USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 18
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The building is 95 feet long by 56 feet wide on the front, and has a seat- ing capacity of about six hundred. The design is purely Gothic . the material is pallet brick with brown stone trimmings. There are three large entrance doors at the front, with six lancet windows just above, and over these a large rose window, glazed with opalescent glass in beautiful tints. Three aisles lead to the chancel rail and through three separate gates into the sanctuary. Within are three altars, the main altar in the center and the altars of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph on either side. The main windows are of figured glass. Directly over the central altar is the figure of St. Cecilia with pandean pipes. Additional windows represent other saints, the Holy Family and the Immaculate Conception.
During the pastorate of Doctor Martin the rectory was also built. Father Martin was succeeded in the pastorate five years ago by the present pastor, Father Reinhard Bardeck. According to the last church census, there are in the parish about seven hundred Catholic families, approximately three thousand souls. Father Bardeck is a graduate of St. John's Seminary, at Brighten, near
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Boston, and was ordained in 1900 at Hartford. He was assistant in Rockville for three years, and before coming to Waterbury had been parish priest of a German congregation in Hartford.
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER PARISHI
St. Francis Xavier Parish was formed November 30, 1895. On December 3, 1895, Rev. Jeremiah J. Curtin took charge as pastor and began the building up of this great parish, a monument to his labors of nearly twenty-two years. On December 30, 1895, the temporary rectory at the corner of Washington and Baldwin streets was occupned by Father Curtin. On January 2, 1896, the first mass was held for the parish at the auditorium.
On December 3. 1902, the present site for the new church was purchased and the cornerstone was laid with impressive services by Bishop Tierney of Hartford on November 1, 1903.
The basement chapel was dedicated on November 12, 1905, and the entire church was opened with solemn services on March 4, 1907. While the church was building, the rectory was also under way and was ready for occupancy in 1905.
The church is a beautiful edifice. It is 138 feet long, 76 feet wide. The auditorium is 85 feet long and 68 feet wide. The apex of the ceiling is 55 feet from the floor. The tower is 140 feet above the ground elevation. Its seating capacity is 1,150.
Father Curtin also built in 1914 the parish hall for boys and opened a fine playground with tennis courts in the rear of the present church property.
The census of the parish places its Catholic population at 3,000. At the five Sunday masses, the attendance is about two thousand.
Rev. James J. Egan succeeded to the pastorate, coming from New Milford, Conn., July II, 1917. He is a graduate of Laval University, Montreal.
His assistants are Fathers John P. Kennedy and Edward Quinn.
ST. JOSEPH'S PARISH
St. Joseph's Parish, consisting of the Lithuanian Catholics of Waterbury, was organized in 1894. The Rev. Joseph Zabris was appointed pastor on March 28th. The first mass was celebrated on April Ist, in Mitchell's Block on Bank Street.
On September 28th the Dreher property was purchased and the erection of a church was begun on October 6th. On Thanksgiving Day, November 29, 1894, the cornerstone was laid with the usual services. Vicar-general John A. Mulcahy performed the ceremony with Dr. Farrell Martin as sub-deacon. The address of the occasion was delivered by the Rev. Joseph Jaksztys, first in the Lithuanian and then in the Polish language.
The Lithuanian Catholics had, however, been organized for some years prior to the building of their church. In fact, the date of the actual founding of St. Joseph's Church is given as May 1, 1892. Father Zabris was succeeded twenty years ago by the Rev. Peter Saurusaitis, who had been ordained priest by Cardinal Gibbons. During his pastorate the parish has grown so that it now numbers 6,000 souls. The new church, which has since been erected, has a seating capacity of 800 and at the four Sunday masses it is estimated that the total attendance is about three thousand. The rectory has also been constructed within the decade, and a new school has been added to the small old school, the early church structure which the parish soon outgrew. The new school is directly
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SACRED HEART CHURCH AND RECTORY, WATERBURY
CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES, WATERBURY
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opposite the church. The school attendance is placed at 900, with sixteen sisters in charge. The convent is at the corner of Liberty and South Main streets. In this convent, which is strictly speaking St. Ann's Parish, other sisters are also housed. These look after the sick and do other beneficent parish work. A notable event, June 10, 1917, was the celebration of his first mass by Father Joseph A. Yankovsky, a young man who was born and raised in Waterbury.
The assistant in the parish is Father Valantiejus.
ST. THOMAS PARISII
St. Thomas Parish was organized September 25, 1898, although the church which had been erected by Monsignor Slocum at Crown and Beacon streets was for some years a chapel of the Parish of the Immaculate Conception. Father Timothy Crowley, now in New London, was its first pastor. He built the school and convent and in the former there are now 350 to 400 children enrolled, with the sisters in charge. The convent was erected opposite the school. The church census places the Catholic population of the parish at 2,200.
Rev. F. J. Lally, the present pastor, succeeded Father James Cunningham, who died a year after coming to the church. Father Lally has been in the pastorate six years, coming here from Poquonock Parish. He is a graduate of the seminary at St. Bonaventure, Allegany, N. Y.
Father William Kennedy was the first curate, Rev. Timothy Sullivan suc- ceeding him. Fathers Joseph Ryan, John Brennan and Wm. O'Brien followed, and the curate today is Father D. T. Moran.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES PARISH
It is in the Italian parish of "Our Lady of Lourdes" that the phenomenal growth has taken place, estimates of the church census being placed at figures ranging from 15,000 to 20,000. This is easily an increase of 7,000 in five years, and perhaps 5,000 in two years.
In the year 1899 the Italian Catholics of Waterbury were organized into Our Lady of Lourdes Parish by the Rev. Father Michael A. Karam, the first pastor, at the request of the Right Rev. Bishop Tierney.
Before Father Karam's appointment, the Italians were under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Dr. Martin of St. Cecilia's German Parish.
On June 11, 1899, Father Karam said the first mass for the Italian Catholics of Waterbury in a building on Canal Street.
On Sunday, October 25, 1903, the cornerstone of Our Lady of Lourdes Church was laid by Right Rev. Bishop Tierney, in the presence of an assemblage of between 10,000 and 12,000 people.
During the year 1905, the new rectory of gray brick, in the same style as the church, was erected, and in the following year Father Karam built in the rear of the rectory a small convent and school.
One of the most notable celebrations the Italians have ever given in this city was held at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes on May 19, 1908, on which day the pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his entrance into the priesthood. An interesting feature of the occasion was a gift to Father Karam from Pope Pius X of a large photograph on which the Holy Father had written a few words of blessing and his autograph.
The new church on South Main Street was dedicated on Sunday, February 14, 1909, with a solemn high mass, the Rev. Michael A. Karam being the celebrant, Vol. 1-9
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the Right Rev. Monsignor John Synnott, administrator of the Diocese of Hart- ford, making the dedicatory ceremony. The exercises were simple and impressive.
The church has a frontage of 70 feet on South Main Street and is 127 feet in depth. The height of the nave or body of the church is 55 feet, and the campanile or bell tower is 100 feet in height. The basement was first completed and roofed over, and used for a number of years for church services, and was occupied also while the super-structure was being built.
The general plan consists of a high nave, lighted by clerestory windows, with two aisles. Each aisle terminates in a semi-circular apse in which the side altars are placed. The main altar is also placed in a large semi-circular apse, surrounded by an entablature and columns in which are arches and niches for the numerous statues with which the interior is adorned.
The exterior of the church is built of gray pressed brick and trimmed with Indiana limestone and terra cotta. The main roofs are of slate. The campanile, which was afterwards destroyed, was built near the rear after the manner of Italian churches.
The rectory is on the north side, adjoining the church, and in the rear of this is the school and convent, both incorporated in one building.
On November 9, 1912, the present pastor, Rev. Joseph Valdambrini, took charge of the parish. On April 8, 1916, part of the roof, the interior of the tower and part of the ceiling were destroyed by fire. By Christmas, 1916, the church had not alone been completely repaired, save the restoration of the tower, but ten new windows had been placed in the edifice.
The attendance at the Sunday masses is between 2,000 and 2,500. The Sunday School has an attendance of between 700 and 800. It has not been found, however, feasible to continue the parochial school.
Father Felix Scoglini is the assistant.
ST. MARGARET'S PARISH
St. Margaret's Parish was organized July 29, 1910, Rev. Edward J. Brennan, the present pastor, having been named to take charge. The church was built at once to meet the needs of the district. In the following year the rectory was built. Two years ago the school was opened, with eight large class rooms and on the top floor a fine hall, seating 400 people. Ten sisters were brought from the Mother House at Hartford, and are in charge of the school. At present the convent on Chestnut Avenue is rented.
A large plot of ground has been purchased at Ludlow and Willow streets, on which Father Brennan hopes soon to be able to erect a new church and convent. The census of the parish places its Catholic population at 2,100. The attendance at the four masses is placed at 1,600. The school enrollment is between 200 and 300.
Rev. Edward J. Brennan was chaplain in the United States Navy for eight years before coming to Waterbury. He had also been at St. John's, New Haven, and St. Francis in Torrington. The curate now is Father William Kilcoyne, who succeeded Father John Quinn.
BLESSED SACRAMENT PARISH
The Church of the Blessed Sacrament was organized May 7, 1911, incorporat- ing the following month. Its first pastor, Rev. Terence D. Smith, who had been in charge of a parish at Watertown, began at once the erection of the church and
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the rectory and these were ready for dedication the following year. The census places the Catholic population of the parish at 850. The attendance at its two masses Sunday is 450. Its Sunday School attendance is 120. Rev. Edward A. Flannery succeeded to the pastorate May 3, 1917, Father Smith going to Bridge- port to found a new parish. Father Flannery came from Hazardville, where he had been in charge of the parish for fifteen years. Father John H. Landry is curate.
Father Flannery and his assistant also look after the spiritual needs of the Catholics at Brookside and at the Waterbury Hospital.
ST. STANISLAUS PARISH
On July 7, 1912, St. Stanislaus Church was organized, its incorporation tak- ing place in February, 1913. This is the Polish parish and the census gives it about one thousand three hundred souls. It is at present worshipping in the basement of what will be its church structure on East Farm Street.
It has an attendance of 200 at masses, and 105 in its Sunday School. Rev. Theodore Zimmerman has been in charge of the parish for the past three years.
ST. MICHAEL'S PARISHI
For some years there had been a growing need for a church at Waterville, and in 1897 Father Gleeson, of St. Patrick's, Waterbury, erected a chapel on Thomaston Avenue, as a part of his parish. This later, in 1902, became St. Michael's parish, with Father Matthew J. Traynor in charge. He was at the head of the parish for fifteen years, being succeeded on May 2, 1917, by Rev. David R. O'Donnell.
The census places the Catholic population at 1,000. The attendance at the two Sunday masses is 600.
Father Traynor built the rectory and enlarged the church during his pastor- ate. He also purchased the ground on Thomaston Avenue, just above the pres- ent site, and on this it is proposed to erect a new edifice at an early date.
OTHER CATHOLIC ACTIVITIES
The Academy of Notre Dame, which is in charge of fourteen sisters, was established here forty-eight years ago, and supplies not alone a graded and high school curriculum, but has needlework, art and commercial courses as well. The main building was erected in 1889. The institute is affiliated with the Catholic University at Washington.
Of the Catholic societies, the largest and most prominent is Sheridan Council, No. 24, Knights of Columbus, instituted May 2, 1885, which has a membership of 900.
Sheridan Council meets in Knights of Columbus Hall at East Main Street and Phoenix Avenue, and also occupies the floor below the meeting hall as a club. This contains its beautiful library, has a lounging room and dining room, and is exclusively for the use of the members of Sheridan Council.
The officers of this council are: Grand knight, John L. Gaffney; deputy grand knight, Timothy F. Barry : chancellor, James F. Colwell; financial secretary, Thomas D. Behan ; recorder, Wm. F. Guilfoile : acting treasurer, Carl J. Schultze ; warden, John D. Tierney.
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Barcelona Council, No. 24, Knights of Columbus, has a membership of 100. It also meets in Knights of Columbus Hall.
Its principal officers are: Grand knight, William F. Ryan; recording secre- tary, Thomas Dodd; financial secretary, Michael F. Conlan ; treasurer, Walter E. Monagan.
The Catholic Benevolent Legion, of which John McElligott is president and Capt. P. F. Bannon is secretary, has a membership of about fifty.
The Catholic Women's Benevolent Legion was founded ten years ago. Its first president was Miss A. J. Corden. Miss Katherine E. Conway is its presi- dent now, Miss Elizabeth Guilfoile is its secretary, and Miss Jennie Bergen is its treasurer.
THE HOLY NAME SOCIETIES
In each of the Catholic parishes of Waterbury there is organized a subordinate branch of the Holy Name Society. Several of these branches are in a very flour- ishing condition and are an important factor in the life and work of the parish. The membership is restricted to men, and the roster of the society in each parish contains the names of the most representative and loyal members of the parish. In many parishes junior Holy Name societies have been organized, for the pur- pose and with the result of bringing together maturing boys under noble influences and guiding them safely through the dangers that beset their paths during the interim between completed school days and early manhood.
Within the past decade notable advancement has been made by the Holy Name societies of Waterbury. A Holy Name Athletic League has been formed to furnish healthful recreation to the younger men, social entertainments under Christian influences are held at the parish halls during the winter time, and frequent addresses made by the city's ablest men on topics of local and national interest provide educational entertainment at the society meetings.
Perhaps the most notable celebration of a civic-religious nature, in which the citizens of Waterbury ever took part, was held in Waterbury, June 10, 1913, the occasion of the State Meeting of the Holy Name Societies of Connecticut. On that day the entire membership of the local branches of the society, together with delegations, in many instances comprising entire societies, from almost every city and town in Connecticut, marched in parade through the principal streets of the city, and then assembled in the spacious playgrounds of Saint Mary's Parochial School, on East Main Street. There they listened to patriotic and religious orations by Rev. Luke Fitzsimons, who acted as master of cere- monies, Bishop John Joseph Nilan of the Hartford diocese, and Lieutenant Gov- ernor Lyman T. Tingier of the State of Connecticut. There also Bishop Nilan officiated at the benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament, with Father Fitz- simons acting as his assistant.
To Rev. Martin Keating, then a young curate at the Immaculate Conception Church, now a chaplain in the United States Army, is due in a very large meas- ure the magnificence of this tribute of loyalty to God and country. His inde- fatigable zeal and untiring perseverance planned and carried to fruition the preparations of that day.
VERY REV. MONSIGNOR WILLIAM J. SLOCUM
On October 22, 1908, there passed away one of Waterbury's greatest prelates, Very Rev. Monsignor Wm. J. Slocum, head of the parish of the Immaculate Conception.
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Monsignor Slocum was born on February 6, 1851, in Winsted, the son of Michael and Jane McCormick Slocum, both of whom were natives of Ireland, and had adopted this as their country. He was the last to die of a family of six children-John, Thomas, Michael and Frank Slocum, and one sister, Mrs. James J. Fruin of Waterbury, having passed away.
After completing his primary education in the public and parochial schools of Winsted, he was sent to St. Bonaventure's College and Seminary at Allegany, N. Y. There he was conspicuous among his fellow students and held a high rank in his class throughout his course. On June 22, 1876, he received the sacra- ment of Holy Orders at the hands of the Rt. Rev. Stephen V. Ryan, then bishop of Buffalo.
St. Peter's, Hartford, was the first parish which saw the young priest's labors. The Rev. Lawrence Walsh, who later became rector of the Church of the Immacu- late Conception in this city, was then the pastor of St. Peter's. Father Slocum was not long in winning a firm place in the affections of the parishioners and his faithfulness at St. Peter's was rewarded by his appointment as curate at St. Patrick's parish in New Haven. This was then, even more than now, one of the most important parishes in the diocese, and in a section, which even in those days, had assumed a cosmopolitan character. Father Slocum proved a very useful and helpful influence. He was under the Very Rev. James Lynch, then vicar-general of the diocese, as well as pastor of St. Patrick's, and had a large part of the city to look after. During that period he was the only priest in New Haven, for some time, who heard the confessions of the Italian residents. They had no church of their own at that time and Father Slocum was their chaplain during the greater part of his time in New Haven.
The Rev. Jeremiah Fitzpatrick succeeded Father Lynch in the pastorate while Father Slocum was still at St. Patrick's in New Haven, and, owing to the pastor's illness, the young curate was called upon to take up much of the executive work. From there he was assigned to St. Patrick's in Hartford, under the Rt. Rev. Bishop McMahon, then the head of the diocese of Hartford. His first appointment as pastor was made on May 1, 1883, when he took charge of the parish at Norwalk. There he displayed splendid executive ability and the parish made rapid strides spiritually and materially. He was made permanent rector there in 1886.
Twelve years his life was given to his people and his parish in Norwalk, and with such splendid results that Catholics and non-Catholics were loath to have him relinquish his place there to come to Waterbury. It required the earnest solicitation of the new head of the diocese, the late Rt. Rev. Bishop Tierney, to win his consent to the change. He succeeded the Very Rev. John A. Mulcahy here as permanent rector of the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Septem- ber II, 1895.
It was noticeable from the very first that under his administration the parish and Waterbury were to progress rapidly. Within a year he had reclaimed a large part of St. Joseph's cemetery, the old cemetery, and three years after he came here he purchased the present new St. Joseph's Cemetery.
The year of 1898 was marked as one of the most complete in accomplish- ment in his entire career, for not only did he secure the new cemetery, but he purchased the site and building of the present St. Thomas's Church. He paid half of the entire debt on St. Thomas's parish at the time he turned the property over to the people in that district.
Two years later, in 1900, the work of renovating the interior of the Church of the Immaculate Conception was undertaken at a cost of $12,000.
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In 1901 the parish responded to another call and the Mulcahy Memorial Hall was erected, with a fine library and gymnasium. This gave the Catholic school children an institution which is enjoyed by comparatively few primary grammar schools in the country. Two years later the erection of St. Mary's Grammar School, on Cole Street, was undertaken, and at that time too the heating plant for all the parochial buildings on Cole street was erected. St. Mary's Day Nursery, supplying a long felt want, was purchased and opened in the year 1904, and, in 1906, Father Slocum purchased the land on which St. Mary's Hospital is now standing, at the corner of Franklin and Union streets.
After this site had been secured, the crowning event in Father Slocum's career came when he announced that his his entire private fortune had been turned over to found the new hospital, the establishment of which had been one of his greatest desires
From time to time during his career the success and the many evidences of remarkable zeal and ability of the priest reached the fathers of the church in the higher offices and it was no great surprise when the announcement came that Pope Pius X had elevated him to the rank of domestic prelate. "protonotaries ad instar." and given him the title of very reverend and monsignor.
He was elevated to that office on January 3, 1907, at one of the most impres- sive and imposing ceremonies ever held in this state, the late Bishop Tierney performing the office in person.
REV. JEREMIAH J. CURTIN
The Rev. Jeremiah J. Curtin, who came to Waterbury in 1895 as pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church, and whose death occurred on June 18, 1917, was one of the great factors in the spiritual growth of the community.
Within two years from the beginning of his pastorate, he undertook to clean out the evil influences in the bounds of his parish as far as that was possible. He found that within its limits the saloons were flagrantly violating the law by selling liquor to children. When the owners resented his interference, he filed remonstrances against fourteen of them, engaged an attorney to plead his cause, and had every license permanently revoked.
This was but the beginning of his battle for civic righteousness. He then fought for the Sunday closing of saloons, and that too he took into the courts, winning his victory only after a long legal struggle, in which appeals were taken to the higher courts.
Not satisfied with the work he had accomplished in his own parish, he extended his battle from the limits of his parish on Baldwin Street to Scovill Bridge.
Father Curtin was not an advocate of total abstinence, but he was against the abuse of any and all civic privileges. He was afraid of no man and held as an enemy all those who were lawless and backed every man who believed in law and order and good government.
Father Curtin was forever fighting for civic betterments. There was hardly a single month in his Waterbury life in which he was not struggling for the open- ing of a street, the building of new sewers, the improvement of fire-fighting facilities, both within and without his parish. He was a lover of the beautiful and pleaded for sightly lawns and gardens. On this subject he wrote and even preached. He was constantly using the papers for the advocacy of some much- needed civic betterment, and was never afraid to express his opinions over his own name.
In his own parish he started societies for young men. He encouraged his
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"lads" to go to night school, to acquire a foundation for sound business methods. In a word, he became a great moral power in the community,-perhaps one of the greatest in its history.
He died after thirty-seven years of labor as a Catholic clergyman on June 18, 1917, at the rectory on Baldwin Street.
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