Home PARISH HISTORY OF SAINT PETER CHURCH, HARTFORD, CT
continued . . .
Part 3 of 3
On Sunday, June 8, at 2:30 P.M., cornerstone and dedication ceremonies were held for the convent. Rt. Rev. Msgr. Vincent J. Hines, Assistant Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Hartford, performed the ceremony. Immediately afterward open house was held at the convent for all the parishioners and friends of the parish. On this same day Father Healey also held ceremonies celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. He offered solemn Mass at 11:00 A.M., at which Rev. John F. Hannon, pastor of St. James' Church in Manchester, preached, and later in the afternoon, after conclusion of open house in the convent, a reception was held in Father Healey's honor in the parish school hall.
In
September 1958, the Sisters of St. Francis who staff Holy Trinity High School in
Hartford removed from their convent at 41 Capitol Avenue to the old St. Peter's
convent. It is planned that the sisters will remain there for the time being.
This
was not the first time, however, that St. Peter's had cooperated to help the
work of a national parish in Hartford. As early as August 1872, the German
Catholics of Hartford met and organized at St. Peter's under the leadership of
Rev. Joseph Schaele, the poet-priest who combined the tastes of a scholar and
the zeal of a missionary. He offered Mass at St. Peter's every Sunday at 9
o'clock for the benefit of the Germans. In 1874 he was sent to take charge of
the German Catholics of New Haven. Living in that city, he still came regularly
to celebrate Mass at St. Peter's for his people. He continued these journeys and
these ministrations for 15 years. He was followed in his Hartford labors by Rev.
Nicholas F. X. Schneider, who was given charge of the German Catholics of
Hartford and New Britain in July 1889. At first Father Schneider resided in
Hartford, but within a year he transferred the center of his activity to the
latter city and did his commuting to Hartford. The cornerstone of St. Peter's
German Church in New Britain was laid in November 1890. Shortly thereafter
Father Schneider was given charge of the German Catholics of Hartford alone. He
returned to the capitol city and the cornerstone of the present Church of the
Sacred Heart in Hartford was laid September 4, 1892.
A
few years later St. Peter's also became host to services for those of Polish
nationality in the city. This work was first organized by Rev. Stanislaus Musiel.
Father Musiel had been ordained in 1895, and thereafter was appointed assistant
at St. Francis Church, Torrington. Two years later he came to Hartford as a
member of the staff of St. Peter's. Here he ministered to the Polish Catholics
of Hartford and at the same time traveled to New Haven to serve that city's
Polish population. When he was assigned to New Haven in 1902 (January) to found
St. Stanislaus Parish, the Poles of Hartford petitioned the Bishop to allow them
to organize a parish of their own. Permission was granted in April, and Rev.
Stanislaus Lozowski was appointed first pastor. The contract for the original
Church of St. Cyril and Methodius was awarded in September, and work began on it
immediately. The small wooden church was built two blocks south of St. Peter's
on the corner of Charter Oak Avenue and Governor Street, site of the present
White Eagle Hall.
Since
Father Healey has been pastor, Catholic services in Hartford have also been
inaugurated at St. Peter's for two other national groups. In 1955 Rev. Andrew J.
Cooney was appointed assistant' at St. Peter's and commissioned to organize
services for the Puerto Ricans of the area. In January, 1956, when the San Juan
Centro Cattolico opened on Albany Avenue, the scene of religious activity for
the Puerto Ricans was transferred to St. Patrick's and, subsequently, to Sacred
Heart Church.
A
year later, at the request of Archbishop O'Brien, Rev. Jose Dias Martins da
Silva, a priest of the Archdiocese of Evora, Portugal, was assigned by the
Sacred Consistorial Congregation in Rome to work in the Hartford Archdiocese.
Arriving in Hartford in March, 1957, Father Silva took up residence at St.
Peter's and began celebrating Mass for the Portuguese Catholics at 11 A.M. each
Sunday in the basement church. Four months later it was announced that
Our
Saviour's Lutheran Church on the Corner of Russ and Babcock Street would be
purchased for the use of the Portuguese congregation. The church was completely
remodeled, and was dedicated Sunday, October 5, 1958, as the Church of Our Lady
of Fatima.
In
the meantime, many other material improvements were being made at St. Peter’s.
New sidewalks were laid along Main Street, in front of the church and rectory.
Amesite was put on the driveway in the rear of the rectory. Part of the old
garages there were rebuilt. And the two top floors of the old school attached to
the church were torn down; only the first floor, which serves as priests' and
altar boys' sacristies, was left standing.
Next
to the new convent by far the greatest work was clone on the church building.
The front steps were taken up and reset. A new roof was put on. And then,
turning his attention to preparation for the hundredth anniversary of the
parish, to be observed on October 11, 1959, Father Healey decided to do whatever
was necessary to bring out the original beauty of the building. Therefore, the
exterior of the church was sandblasted and cleaned. The church was completely
reappointed. And the tips or upper terminations of the towers were taken clown
and then reset, some worn parts being replaced.
In
the interior, quite as much was done. In the basement the pews were refinished,
a new tile floor was laid, and the walls were repainted. The sanctuary wall was
recessed, the level of the sanctuary floor was built up (it had originally been
on the same level as the main basement floor), and a new iron communion rail was
installed in place of the old wooden one. In the upper church certain parts of
the plaster were done over, particularly parts of the molding. And the church
interior was repainted in rose and blue, with highlights of gold. These colors
set a tone of quiet beauty which is devotional in character, yet brings out the
fineness of the architectural lines of the church.
The
people of St. Peter's, as always, have generously supported the work being done
in their parish. And they have been unstinting also to their support of the
general work of the Church being done in the Archdiocese. In the fundraising
campaign for the South Catholic High School in 1959, St. Peter's had a goal of
$100,000. By September 30, it had reached 112 per cent of its goal, or $112,000.
In percentages, it thus ranked second among the nine parishes participating in
the drive.
A
hundred years have seen many changes at St. Peter's and in it. As the Catholic
population has grown, the boundaries of the parish have altered and narrowed. 1n
all the area that St. Peter's originally served there now stand more than a
dozen Catholic churches serving the needs of their congregations. And St.
Peter's itself has changed from a rural, to an exclusively residential, to a
modern city parish. But its nature and its purpose have not changed - to teach
and counsel and administer the sacraments. Actually, 'as a city parish, St.
Peter's plays a role that is more vital today than ever. Where it once served
several hundred parishioners scattered over miles of territory, it now serves
thousands living in the heart of the city. As a city parish, the "first
seen on the way into Hartford," it variously serves non-parishioners on
their way to work or to shop. And as a city parish it now serves a detention
home, six convalescent homes with a total bed capacity of 232, Hartford
Hospital, and other institutions. Hartford Hospital was organized in 1854, it is
true, and the priests of St. Peter's have always had the sole responsibility of
ministering to the needs of its patients. But in 1859, when St. Peter's was
established, Hartford Hospital was a 48-bed institution. Today, with 806 beds
and 124 bassinets, it has grown to become the largest voluntary hospital in
Connecticut. And in number of patients admitted it has grown, and continues to
grow each year. In 1859, 45 patients were admitted. In 1900, there were 2,012
patients. In 1925, 11,303. In 1950, 33,136. And in 1958, with a total of 37,614
patients, Hartford Hospital ranked first in number of admissions among the
hospitals of New England, and eighth among all the hospitals of the United
States (CT Hospitals magazine, Part 2, August 1, 1959). Since approximately half
these patients are Catholic, the services rendered to Hartford Hospital by the
priests of St. Peter's also increase from year to year.
Over
the past 15 years alone, the increase in the number of calls forwarded to St.
Peter's by the hospital has been as follows:
Year Total
number of hospital calls to St. Peter's
1943
211
1946
427
1949
510
1952
976
1955
1,047
1958
1,741
In
each year, about half the number of calls were to administer the last Sacraments
to Catholics on the critically ill list at the hospital. The other hall were
calls regarding emergency baptisms, confession and communion, and the like. The
story of a parish, however, is not a story of statistics. To point with pride to
the many men and women who have risen to worldly prominence from the parish is
not to tell its story, either. And to recite its material progress, to speak of
the priests and people who have worked so splendidly in it, to relate the
history that surrounds it - that is but superficially to present the story of
St. Peter's. The real story of any parish is that of the spiritual life of its
members. And that could never adequately be told. It seems sure, however, that
under the grace of God, the story of the spiritual life of St. Peter's parish
has been a great and vital one. And it seems assured that it will continue to be
so, as St. Peter's observes the clone of its first hundred years, and turns
confidently to the beginning of its second century.
REVEREND
MARTIN J. SCHOLSKY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Centennial
Celebration of the First Mass in Connecticut, Sunday, June 26, 1881, St. Peter's
Church, Hartford. Hartford: Clark and Smith, 1881. Pp. 28.
Connecticut
Catholic Yen) - Book, 1877. Hartford: Connecticut Catholic Publishing Co., 1877.
Pp. 184.
Dedication
of the New Church of St. Lawrence O'Toole, Hartford, Conn. Hartford, 1954. Pp.
20.
Duggan,
Thomas S. The Catholic Church in Connecticut. New York: The State History Co.,
1930. Pp. 622.
Golden
Jubilee, St. Augustine's Parish, Hartford, Connecticut, 1902-1952. Hartford,
1952. Pp. 40.
Heffernan,
Arthur .J. A History of Catholic Education in Connecticut. Washington: The
Catholic Education Press, 1937. Pp. 186.
Hospitals,
Journal of the American Hospital Association, Part 2, XXXIII, ho. 15 (August 1,
1959). Chicago: American Hospital Association. Pp. 518.
Mason,
Sister Mary Paul. Church-State Relationships in Education in Connecticut,
1633-1953. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1953. Pp. 324.
O'Donnell,
James H. History of the Diocese of Hartford. Boston: The D. H. Hurd Co., 1900.
Pp. 473.
O'Reilly,
Sister Mary Cecilia. Sisters of Mercy in the Diocese of Hartford. Hartford: R.
S. Peck and Co., 1931. Pp. 159.
Souvenir,
1859-1928, Saint Peter's Church, Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford: Calhoun Press,
1928. Pp. 48.
NEWSPAPERS
Connecticut
Catholic and Catholic Transcript, Hartford, Conn.
Hartford
Courant, Hartford, Conn.
Go to the beginning, part 1 of 3