USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts; being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin > Part 3
USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts; being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin > Part 3
USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts; being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin > Part 3
USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts; being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin > Part 3
USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Century of Catholicism in western Massachusetts; being a chronicle of the establishment, early struggle, progress and achievements of the Catholic church in the five western counties of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin > Part 3
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Monsignor Fitzgerald's successor in the office of chancellor was the late Rev. James F. Ahern, who acted in the dual capacity of chancellor and secretary to Bishop Beaven for nearly twenty years. In the closing years of Bishop Beaven's life. Father Ahern added the rectorship of the Cathedral to his other responsibilities, in which he
made a notable record as administrator, and was continued in that post by Bishop O'Leary until death called him home four years ago. Father Ahern passed all his life in the priesthood, with the exception of one brief assignment as curate, in the Chancery. During his incumbency, the present building was acquired, more commodious quarters were provided, and fireproof vaults, in which to safeguard diocesan records, were in- stalled. The closing years of his life were handi- capped by ill-health, but he left a memory of the same efficiency, courtesy and kindliness which had characterized his predecessors.
For a time during the chancellorship of Father James Ahern, he had the assistance of the late Rev. John A. Quigley, who died at Worcester during the "flu" epidemic.
Father Ahern's successor, the present chancel- lor, is a namesake, Rev. Robert L. Ahern, J.C.D., who has already won the gratitude and good will of the priests to whom he acts as the Bish- op's intermediary. He has shown himself obliging and efficient, prompt and thorough, and well- grounded in the Canon Law of the Church, the interpretation of which forms so large a part of his duty. After completing his theological studies at Montreal, Father Ahern pursued post gradu- ate work for two years at Rome, where he gained the doctorate in Canon Law, before entering upon the duties of his new office. He is assisted by Rev. George A. Shea, D.D., Ph.D., Vice-Chancellor.
It is noticeable, therefore, that the Chancery work has expanded with the growth of our dio- cese. Where once it was an adjunct to parish work, it is now a distinct institution, and perhaps the busiest in our diocesan organization. Through it pass all applications for faculties and dispen- sations. In it are held the meetings of all diocesan boards. From it emanate the official pronounce- ments which carry the wishes of the Right Rever- end Ordinary to the remotest corner of his extended jurisdiction.
Under the present Father Ahern, who also acts as the Bishop's secretary, our Chancery organi- zation has maintained its tradition of high stand- ards of efficiency, and this "clearing house" of diocesan matters runs with the smoothness of the best regulated business office.
Reberend Robert L. Ahern, D.C.D.
CHANCELLOR OF SPRINGFIELD DIOCESE AND SECRETARY TO RIGHT REVEREND BISHOP
John W. Donohue, Architect
Top -- St. Bernard's High, Fitchburg, Rt. Rev. Msgr. J. J. Donnelly, P.R., Pastor. CENTER-St. Joseph's High, North Adams, Rev. E. P. Dunphy, D.D., P.R., Pastor. BOTTOM-St. Michael's High and Grade School Group, North- ampton, Rev. Thomas F. Cummings, D.D., P.R., Pastor.
Catholic Education
HE first priests in our diocese all appreciated the value, not to say the necessity, of Catholic educa- tion. Father Fitton, in Worces- ter, Father Brady, in Chicopee, and Father Cavanagh, in Pitts- field, all opened schools under lay teachers, in 1840, 1842, and 1851, respectively. Each served its immediate purpose, but none proved permanent. Out of Father Fitton's academy grew the great Jesuit College of Holy Cross. The seed sowed at Chicopee, in 1842, took permanent root, in 1867, when Father Healy brought Mother Julie Billiart's daughters to the Holy Name Parish, and our first parish school under religious teachers came into being. These Sisters of Notre Dame, the very next year, opened a school at St. Jerome's. in Holyoke; then, in 1872, began the work of Christian education at St. John's in Worcester, and eight years later at St. Mary's, Milford.
TN August, 1881, two new teaching orders reached our diocese, the Sisters of St. Joseph who on Aug. 22, 1883, became a diocesan order, and the Sisters of St. Ann, who opened schools in our French speaking centres. The former opened their first school at St. Patrick's, Chicopee Falls. in the pastorate of the late Father Stone. Today they have nearly thirty parish schools, are in charge of the major part of our high schools. conduct an academy and a college at Our Lady of the Elms, in Chicopee. Their Mother House and Novitiate are at the Cathedral, Springfield, while their summer home is at Mt. Marie, in Holyoke. Over five hundred Sisters are carrying on, in every corner of our diocese, the work be- gun so quietly at Chicopee Falls, in 1881.
THOUGH our French speaking schools have a larger variety of sisterhoods, the Sisters of St. Ann, who began their labors in Worcester in 1881, still have a larger number than any other single order doing French work. They conduct
eleven parish schools and also give a commercial course of high school grade in one or two centres. In schools where Christian doctrine is taught in French, and knowledge of the French language is imparted, a work in which the Sis- ters of St. Ann were our pioneers, other orders have been called as our French Canadian parishes multiplied. The Sisters of the Presentation of Mary opened their first school in Perpetual Help Parish, Holyoke, in 1891. The Sisters of the Assumption, too, arrived in the diocese in 1891. and began their educational labors in Notre Dame Schools, Southbridge. In 1898 the Sisters of the Holy Cross began their labors in Holyoke, but changed to St. Joseph's Parish, in Spring- field, where they remained permanently. The religious persecution in France sent to our dio- cese the Sisters of the Holy Ghost, who are now in charge of schools in six of our French speak- ing parishes. Later, the Faithful Companions came from France, to take charge of St. Joseph's Schools, in Fitchburg.
O THER orders, too, came to the assistance of Notre Dame and St. Joseph's, to educate the children of our English speaking parishes. in which schools came to be regarded as so great a
Holy Name Science High School, Chicopee, Rt. Rev. Mon- signor John F. Conlin. Pastor. The only high school building in Massachusetts devoted ex- clusively to science. Sisters of Notre Dame in charge.
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Domestic science department Cooking class
Commercial science department Class in typewriting
Pupils' library
Domestic science department Home nursing room
Bookkeeping machine, comptometer and dictaphone work
Domestic science laboratory
Chemical and physical laboratory
Interior views, showing class rooms and equipment, Holy Name Science High School, Chicopee. Rt. Rev. Monsignor John F. Conlin, P.R., Pastor. Sisters of Notre Dame in charge
THE Catholic Mirror
A CENTURY OF CATHOLICISM
IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
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John W. Donohue, Architect
SAINT JEANNE D'ARC SCHOOL, ST. ROSE OF LIMA PARISH, ALDENVILLE Rev. John B. Lamothe, Pastor. Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in charge
necessity that in many cases the schools preceded the church. In 1886, the late Bishop Garrigan. then pastor of St. Bernard's, Fitchburg, called the daughters of Nano Nagle, the Irish Presen- tation Nuns, to the schools of St. Bernard's. where, in 1894, Father Feehan. the present Bishop of Fall River, built a Mother House and Noviti- ate. In 1888, the Sisters of Mercy, who were the first religious to arrive in our diocese, opened a school in North Brookfield, which was later transferred to the Sisters of St. Joseph. The Sis- ters of Mercy had come, in 1864, to St. Ann's. Worcester, not to teach, but to conduct a small hospital for the sick and needy.
"THE first school for boys, in our diocese, was opened at St. Jerome's, Holyoke, in 1872. under lay teachers, replaced, four years later. by the Sisters of Providence, who here con- ducted the only parish school they ever conducted in our diocese. They relinquished their task when the Sisters of St. Joseph came to take both girls and boys. The Sisters of Providence, however. maintain schools for the orphans at Mt. St. Vin- cent and Holy Family Institute, where the gradu- ates of their grammar schools make an excellent showing in the annual diocesan tests.
An effort was early made by the diocesan authorities to have men teachers for the boys of the parish schools, owing to the fact that the Sis- ters of Notre Dame formerly taught the boys in the lower grammar grades only. The Christian
Brothers took charge of a school for boys at Holy Name, Chicopee, in 1881, and at St. John's, Wor- cester, in 1888. In the latter, they were soon replaced by the Xaverian Brothers, who still con- duct the large high school on Temple Street, while at Chicopee the Notre Dame Sisters ulti- mately kept the boys to the end of the grammar school course, and the Cathedral High School became central for the boys of the episcopal city and neighboring parishes.
0 UR Polish schools, which today are among the largest in our diocese, though less numerous than the others, began with the coming of the Felician Sisters to Webster. in 1892.
The latest addition to Holy Name Parish School Buildings, Springfield. Rev. Thomas A. McGovern, Pastor. Sisters of St. Joseph in charge.
John W. Donohue, Architect
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THE Catholic Mirror
Geo. H. Fugere, Architect
ST. GEORGE'S SCHOOL AND CONVENT, CHICOPEE FALLS Rev. George H. Gagnon, Pastor. Sisters of the Assumption in charge.
where they established schools in St. Joseph's Parish. Other Polish teaching orders now doing work in the diocese are the Sisters of St. Fran- cis, the Sisters of Nazareth, and the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. St. Mary's School, in the Polish parish, at Worcester, in charge of the Sisters of Nazareth, has an enrolment of nearly 1600, while St. Joseph's parish, in Web- ster, which has had a Catholic school since 1892,
has sent nearly eighty nuns to the convent and nearly twenty priests to the altar. Thus do voca- tions and Catholic education go hand in hand.
THE Lithuanian Sisters of St. Casimir are in
the parish of the same name at Worcester, while the Italian Sisters, Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy, and the Venerini Sisters are the latest arrivals in our classrooms. Their work thus far has been largely of a preparatory nature. They are industrious students, and are rapidly master- ing our language, while they teach catechism to the children of our Italian parishes in their native tongue, conduct day nurseries and perform other works of social service among their people.
Little did that band of Notre Dame Sisters who opened at Chicopee in 1867, little did the few pioneers of the seventies dream that, within fifty years of their initial efforts, God would so bless their work that the cross on the school would be almost as familiar as the cross on the church. Such has been the harvest. They may have sown better than they knew, but at all events, they sowed well. Where they who blazed the frontier path of Catholic education taught hun- dreds, now more than a score of teaching orders
St. Stanislaus' School, Adams. Rev. Edmund M. Kempinski, Pastor. Felician Sisters in charge.
John W. Donohue, Architect
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A CENTURY OF CATHOLICISM IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
instruct nearly fifty thousand unto justice. Where "any port in a storm" often dictated that a second hand building or a rude frame structure must serve the purpose of Catholic truth, today our Catholic grammar and high schools are the last word in material appointments, sanitary equipment and pedagogical efficiency. Our high schools are manned by those who have gained the baccalaureate and master's degrees. Our pupils hold their own, where they do not more than hold their own, in any public competition where the rule is "fair field and no favor." At times, our graduates find it difficult to enter cer- tain institutions, such as state normal schools. but once admitted. give an excellent account of themselves.
T HIS somewhat surprising difference between the difficulty of gaining admission and the comparative ease with which, once admitted. our parochial graduates hold their own, has more than once given rise to questioning comment. It is regrettable that, in our state, where open handed justice is so much in evidence, there is still a discrimination against our Catholic high school graduates, and in favor of public school graduates, in the matter of admission to our state normal schools. Public school graduates, of a cer- tain grade, are certified, while all private school graduates must undergo an examination. It is noticeable that, some years. practically all of our graduates pass, while in other years graduates of
the same system, taught by the same teachers. fail. Other years all pass at certain normal schools and fail at others! There has been a sus- picion that, when enough are certified from our public high schools to fill all vacancies, the exanii- nations are made so difficult that practically 110 one passes. Often the certified public high school pupils admit they could not pass the test.
This condition suggests many a question. If all who enter on certificates could not pass the examinations, why should they enter? Why should others be obliged to take them? If the object of normal school education is to obtain the best possible candidates, why adopt a double standard which may debar many of the most promising applicants? Why should schools which conform to all the laws of the state be unduly, if not unjustly, handicapped by the state? Why not examination for all, or certification for all? No possible objection could be made to any entrance requirements which applied alike to all, but there will always be objection to a system which dis- criminates against the children of one group of citizens in favor of another. The removal of this unfairness would be an act of justice worthy of a great commonwealth.
Our high schools. under the Sisters of Notre Dame, St. Joseph and Presentation, and the Xaverian Brothers, have attained a high standard of excellence. Their graduates have made a splen- did record in higher studies. and their successes in the professions are becoming more and more
ST. CECILIA'S SCHOOL, LEOMINSTER
W. F. Fontaine, Architect
Rev. J. E. Chicoine. Pastor. Daughters of the Holy Ghost in charge.
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Henry F. Ludorf, Architect
ST. JOSEPH'S SCHOOL, WEBSTER Rt. Rev. Monsignor A. A. Cyran, Pastor. Felician Sisters in charge.
John W. Donohue, Architect
ST. LOUIS' SCHOOL, WEBSTER
Rev. Garrett H. Dolan, Pastor. Sisters of St. Joseph in charge.
THE Catholic Mirror
A CENTURY OF CATHOLICISM IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
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John W. Donohue, Architect
O'Leary Hall. beautiful dormitory building at Our Lady of The Elms College, Chicopee.
pronounced. We have over twenty high schools in the diocese, and many of them have a choice collection of letters from Normal School princi- pals and college presidents, extolling the excep- tional preparation which the attainments of their graduates reflected.
O UR three colleges crown this educational system which covers the diocese from Mil- ford to Pittsfield, and covers the curriculum from the kindergarten to the baccalaureate diploma. For approaching a century, Holy Cross has been a name to conjure with in Catholic educational circles. Its early battle for recognition showed its calibre. For twenty years, thanks to the hostility of the powers that were, its charter was with- held and its degrees came from George- town, as the national capi-
tal sought to teach Massachusetts a lesson in liberality.
Our war governor. Andrews. finally righted the wrong. The Catho- lic service on the fiekls of the civil strife forced the scales from his eyes. and today the old Bay State learns lessons in generosity and justice from no sister state. This was one Catholic reason for rejoicing in the tercentenary. Religion, law, medicine and business all have grounds to bless the Jesuit house of learning at Worcester, which has graduated over five thousand as her contribution to enrich American citizenship and American professional life.
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Maginnis & Walsh, Architects
Usual Commencement Day scene in front of Memorial Chapel, Holy Cross College. Worcester.
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THE Catholic Mirror
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Proposed Entrance Gate to Our Lady of The Elms College, Chicopee.
O N the hillside, above Greendale, at the north- ern extremity of Worcester. rise the towers of Assumption College, established by the follow- ers of St. Augustine, whom French persecution drove from the land of their birth. Misfortune only spurred them on to new efforts. America taught France a lesson in fairness by receiving
them, the Springfield Diocese welcomed them, and they have added to our institutions of learn- ing a classical college where the French tradition of thoroughness is preserved. These exiled fathers gave an example of how to forgive in- juries. When the World War broke out, every priest called responded and served as a common soldier for the land which drove him into exile.
F
"THE newest landmark on our educational hori- zon is the lovely tower of the new building of Our Lady of the Elms, at Chicopee. It rises gracefully above its surroundings, is visible from Mt. Tom to the Springfield borders and announces that a college for Catholic girls crowns our educational edifice. Three classes have already matriculated, and the first commencement exer- cises will take place in 1932. The college offers the full course leading to the baccalaureate degree, and embraces in its comprehensive curriculum religion, philosophy, English literature, ancient tongues, modern languages, science, history, elo- cution, etc. The large entering classes indicate that Our Lady of the Elms fills a real need, and the exceptional work of the first classes gives earnest that the Elms graduate will make her presence felt in the fields of her post graduate labors.
A glimpse of first floor cor- ridor, O'Leary Hall, Our Lady of The Elms College, Chicopee.
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1929 COMMENCEMENT IN PROGRESS AT HOLY CROSS COLLEGE, WOR- CESTER - DIRECTION JESUIT FATIIERS. 1200 STUDENTS.
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ASSUMPTION COLLECE, WORCESTER - DIRECTION AUGUSTINIAN FATHERS OF THE ASSUMP- TION. 300 STUDENTS.
O. E. Nault, Architect-Assumption
THE NEW MERCY HOSPITAL ADDITION, SPRINGFIELD Sisters of Providence in charge
John W. Donohue, Architect
THE
John W. Donohue, Architect
ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL, PITTSFIELD Sisters of Providence in charge. 2600 patients annually.
Charles Bateman, Architect
ST. VINCENT'S HOSPITAL, WORCESTER Sisters of Providence in charge. 6500 patients annually.
For God and Humanity Catholic Hospitals and Institutions
W ITH the coming of Christianity came the manifold works of charity unknown and unneeded in the pagan civilization that ex- posed weak children and ap- proved of suicide for the aged. Christianity's teaching that hu- man life is sacred wherever it is found gave rise to the institutions of mercy which covered Europe with hospices for the pilgrims, asylums for the orphan, hospitals for the sick, and colonies for the aged, even before barbarism had disappeared. Nothing is more characteristic of Christianity than its insistence upon the corporal works of mercy. Its hospitals trace their origin to the parable of the Good Samaritan, which made our neighbor as universal as human suffering. Its
care for the orphan goes back to the warning of our Saviour : "In so far as ye do it to the least of these, ye do it unto Me." Its Good Shepherd in- stitutions hand down through the ages the lesson
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Charles Bateman, Architect
Providence Hospital, Hol- yoke. Oldest Catholic hospital in Springfield Diocese. Sisters of Providence in charge. 3500 patients annually.
A CENTURY OF CATHOLICISM IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
THE Catholic Mirror
FES
J. A. Jollette, Architect-New addition
ST. ANN'S ORPHANAGE, WORCESTER
Grey Nuns in charge. Capacity, 225 boys and girls.
of His pardon of Magdalen. His charity was as universal as human life and human want. His Church is His voice and His work, carrying on to "the consummation of the world."
A diocese, in Christianity's balance, is largely judged by the universality of its works of char- ity, and Springfield meets the test triumphantly. Every form of human need is relieved by our varied institutions-the sick, the orphan, the way- ward, the aged are all cared for in a religious atmosphere, close to our Eucharistic Lord.
Foremost among our workers in the home field of mercy are the Sisters of Providence, who have exclusive charge of our hospitals. It is said that sixty-five per cent of the hospital beds in our country are in Catholic institutions, a really glori- ous record, and the reason is found in our dio-
cese, as elsewhere. The first Sisters of Providence came from Kingston, in 1873, and opened a hos- pital and home for orphans in South Hadley, at a time when Holyoke had neither hospital nor orphanage. They transferred their hospital work to Holyoke in 1878 and from that beginning came our present group of Class A hospitals, which rank with America's best : House of Providence, Holyoke ; Mercy, Springfield ; St. Vincent's, Wor- cester ; Farren, Montague City ; St. Luke's, Pitts- field. In addition, the order conducts a popular convalescent home in the healthful air of the Berkshires, "Greylock Rest," in the shadow of Mt. Greylock.
The Sisters of Providence also conduct a home for orphan girls at Mt. St. Vincent ; a home for orphan boys at Brightside; a home for aged women, the Harkins Home, in Holyoke, where they perpetuate the name of Monsignor Hark- ins, through whom they first came to the dio- cese ; a haven for aged men, the Beaven-Kelly Home, the gift of Bishop Beaven in memory of his good parents. It is only fair to our non- Catholic neighbors to record their occasional acts of generosity, too easily forgotten amid bitter memories of injustice. When Ingleside was pur- chased from a Mr. Holman, and he discovered that it was for the Sisters, he reduced the price from $12.000 to $10,000. In 1892, the Sisters of Providence, by a decree of Rome, severed their relations with Kingston and became a diocesan order.
In the eighties, when these Sisters were bur-
Mt. St. Vincent Orphanage. Ingleside, Holyoke. Sisters of Providence in charge. Capacity 150 girls.
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THE EQUIPMENT OF OUR CATHOLIC HOSPITALS IS SECOND TO NONE TOP-X-Ray. LEFT CENTER-Cardiograph. RIGHT CENTER-Physiotherapy. BOTTOM-Urological. Departments at Mercy Hospital, Springfield.
THE Catholic Mirror
A CENTURY OF
CATHOLICISM
IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Wilson Eyere, Architect
FARREN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, MONTAGUE CITY Sisters of Providence in charge. 1000 patients annually.
dened by apparently crushing debts, when land and buildings were heavily mortgaged, they placed our diocese under lasting obligation by their heroic self-sacrifice. They did all kinds of needlework, made flags, vestments, ran bazaars, while Sisters, collecting funds, made trips as far west as Denver, where contributions were solicited from the miners. They were kindly received, thousands of dollars were realized, the railroads gave them free passes, and gradually Brightside and Ingleside were cleared of what appeared to be appalling mortgage encum- brances.
The orphans of the diocese have also found staunch friends in the Sisters of Mercy, at Wor- cester, the first religious order to labor in our
midst. The late Rev. John Power, V.G., when made pastor of St. Ann's, Worcester, brought them to care for the parish sick and poor. On his trans- fer, to become first pastor of St. Paul's, in the same city, the Sisters were transferred, also. They estab- lished a home for orphan girls in the city and one for orphan boys at Nazareth, in Leicester, a spot made notable in the annals of our diocese by the shrine of Our Lady, to which annual pilgrimages occur on August 15. In recent years, the Sisters have enlarged the scope of their work at St. Paul's by building a much needed and finely appointed home for working girls, who thus spend their leisure in a religious atmosphere, with its moral safeguards. The Sisters conduct the popular shrine of St. Anthony, at which Worcester's devotees of Padua's wonderworker have knelt for two generations, and publish an annual to promote the devotion.
On the heights above Providence Street, in Worcester's East Side, the Grey Nuns care for the orphans of French extraction. Their costume has become familiar in the Heart of the Commonwealth, as they make their periodic visitations in quest of help for their little charges. Through their efforts the former frame build- ing, which had done yeoman service
Nurses' Home, Mercy Hos- pital, Springfield. Sisters of Providence in charge.
John W. Donohue, Architect
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John W. Donohue, Architect
MOTHERHOUSE, SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE
Now under construction at Brightside, Holyoke. Mother Mary Consilii, Superior.
John W. Donohue, Architect
HOME FOR NURSES AND SISTERS' CONVENT
St. Vincent's Hospital, Worcester, Mass.
John W. Donohue, Architect
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