during
the winter months.
Work on the upper structure of the church continued; early in the
winter of 1897 it
was finished. The first Mass was said by Father Gouesse on
Christmas of that
year. The church was very simple, the altar a crude wooden one,
the whole
auditorium painfully bare. The work of beautifying it went on for
several years.
By 1884, it was fairly complete. A new altar, the gift of
Monsignor Dion
O'Callaghan of South Boston, long a close friend of Father
Gouesse, had been
installed. Stained glass windows - for the most part gifts of
parish families - were
set in place; the stations of the cross, also gifts of the
parish, were upon the
walls. Two windows, however, were the gifts of non-Catholics. One
was given
by George Plimpton in memory of Patrick Smith, the first Irishman
he had
employed, the other by Francis W. Bird, in memory of Patrick
Connelley who had
been killed in an accident in the Bird mill.
When in later years, a new church was being constructed in South
Norwood for
the Polish people of the district, Father Riley gave the altar,
the stations of the
cross, and the pews as a donation. They are there today, sacred
relics of the old
St. Francis Church.
Father Gouesse was now sixty-five years old. He had given up the
missions of
Foxboro and Franklin. Nevertheless his gradually failing health
was being taxed
by his pastoral duties, for Walpole had grown from the dozen
families of 1850 to
almost 350 families. So scarce were priests in the diocese,
however, that it was
not until twenty years later, when Father Gouesse was eighty-four
years old, that
an assistant was sent to help him.
The first curate sent to Walpole was a Father Fennessey, and very
little is known
about him. Since he, too, was in failing health, his stay was
very short. In the
brief month of his service he organized two choirs, one of
adults, the other of
children.
Father Fennessey was succeeded by newly-ordained Father James
Courtney.
He remained in the parish until after the death of Father
Gouesse.
The first pastor was now a very old man, worn out by his
single-handed work of
many years, in Walpole and his earlier missions. He could no
longer do the
arduous duties.
He was often seen sitting in an arm chair under a maple tree
which stood near
the rectory and the church.
So dear did this spot under the maple become to him that he left
a written request
that when he died he might be buried under it with a monument to
mark his
grave. Father Gouesse died on January 14, 1901. He was buried
under his tree;
his monument had to await a later day.
But time and change and the exigencies of a growing parish cannot
always
respect the wishes of dead men, not even of an old, well-loved
priest. When the
time came to rebuild the church the grave of Father Gouesse was
transferred to a
new grave under the church. The spot is marked by four granite
posts, set off by
chains, directly below the altar. A section of the trunk of the
maple tree, about
four feet of it, was laid above him. And there, under the altar
of the beautiful
church which replaces the little wooden one he built, Father
Gouesse, first pastor
of Walpole, sleeps. Nor was his request for a monument forgotten.
Look closely
sometime at the brass plate upon the altar of the Sacred Heart.
It reads: In
memory of Reverend Francis Gouesse. Look closely, too, at the
chalice used at
Mass on Sundays and on Holy Days. It is the chalice Father
Gouesse brought
with him from France, the only keepsake the parish has of the
devoted and
saintly man who was its founder.
One week after the death of Father Gouesse the Reverend Daniel
Riley came to
Walpole as its second pastor. Up to this time he had been
assistant in
Bridgewater. Ordained in December, 1882, Father Riley had been a
priest for
nineteen years. Physically vigorous, spiritually strong, a
student of people rather
than of books, Father Riley entered upon the duties of his office
with
characteristic zeal. He had many excellent qualities but his
kindness and
sympathy were pre-eminent. His whole administration of the parish
to epitomized
in the manner in which he handled the matter of Father Gouesse's
grave. His
sympathy made him feel the poignancy of the old man's request;
his sound
common sense told him that sentiment should not be allowed to
stand in the way
of progress; his keen intelligence led him to find a way in which
his predecessor's
wishes could be satisfied in a greater degree than Father Gouesse
had ever
dreamed, and yet the new and beautiful church which Father Riley
already
visualized was not forced into an awkward angle because of the
location of a
grave.
When Father Riley took over Walpole in the first years of the
century Walpole
had expanded, although by some standards it was still a small
parish. In a history
of the diocese published in 1899 the families were distributed as
follows:
"Irish, 324; French, 28; Italian, 9' Portuguese, 1. There
are 150 English speaking
Canadians."
Because Father Riley was a young man and able to do a good deal
of work,
almost immediately the Archbishop attached Medfield to Walpole as
a mission.
This little town had been alternately part of Roxbury, Dedham,
Foxboro and
South Natick. It had been long isolated and there was much work
to be done.
Father Riley, therefore, left the routine of the main parish in
the able hands of his
assistant, Father Courtney, and took over the work in Medfield.
This he
performed faithfully until that mission was cut off and made into
a separate parish
in 1903.
Father Riley was the better able to do this because the material
affairs of the
parish were under the supervision of Mr. Michael Downing, whose
vigilant care of
the parish property had lightened the burdens of the old man's
declining years.
When Father Riley became pastor, Mr. Downing remained in charge
for many
more long and faithful years. He contributed much to the parish's
welfare.
Father Riley had not long been pastor of Walpole when it became
evident that
the growing industries of the town were attracting many people,
some of whom
were Catholics. Saint Francis Church was fast becoming inadequate
to meet
their needs. The first and the easiest answer was to increase the
number of
Sunday Masses. This was but a temporary solution for no sooner
had a Mass
been added when that, also, became overcrowded. The answer was a
larger
church, so Father Riley began to set aside funds to enable him to
start rebuilding.
It was not until 1911 that he could see his way clear towards
making plans for the
actual building. Then came the troublesome problem of where to
locate it. The
center of the Town of Walpole was where it had been for many
years, around the
Common and the streets which led from it. Many of the
parishioners felt that the
time had come to remove the church from the site Father Gouesse
had selected
to a more central spot. One of the members of the parish who had
built a
successful contracting business, Mr. Michael McCarthy, offered to
Father Riley as
a gift to the parish his estate on Common Street. This was an
ideal spot and
Father Riley was urged to accept it. However, East Walpole,
another section of
the town where a number of Catholic families had settled, was
much dissatisfied
with the prospect of a new location. In those before the
automobile, distance was
more important than it is today.
Father Riley decided to retain the original site. A few years
later, when East
Walpole was cut off from the mother parish, there was regret at
the decision.
In 1911, Father Riley was ready to select an architect and talk
plans. He chose
Matthew Sullivan and gave him an idea of the kind of church he
had in mind -
brick, with a bell tower, a large capacity for Sunday Masses, and
a morning
chapel. Matthew Sullivan died fairly young, before he had done
too much
important work, but the Blessed Sacrament Church in Walpole is a
testimony to
the worth of his talent. Even in the architect's drawing, Father
Riley could detect
the beauty of line and proportion, the grace of the tower which
distinguishes the
structure. But neither priest nor architect dreamed that the
interior finish of the
church would lift it out of the small number of lovely churches
and set it apart
among the very few in America which are rare architectural gems.
Neither knew
then of the genius of John Kirchmayer.
In the spring of 1911 Father Riley had old Saint Francis church
moved to a
location back of the rectory because it would be needed for
services while the
new church was building. On July 5, 1911, he observed the
traditional rite of
turning the first sod, and not he alone but all the boys who were
about shared the
honor with him.
It was this side of his nature that gave him courage to listen to
John Kirchmayer,
immigrant wood carver from Oberamergau, when he begged for a
chance to
finish the interior in hand carved wood like some of the great
cathedrals of
Europe, to copy the morning chapel after one of the famous
chapels of the Middle
Ages, to set the great Crucifix over the altar, to carve the
reredos, the side altars,
the stations and the altar furniture, the cross beams, and last
but not least to
carve in the solid oak of the front door the twelve apostles, the
angels, and the
symbols of the Blessed Sacrament. It gave him courage to adopt an
artistic finish
somewhat somber in an age when people were used to color and
bright paint. it
led him to get the needed color through glorious stained glass
windows.
John Kirchmayer put into the church of the Blessed Sacrament all
the wealth of
his genius, all the fire of his ambition. No church he did later
was quite like this
one. He began as an unknown workman; he finished a recognized
artist.
This is not the place, even if there were space, to tell of the
symbolism built into
the morning chapel, the windows, the decorations of the altar.
Our church is like
one of the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages, where no
decorations existed for
decoration's sake, but each one was part of the story of the
glory of God and the
liturgy of his Church.
On Easter Sunday, April 23, 1913, the cornerstone of the church
was laid and the
new edifice dedicated. Because it was a completely new church
Father Riley
decided to give it a new name, to dedicate it to God along under
the title of the
Blessed Sacrament. At the first solemn high Mass Father Riley was
the
celebrant. Father Thomas I. Gasson, President of Boston College,
deacon and
preacher, Father Michael Maguire, the assistant, sub-deacon. Mrs.
Ella Haney
was the organist and there was a choir of thirty mixed voices to
sing the Mass.
Although the building of the church was Father Riley's
masterpiece, it was not his
sole accomplishment. In 1906, he bought a large tract of land in
South Walpole
which he consecrated as Saint Francis cemetery. Previously the
people of
Walpole had to go to Canton or Foxboro to bury their dead in
consecrated
ground. With the land Father Riley acquired the old Joyce house,
which he
intended to use as a home for the superintendent of the cemetery.
The first plot developed in the cemetery was called by Father
Riley after his
patron, Saint Daniel. He had Mr. Branley, a local forester,
surround it with
evergreens. Today beautiful arbor vitae trees keep watch over the
dead of the
early families of old Walpole.
In his time, also, the rectory was enlarged to care for the
additional assistants
necessary in the growing parish. He left it commodious,
attractive and well
appointed. Nor did he overlook the needs of the young people in
the parish. they
had athletic teams, socials, and even a temperance society.
After eighteen as pastor in Walpole, Father Riley was appointed
by His
Eminence, Cardinal O'Connell, to be pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes
in Jamaica
Plain. He preached his final sermon one Sunday in June, 1919.
On the following Sunday Father Timothy Fahey came to Walpole as
its third
pastor. If he found here a beautiful property, he found also a
correspondingly
heavy debt, one of $57,000. He felt it was his mission to wipe
out this debt, and
quickly. He set about this task with his customary energy and
earnestness. In a
surprisingly few years the parish was free of debt.
During these years, Walpole and East Walpole continued to grow.
Into them
poured a tide of immigration as it had once before during the
years after the Civil
War, but this time it came not from Ireland but from Italy. The
Italians were
attracted to the town by work offered in foundries and machine
shops, accepting
in their turn hard labor as their lot, as the Puritan founders
accepted it, and as the
Irish had accepted it in their turn. Walpole had another
advantage in the eyes of
the land-loving Italians. There was land about, plenty of it, and
not too costly to
be out of range of a thrifty, hard-working family. At first the
Italians had to be
satisfied with the poorer, worn-out lands, or raw, unbroken
fields, but as time
went on and family after family became more prosperous they were
able to buy
more desirable property. By Father Fahey's pastorate the Italians
had become a
large and important factor in the town. Other groups were
beginning to move in,
also. The Poles and Lithuanians were moving in, along the roads
from South
Norwood.
All this steady flow of new-comers helped to swell the Catholic
populations of
both Walpole and East Walpole. It was quite evident that the time
had come to
make provision for separate quarters for the Catholics of East
Walpole. At their
request Father Fahey interviewed Mr. Charles Sumner Bird, who had
on more
than one occasion proved himself a staunch friend of the
Catholics and a
personal friend of Father Riley. He readily granted Father Fahey
the use of Bird
Hall in East Walpole for the celebration of Mass on Sundays and
Holy Days.
From 1919 to 1926 the Catholics of East Walpole worshipped here.
In 1926 Father Fahey began the construction of a missionary
chapel. Although
Mr. Bird had offered as a gift to the parish a piece of land for
the new chapel,
Father Fahey decided upon another piece of property he thought
more suitable.
The chapel of Saint Mary's was dedicated by Cardinal O'Connell on
May 22,
1927. Father Fahey had expected that the new chapel would remain
a mission of
Walpole, but in September 1931, East Walpole and South Norwood
were set
apart as a new parish under the Reverend John Meheran as pastor.
Although the separation of Walpole and East Walpole was
inevitable in the
nature of things, it was a sad parting. Many of the families of
East Walpole had
been parishioners of the mother parish from the time of Father
Gouesse and had
watched the building first of Saint Francis and then of the
Blessed Sacrament
Church. But time and growth cannot be held back by sentiment and
East
Walpole was soon on its way to becoming as large as the original
parish.
Father Fahey continued to work and beautify the church and the
cemetery. He
built the brick steps at the front of the church and thereby
added the one thing
lacking in its original beauty.
The cemetery, too, came in for his attention. Father Fahey bought
a strip of land
along South Street, opposite the cemetery, to protect the
property in future years.
He placed a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Grace on the first
terrace, landscaped
the entrance, planting spruces on either side of the drive.
Personally he was brusque and stern, but beneath his rather harsh
exterior he
was kindly and charitable. The sick and the poor knew his real
depths; they knew
how sensitive and shy he was in reality. He made no effort to
attract or charm his
parish, but people respected him and loved him. They were proud
of his
eloquence and his superb delivery whenever he was invited to
participate in a
town function.
In April of 1933 Father Fahey was assigned to the Blessed Heart
Parish in
Roslindale, and on Easter Sunday he left Walpole for his new
duties.
Reverend John O'Riordan succeeded Father Fahey as pastor in the
depression
year of 1933. He is remembered as a frugal man, befitting the
times, who used
paper flowers at the altar to preserve the sparse funds. It is
ironic that the man
who took such pains to save should also the reputation of being a
poor
bookkeeper.
A quiet, tall, reserved man, Father O'Riordan sought to enrich
the lives of his
parishioners by initiating the encouraging spiritual and social
activities alike. The
children's welfare was always uppermost in his mind. First
Communion prayer
books, children's Lenten services, and rides with the youngsters
on the Ferris
wheel were an indication of his concern for their happiness.
He started the novena of the Miraculous Medal, which lasted for
ten years on
Monday nights.
He continued field days and card parties that his predecessor had
established;
and he encouraged the formation of the Walpole Catholic Women's
Club.
To some of the Walpole Catholics of the '30's, Father O'Riordan
appeared quiet -
yet others remember his priestly understanding, particularly his
work with the sick
and his tremendous affection for children.
Father O'Riordan remained in Walpole until July, 1940, when he
was transferred
to St. Mary's Parish in Winchester.
Reverend Bennet J. O'Brien, pastor from 1940 to 1949, wrote the
history of the
Church for the Diamond Jubilee celebration in 19439. The story
you are reading -
Walpole, its growth, and the Church's rise to prominence in the
town - is in his
words through the tenure of Father Fahey.
Father O'Brien was a classmate of Richard Cardinal Cushing at St.
John's
Seminary. A scholarly man, he translated Volume I of the Breviary
(priest's
prayer book) from Latin to English. Volumes II and III were
translated by the
Cardinal.
Father O'Brien gave Blessed Sacrament music and formality - he
purchased the
organ for the church and had the ushers at Sunday Mass wear
tails.
He also dusted off Father O'Riordan's paper flowers, found them
not to his liking,
and indulged in fresh cut bouquets for the church.
In 1941, Father O'Brien initiated the St. Theresa Society and the
altar society
within the Catholic Women's Club. He regenerated interest in the
Knights of
Columbus, Holy Name Society, and the Sodality.
Sunday school was held in the basement of the chapel and a girls'
and women's
choir was formed under the direction of Alice Hennessey during
Father O'Brien's
pastorate.
Perhaps most importantly, Father O'Brien saw the parishioners of
Blessed
Sacrament Parish through the trying years of the Second World
War, providing
spiritual comfort and guidance in a time of national crisis.
Father O'Brien continued as pastor until December, 1949, when he
was
transferred to Sacred Heart Parish in Weymouth.
Monsignor John H. Manion ushered in a period of growth and
prosperity for the
parish when he arrived in 1950. A dynamic, forceful man in spite
of an asthmatic
condition, he knew what had to be done and possessed the
forthrightness and
organization to accomplish his goals.
Father Manion invited the Sisters of the Most Blessed Trinity to
set up a
kindergarten in the parish to help teach religious education
classes.
He arranged to have the organ refurbished, put the stations of
the cross in the
chapel, and expressed great interest in the refurbishing of St.
Francis cemetery.
He started the Sacred Heart Holy Hour on Mondays in 1950, to
which he drew a
surprisingly large attendance - mostly, some claimed because the
Monsignor was
a dramatic and inspiring speaker.
A man ahead of his time, he experimented with English in the
Mass. Father
Manion, it was said, was never afraid to move forward.
The best testimony of his great understanding of people and their
needs was the
growth of the parish from 450 to 750 families during the first
three years he was
there.
Father Manion's stay in Walpole was cut short due to his health
and he was
transferred to St. Mary's Parish in Winchester.
Reverend John J. Costello is a legend to Blessed Sacrament
parishioners. A
practical and rather gruff man, he was known for his faithfulness
to the sick and
for initiating communion breakfasts for the children and outings
to Nantasket
Beach for the altar boys.
He is best known for his overwhelming desire to build a parish
school. Father
Costello spent a little over 12 years as pastor (from November,
1952 to February,
1965). In that time, he raised over $400,000 for the school fund.
Failing in health, he took to the pulpit early in 1865 to
announce that he had
realized his life's goal - groundbreaking ceremonies would be
held that coming
Spring. He may not live to see the completion of the building, he
said, but at least
he knew his dream would eventually come true. A month later, he
passed away.
He was replaced by Reverend Monsignor Russell H. Davis, who had
been
choirmaster at St. John's Seminary for 20 years.
Although Msgr. Davis' tenure at Blessed Sacrament was brief
(February, 1965 to
June, 1967), his accomplishments were many. He renovated and
refurbished the
main church, the chapel, the rectory, the parking lot and the
church grounds. He
lighted the tower and electrified the bells. He planted maple
trees along Diamond
and East Streets. All this had been accomplished by the time
Richard Cardinal
Cushing visited Blessed Sacrament to rededicate the church on
July 26, 1965.
Msgr. Davis also broke ground for the school on May 22, 1965.
(The first class
entered in the fall of that year.) A month earlier, he had
initiated the first parish
reunion at the King Philip.
In addition, he started the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which
works with families
with various material and spiritual needs. He also changed the
Ladies Guild to
the Blessed Sacrament Guild and combined it with the Sodality.
During Msgr. Davis' tenure, the church had two choirs - a
25-member boys' choir
and a 20-member men's choir. The choirs performed at concerts as
well as at
Mass and participated, as did other members of the parish, at
ecumenical
services with representatives of Walpole's Protestant churches.
A special Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program was
implemented under
Msgr. Davis, and he gave a great deal of credit to Father Bernard
L. Sullivan, one
of his curates.
In July, 1967, Msgr. Davis was transferred to St. Catherine of
Genoa Parish in
Somerville.
It seems appropriate at this time to say a few words about the
people of Blessed
Sacrament for no parish can survive, prosper, and grow without
the continued
support of its parishioners. This support, for the most part, is
found in its active
societies and may be measured by the vitality of them. These
groups provide
opportunities to the parishioners to grow spiritually and
socially as well as provide
financial aid as necessary to the well being of any parish.
The societies of Blessed Sacrament Parish and St. Francis Parish
before it have
been numerous. Some like the Holy Name, Sodality, and St.
Theresa's Society
have had continuity for many years and have provided the
spiritual needs which
helped strengthen the faith of its members. Two of the most often
mentioned
parishioners in these societies were Bill Hale, who was active
over sixty years in
the Holy Name and went on to Archiodesan fame, and Maria Tomaino
Tarchea,
truly a missionary and founder of the St. Theresa Society.
Others have experienced faith through their desire and purpose to
help those in
need - especially in the area of companionship, such as visits to
the ill and
confined both at home and in nursing homes, emergency babysitting
and
transportation, help with family problems, and visits to parish
homes by inner-city
children. The organizations providing these opportunities for
Christian action
have been the Ladies Guild, the Legion of Mary (newly organized
by Sister
Vincent), the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and Christian Service
Commission of
the Parish Council. Still others - the Knights of Columbus, the
Ladies Benevolent
Association, the Foresters, and the Catholic Women's Club have
been fraternal in
nature and have provided its members with the brotherly love
aspect of parish
life.
Fund raising is a necessary part of parish life, and the
activities generated to
accomplish that end are pleasantly remembered by those involved.
Different neighborhood groups were designated each week to
sponsor whist
parties during Father O'Brien's time.
Field days, lawn parties, carnivals, minstrel shows, fairs,
Christmas bazaars, and
fashion shows each took their place as a financial supplement to
the regular
parish income.
In 1952 and continuing through 1965, the School Building Fund was
established
and continued to grow under the auspices of the Ladies Guild,
which the
Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity formed from a
small group of
kindergarten mothers.
The Trinitarians will long be remembered by the ever-grateful
parishioners for
their truly missionary work in the parish. These sisters, who
lived in the Cenacle
in Norwood, worked endlessly in our parish visiting each home as
a census taker,
distributing clothes to the needy, bringing families back to the
sacraments,
instructing women in home care, and conducting minstrel shows.
The work with the children of the parish by the sisters, however,
will be most
remembered because of its far-reaching effect in the spiritual
formation of the
young. These few nuns conducted religious instruction classes for
as many as
900 children a year in grades 3 through 9 (aided by high school
girls), special first
communion classes, and babysitting on Sunday mornings, and
kindergarten
classes daily for thirteen years.
When the Blessed Sacrament School complex was finally realized,
the Sisters
of St. Francis of Philadelphia, Pa., joined our parish to staff
the new school.
However, in 1972, the Trinitarians came to our aid once again
when Sister
Beatrice became coordinator of the parish Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine
program.
The CCD program in the parish was finalized at the time of
Vatican II by Father
Bernard Sullivan, who worked endlessly recruiting lay teachers
and
administrators to teach the children of the parish who were
attending public
schools. This program requires a constant replenishment of
workers and is the
largest lay apostolate in the parish today. The continuance and
success of this
program currently rests with Father Richard Tierney.
No parish could efficiently function without the faithfulness of
the Altar and Usher
Societies. The Altar Society, as mentioned earlier, was founded
within the
Catholic Women's Club. The work of these dedicated women, not
often
publicized, is to maintain the altar linen and vestments each
week, clean the
sanctuary, as well as care for the flowers and decoration of the
altar.
The Usher's Society, of course, is observed at work each
Saturday, Sunday, and
Holy Day. What makes these two groups unique is that they require
a continual
effort and long term commitment. Ann Travers and Irene Connolly
have served
the Altar Society since its inception. Leo Travers is our head
usher, and with his
wife Ann, they celebrated in 1974 fifty golden years of a
marriage that was
entered into in the Blessed Sacrament Parish on June 2, 1924.
Such devotion to
their parish on the part of so many similar good and faithful
servants is the more
real and vibrant story of our parish that words cannot convey.
The youth of the parish have represented themselves and their
parish well over
the years in various activities under the auspices of the C.Y.O.
Baseball, hockey,
basketball, and drill teams have carried the name of Blessed
Sacrament. Youth
dances, retreats, Search weekends all have been organized by the
young people
in the traditional Catholic philosophy, that both the social and
spiritual must be
combined to form a solid Christian person. The present Spiritual
Director of the
C.Y.O., Rev. Walter O'Hearn, has worked with the young people
since he joined
the parish in 1967.
The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia joined our parish in
the fall of 1966 with
the opening of the new parish school complex which includes a
convent, parish
auditorium, 16 classrooms, a cafeteria and kitchen facilities.
These nuns were not new to Boston as they formerly staffed the
Holy Trinity High
School and St. Francis Orphanage in the Roxbury area for more
than 50 years.
The school opened with 118 students in two first and two second
grades. Sister
Maria Gross was the first superior as well as one of the second
grade teachers.
Two grades were added each year until the seventh year when the
enrollment
would only support one seventh and eighth grade class. The first
graduating
class held its commencement exercises in June, 1963. The
students, the nuns,
and the lay teachers comprise a new influence on the life and
customs of our
parish.
It is interesting to note that Sister Frances Georgia, a member
of the Order of St.
Francis, although never stationed in Walpole, was instrumental in
establishing the
inner-city children's visiting program in the Town of Walpole.
This includes
families of all faiths and continues under the direction of the
Christian Service
Commission of the Parish Council.
A Home and School Association was founded February 14, 1970, by
the parents
of the parish school to promote the welfare of the school in the
parish, act as a
liaison with the Walpole community, and conduct various functions
to help reduce
the extensive debt undertaken by the parish to promote Christian
education.
In 1969 in answer to the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity
from Vatican II and
a mandate from the Archiodesan Office, a Parish Council was
formed.
Bill Foley, its first vice-chairman, worked long and tirelessly
guiding the formation
of the six commissions: namely, the Administrative, Christian
Service, Religious
Education, Liturgical, Youth, and Parish Activities.
Bill Foley served as vice-chairman for two years and was ably
assisted in his
work by our Pastor, Father Gallivan, in the role of chairman of
the Council,as well
as each associate pastor and a representative of the teaching
faculty, who also
have seats on the Council.
The Charter of the Council dictates that the Council not replace
the active
societies of the parish, but rather that it foster the growth of
them.
Ted Stevenson replaced Bill Foley as vice-chairman in the summer
of 1971, and
the Council continued its work under his supervision for another
two years when
its present vice-chairman, John Coleman, started his tenure.
Although the history
of the Council is less than six years, the success of the work of
its six
commissions is evidence of a bright and distinctive future for
Blessed Sacrament
parish life.
In July of 1967 Reverend George P. Gallivan was appointed pastor
of Blessed
Sacrament Parish. Father Gallivan was not new to the area for he
was associate
pastor in St. Catherine of Sienna Parish in Norwood prior to his
coming to
Walpole.
Father Gallivan is hard at work today and it is under his
direction, guidance, and
devotion that the parish, Parish Council, and the Centennial
Committee function.
Parish life today belongs more to the field of current events
than of history.
It remains for the historian of the future to look back upon our
tenures to evaluate
our contribution to the life and spiritual progress of the
parish.
It is evident from the preceding history that the vitality of
Blessed Sacrament
parish in the future will depend on the dedication of its pastor,
associate pastors,
religious and lay people alike to the Christian goal of reaching
the Kingdom of
God through love of fellow man.
This history has been built in two stages - The first stage was
written by
Reverend Bennet J. O'Brien and his sister Mercedes E. O'Brien,
Ph.D., and
includes all the information through the year 1933 and the period
of Father Fahey.
The information upon which stage one was written was contributed
by:
Mr. William Mahoney
Mrs. Margaret Creedon
Mrs. Elizabeth Caldwell
Miss Anna Caldwell
Mrs. William Goodfellow
Miss Ellen Mahoney
Mr. P.J. Mahoney
Miss Gertrude Kivlin
Mr. Jerome Kivlin
Mr. Joseph Greenwood
Mrs. Charles Haney
Mr. William Hale
Mrs. Hannah Hale
Miss Edith Walsh
Mr. Frank Walsh
Miss Margaret Moore
Miss Margaret Kannally
Mrs. Salvatore Camelio
Mr. James Reardon
The second stage from Father O'Riordan's time through the present
was written
by Miss Jacqueline M. Deckel and Mr. Joseph P. McManus.
The information upon which stage two was written was contributed
by:
Miss Margaret Moore
Mrs. William P. Flynn
Miss Eleanor Flynn
Rev. Gregory J. Flynn, C.P.
Mr. & Mrs. Thos. L. Travers
Mr. & Mrs. James Walsh
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Hazlett
Mr. William E. Foley
Mr. Edwin J. Ryan
Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Taylor
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Dalton
Sisters of St. Francis
Sisters of Most Blessed Trinity
Msgr. Russell H. Davis
Rev. Philip B. Lavin
Rev. Francis G. McGann
The Chancery Office
Rev. George P. Gallivan
Rev. Walter J. O'Hearn
Pontifical Blessing
Most Holy Father, Rev. George P. Gallivan, pastor, and the
parishioners, on the
occasion of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the
Blessed Sacrament
Parish in Walpole, Mass., humbly beg a special Apostolic Blessing
as a pledge of
divine graces and favors.
Centennial Committees
Honorary Chairman - Reverend George P. Gallivan, Reverend Walter
J. O'Hearn,
Reverend Richard S. Tierney
General Chairman - Thomas J. Coughlin
Secretary - John P. Connor, Jr.
Treasurer - James E. Gately
Book Production Committee - Mr. Joseph P. McManus, Chairman, Mr.
Paul
Dalton, Miss Jacqueline M. Deckel, Mr. Paul Glasheen, Mr. William
M. St.
George
C.Y.O. Float Committee - Mr. William R. Duffy and Mr. Edward T.
Stevenson,
Chairmen, Miss Janice Connolly, Miss Janice Franklin, Miss Janet
Hill, Miss Zita
Kelliher, Miss Patrice Lamperti, Miss Martha McCaffrey, Miss
Nancy McManus,
Miss Debra McSweeney, Miss Donna Murphy, Miss Mary Murphy, Mr.
Edward
Nolan, Miss Kathleen Nolan, Miss Cheryl Parente, Miss Julie
Prendergast, Miss
Lisa Proctor, Miss Mary Sullivan
Reunion Dinner Committee - Mrs. Edward T. Verderber, Chairman,
Mrs. John J.
Coleman, Mrs. John J. Dwyer, Mrs. Lawrence Hogan, Mrs. Gilbert
Keteltas, Mrs.
John P. Connor, Jr., Tickets, Mrs. Samuel A. Lorusso, Mrs. Robert
Servais, Mrs.
Michael A. Rizzo
Pontifical Mass Committee - Mrs. & Mrs. Paul Glasheen,
Chairmen, Miss Marjorie
Delaney, Mrs. John A. Johnson, Reverend Leonard LaRocque, Mr.
Thomas L.
Travers, Sr.
Reception Committee - Mr. & Mrs. Edward T. Stevenson,
Chairmen, Mr. & Mrs.
Ronald A. Fucile, Mrs. & Mrs. Robert W. Lee, Mr. & Mrs.
Robert F. Harwood
Historical Pagent - Sister Nora Nash, O.S.F., Director
Publicity Committee - Mr. Albert W. Deckel, Chairman, Mr. Russell
J. Czyryca
Patron & Book Sales Committee - Mr. Edwin J. Ryan, Chairman,
Mrs. Joseph
Bacchieri, Mr. George V. Brown, Mrs. Paul K. Conley, Mrs. Edward
P. Damish,
Mrs. Michael DeRosa, Jr., Mrs. William L. Doyle, Jr., Mrs. John
P. Dwyer, mrs.
Robert A. Furbush, Mr. Albert Diangomenico, Mrs. Frank E. Kelley,
Mrs.
Raymond R. Masce, Mrs. John E. McTighe, Mrs. Philip A. Murphy,
Mrs. Joseph
Parent, Jr., Mrs. Walter H. Pelrine, Mrs. John W. Proctor, Mrs.
Raymond C.
Rockwood, Mrs. Warren Young