Church in Jefferson section of Holden

By William T. Clew

Before 1850, Catholics in Holden walked to Worcester to attend Mass, according to “History of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Springfield,” by Father John J. McCoy, published in 1900.

In 1850, Bishop John Fitzpatrick of Boston asked Father Matthew W. Gibson, associate pastor in Worcester, to begin to visit Holden regularly. He said his first Mass in town at the home of Michael McLaughlin. Father John Boyce, who succeeded Father Gibson in Worcester, also came to Holden. He procured a hall in the Eagleville section of town for Mass when the number of Catholics grew too large for Masses in private homes, Father McCoy wrote.

When Father Boyce died, his successor, Father Patrick T. O’Reilly, pastor of St. John Parish in Worcester and later first Bishop of Springfield, sent his assistant, Father Thomas Griffin to Holden. Father Griffin bought three acres in the town center and built a church. It was 30 by 60 feet, cost $3,500 and was dedicated on Aug. 16, 1868, Father McCoy wrote.

It was a mission, first of St. John’s, then of West Boylston and then of Immaculate Conception Parish in Worcester. In 1884, Holden was made a parish on its own and Father James McCluskey was named resident pastor, according to Father McCoy.

Historian Richard L. Gagnon, a parishioner, wrote an extensive, up-to-date history of St. Mary’s Parish, published this year. It is titled “The Story of St. Mary’s; A Parish Grows Beyond its Village.” It adds some details to Father McCoy’s account. He quoted David Estes, former pastor of the First Baptist Church and author of a history of the town, as saying that after the first Mass at McLaughlin’s, Catholics gathered for Mass at other private homes, in the hall at Eagleville or in a hall at the center of town.

Mr. Gagnon noted that Chuck Skillings of the Holden Historical Society said that the second hall was in the old Damon Block, where the Damon House at 1174 Main St. is now located.

Father McCoy wrote that Father McCluskey was succeeded as pastor by Father Thomas Joyce, who was followed by Father James McCann. Father McCann saw that the church in the center of town was not located for the convenience of his people. So he bought property for $5,000 “in Jefferson, close to the railroad station.” He built a church on the land, dedicated to St. Mary on June 28, 1891, by Bishop O’Reilly.

Mr. Gagnon points out in his history that those Catholics who were living in town were Irish immigrants who had fled the famine in their own country in the 1850s and 1850s, and French Canadians who left Canada beginning in the 1830s because of “poverty, overpopulation, debt and infertile soil.”

Families settled in Jeffersonville to be within walking distance of the factories where they worked. Locating St. Mary’s Church in Jefferson put it within walking distance too.

Both Holden and Rutland were missions of Immaculate Conception in Worcester. But when St. Mary’s became a parish on its own, St. Patrick’s in Rutland became its mission church. It remained a mission until it became a parish on its own on July 24, 1938, Mr. Gagnon wrote.

Father John F. Lee, St. Mary’s pastor beginning in 1894, took on added responsibilities. He served the patients and employees at the new Rutland State Sanatorium which opened in 1898, and the Rutland Prison Camp and Hospital which opened in 1904, as well as the people of St. Mary’s and St. Patrick’s.

Father James M. Prendergast, who succeeded Father Lee, soon had a couple of new medical facilities to serve, according to Mr. Gagnon’s history. He was a member of a corporation that incorporated Holden Cottage Hospital as Holden Hospital in March 1922. Father Prendergast also visited patients at what became the U.S. Veterans Hospital in Rutland. He also had charge of a mission in Princeton.

During Father Lee’s time at St. Mary’s, Mr. Gagnon wrote, two non-Catholic women asked him whether he could arrange for Mass to be celebrated in Princeton for the “domestics” who worked for some of the monied families of Boston who spent their summers in town. The bishop gave permission and, after Father Lee’s death, the town voted in February 1914, to lease an upper room in the Goodnow Library for summer Masses.

St. Mary’s expanded its land holdings in 1946, during the second to last year of the pastorate of Father Thomas H. McNamara. He had been a curate, now called an assistant, at the parish for nine years before beginning his 20-year pastorate on Aug. 7, 1927.

Father McNamara also prepared St. Patrick’s in Rutland for its elevation to a separate parish on July 24, 1938. The parish, on Feb. 26, 1946, bought the Jefferson Hose House from the town for $25 and used it as a social hall until the parish center replaced it in 1973.

In 1950, Worcester was made a diocese on its own. Father Hugh M. Curran, pastor, renovated the sanctuary of St. Mary’s. A painting of the Blessed Mother being assumed into heaven was the dominant image in the central panel of the church. He also built the Marian Shrine near the rectory.

After the Second Vatican Council the interior of St. Mary’s was changed to follow new liturgical guidelines. Statues and paintings were removed, the altar was placed so the Mass celebrant faced the congregation and a new sanctuary was designed. Father William B. Welz, pastor, ordered a new Hook and Hastings organ from a Baptist church in Maine. But it was not installed until 1971, when Father Chester Janczukowski was pastor.

A new parish center was built when Msgr. Janczukowski was pastor. It was completed in October 1973.

Father Charles E. Lenk became pastor on Jan. 19,1979, following the three-year pastorate of Father Thomas F. Lonergan. Father Lenk began the parish stewardship collection that made it possible for future projects to be undertaken, Mr. Gagnon wrote.

The parish celebrated its 100th anniversary while Msgr. John P. Martin was pastor. More renovation was done, including a new steeple and cushioned pews and kneelers.

After Father Arthur A. Ouellette became pastor, St. Mary’s Parish had its own bishop for a while. Bishop Winnebald Menezes, emeritus auxiliary bishop of Bombay, India, lived for a time at St. Mary’s to be near relatives in the United States. Father Robert A. Loftus and Father Kenneth G. Loftus, sons of Kenneth and Joanne Loftus, long-time St. Mary’s Parish members, celebrated their Masses of Thanksgiving in the church.

The parish also celebrated the 100th anniversary of the church building on June 21, 1991.

The present pastor, Father Andre N. Remillard, became pastor in 1997. He turned the rectory into the Pastoral Center, introduced a Loreto Program for religious instruction in the summer and began a Haitian Partnership program with the Sisters of Charity of Ontario, among other programs. He also oversaw a roof replacement in 1997, a renovation of the church interior in 2002 and an exterior renovation in 2007.