Ceremony held to lay cornerstone at Saint Anne's Catholic Church

8/14/1892 |

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Lawrence McMahon laid the cornerstone of Saint Anne’s Catholic Church at a ceremony held in the afternoon.

More details

Lawrence McMahon blessed a cross that had been erected at the future site of the altar.
The priests processed to the cornerstone and “read and chanted special prayers of the ceremonial.”
Someone handed McMahon a silver trowel, which he used to place some mortar on the cornerstone.
The master mason and his assistant then moved the cornerstone into place and secured it.
The priests marched around the structure, stopping as McMahon blessed “each of the walls in turn.”
Edward J. Broderick delivered a sermon in French and then again in English.
Paul-Eugène Roy made a few remarks in French.
Lawrence McMahon gave “words of encouragement to the congregation, and the Episcopal blessing.”

And then there's this

A large crowd of spectators attended.

A tin box containing a document bearing the names of the “principal ecclesiastical and civil authorities” was placed into the cornerstone. Names included:
Leo XIII, the pope
Benjamin Harrison, the president
Lawrence McMahon, the Bishop of Hartford
Morgan Bulkeley, Governor of Connecticut
Paul-Eugène Roy, the pastor of Saint Anne’s.

The church building was “of brick, 45 feet by 91 and in general is of Gothic style.” Construction costs were expected to be about $18,000 when the building was finished.

Trust but verify

The Courant referred to the church as Saint Ann’s.
A history of the parishes of the Diocese and Archdiocese of Hartford describes this Saint Anne’s as a wood structure, even though the Courant reported it was a brick structure. The Courant’s report is then supported by the 1922 insurance map of Hartford, published by the Sanborn Map Company, which shows the main portion of this church as brick, with a wood portion at the rear and a wood steeple.

The past recalled

Ground was broken for the building in June 1892.

During the ceremony, a piece of a brick fell from one of the scaffolds and struck John Sergerson, 11, on the right temple and severed the temporal artery. Doctor J. Flaherty attended to him, probably on the scene.

Neat little tidbit

200 French Canadian families comprised Saint Anne’s parish.
The first pastor of Saint Ann’s was Arthur Saint Louis, who came to Hartford in early 1889. Paul-Eugène Roy replaced him as pastor in 1890. Roy later served as Archbishop of Quebec (1925-1926).

Caught my eye

“All the priests of the city were present to participate in the historic ceremony.”

For the record

Edward J. Broderick was a priest at Saint Peter’s Catholic Church.
This church was effectively replaced in 1926, when the parish raised money and then constructed a new edifice directly to the west of it. The structure described here was then used as a parish hall and, maybe, a school, and it persisted until 1949-1950, when it was demolished and replaced by a new hall.

Sources

Duffy, Joseph W. Hartford’s Catholic Legacy: Parishes. Hartford, CT: Archdiocese of Hartford, January 1, 1994, page 183.

Sanborn Map Company. Insurance Maps of Hartford, Connecticut, Volume Two. New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1922, map 213.

Unattributed. “Cornerstone of St. Ann’s,” Hartford Courant, August 15, 1892, page 1.

History

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