St. Joseph's Church is a historic church located at 1355 North Main Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. Designed by notable church architect Patrick C. Keely, it was built in 1880 in the Gothic Revival style. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, the same day as St. Patrick's.
History The parish was founded to accommodate the growing numbers of Catholics who had settled in the northern section of the city in the 1870s to work in the cotton mills, including the Border City, Narragansett, Mechanics, Sagamore Mills.MHC Inventory Form It was split off from St. Mary's in 1873.History that was written for the 50th Parish Anniversary: Saint Joseph's Church of Fall River, Mass. in commemoration of whose golden anniversary this historical number was prepared for presentation to the parishioners
Rev. William H. Bric The first pastor was Reverend William H. Bric. Bric was born in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland,"History", St. Joseph's Church in 1841, and made his preparatory studies for the priesthood at Killarney, and then at Cambrai, in southern France, after which he came to this country and was sent by the then Right Reverend Bishop Francis Patrick McFarland to the Seminary of Saint Sulpice at Baltimore, Maryland, where he was ordained to the priesthood. After curacies at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and at the Providence Cathedral, he was named as pastor for Harrisville and Slatersville, Rhode Island, remaining in charge there for four years. Then it was that he was selected by Right Reverend Bishop Hendricken to form the new Saint Joseph's parish.
He arrived in the early part of April 1873 and made his abode in what was then known as the Leland house, located on North Main street at a point just north of the present President Avenue. The first mass celebrated there for the scattered flock that comprised the congregation, took place on Low Sunday, April 20, 1873. A temporary edifice was gotten under way in short order at a spot close by what is now known as Vestal Street across from the Old North Burial Ground, and here the Catholics of the northern section of the city worshiped for a period of between three and four years. Somerset was a mission of St. Joseph's until 1877."The Diocese of Fall River"
Father Bric purchased a large tract of land at the corner of North Main and Weetamoe streets. To the rear portion of this lot was then removed the small building that was being used for Mass, and to it were added two wings and a small choir loft. As the congregation grew and the seating capacity became inadequate Bric decided that it was time to erect a new church building. Architect Patrick H. Keeley of Brooklyn, was entrusted with the working out of the details, and on Monday, August 5, 1880, ground was broken on the North Main Street side of the lot. The contract called for an excavation nine feet deep, the work to be finished within four weeks. And so it was done.
Bric, suffered from a heart condition and died on Saturday, August 7 at the age of thirty-nine, one week before the planned ceremony to lay the cornerstone. He'd been pastor for seven years. His funeral on the following Wednesday, August 11, was marked by a Solemn High Mass of Requiem; his body was subsequently placed in a tomb specially constructed in the basement of the church at a point under the altar. There was one of the largest gathering of people of all faiths that the northern section had ever witnessed, for the deceased had a citywide reputation for public service. Apart from his priestly duties and responsibilities, he had served two full terms of three years each as a member of the Fall River School Committee, being regarded far and wide in the community as a man of scholarly attainments and broad-minded views.
The laying of the cornerstone was carried out as per program in the presence of a great number of spectators. Right Reverend Bishop Hendricken, Bishop of Providence first read the prayers for the dead over the grave of the late pastor and then proceeded to the southwest corner of the building, where the exercises proper followed. Several of the church sodalities were grouped about the platform, their banners draped in deepest mourning. The handsome and massive piece of granite, with the numerals 1880 cut into it, marking the date of erection, was swung into place at the appointed moment under the direction of the contractors, Messrs. Hogan & Lord, the Right Reverend Ordinary using in laying the mortar a solid silver trowel that was then awarded to James Hayden of Durfee Street. Within the corner stone was deposited a copper box in which were copies of recent date of the Fall River Herald and News, Boston Herald and Pilot, and other newspapers; as well as coins, a portrait of Reverend Father Bric.
Rev. Andrew J. Brady Following the death of Fr. Bric, the then curate, Rev. John H. Gormley, was "locum Tenens" until November 1, 1880, when selection was made of Rev. Andrew J. Brady. Brady, the second pastor of Saint Joseph's, was like his predecessor, a native of Ireland, born in a small village of County Cavan in 1847. Following a common school education, he pursued his collegiate and classical studies in one of the Irish colleges, then coming to this country and continuing his theological course in the Grand Seminary, Montreal, where he was ordained in 1871. His first assignment was to Olneyville, R.I., and, subsequently, he labored in Attleboro. When Reverend Father Matthias McCabe was transferred from Sandwich to the pastorate of the Church of the Sacred Heart in this city, his duties at Sandwich on Cape Cod were taken up by Rev. Father Brady, until drafted to take the place of the late Rev. Bric. He found St. Joseph's church in an incomplete state, but by his own energy and the encouragement of the parishioners the edifice was all but finished during his administration. An event of one year while he was pastor was the celebration of Saint John's day, when all of the French-speaking organizations of the city marched in parade from the center to Saint Joseph's Church and there attended the offering up of Holy Mass, with outdoor festivities following. Brady himself was not of strong health, suffering from rheumatism and Bright's disease. In the fall of 1884 he visited the Arkansas Hot Springs in the hope of gaining rest and relief, but this proved of little avail. He died on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 1885, at the age of thirty-eight. The funeral took place on the following Friday morning and the Solemn High Mass of Requiem marked the holding of the first religious service in the new Saint Joseph's Church. Alongside the body of the first pastor, the mortal remains of the second pastor were laid at rest in a vault in the basement. Two days later, on February 22, 1885, the initial Sunday devotions consisting of Masses and Vespers were held in the church.
Rev. Bernard Boyle On Thursday, February 26, 1885 Rev. Bernard Boylan, assistant under Reverend Father Edward J. Mongan at Saint Mary's in North Attleboro, assumed charge at Saint Joseph's. Father Boylan, the third pastor in the half-century existence of Saint Joseph's, was born in Wareham, Mass., on September 25, 1853. He attended the public schools of his native town until he was 11 years of age and then prepared for college at Pierce Academy in Middleboro. In 1868 he entered Saint Charles' College at Ellicott City, near Baltimore, Md., where he completed the regular college courses and graduated with high honors in June 1872. The fall of that year marked his entrance as a student of Philosophy in Saint Laurent's College, near Montreal, he remaining there for a period of two years. Next, he engaged principally in the study of Dogmatic and Moral Theology, the Scriptures and Canon Law at the Grand Seminary in Montreal, the culmination of his efforts being his ordination to the priesthood there by Right Reverend Edward Charles Fabre, Bishop of the Diocese of Montreal, on December 23, 1876.
Having been adopted by the Providence Diocese, Reverend Father Boylan presented his letters to Right Reverend Bishop Hendricken and was selected by the latter as assistant to Reverend Doctor Michael A. Wallace, pastor of Saint Michael's church at South Providence, where he remained for eight months. In those comparatively early days of the Middle Western States there was a great demand for the services of Catholic priests, and Reverend Father Boylan was one of the first to respond to the call. He was stationed by the Right Reverend Bishop John L. Spalding of the Diocese of Peoria as pastor of Saint Paul's Church at Odell, Ill., and there he labored for five years with such marked success for his church and the people that some time subsequently, after he had returned to the East, a new parish was created in his Illinois settlement and in his honor it was named Saint Bernard's, a flattering but most worthy tribute.
Recalled to the Providence Diocese, the first assignment of the young clergyman was to Saint Charles' Church at Woonsocket, R.I., and three months afterwards he was transferred to Saint Mary's Church in North Attleboro. Upon the demise of Reverend Father Brady early in 1885, he was selected as the clergyman in the diocese best fitted to assume the burden of completing the erection of Saint Joseph's Church and arranging for the paying off of the large debt that had been necessarily contracted. In the earlier years of his pastorate he was often forced to carry on the work single-handed, owing to the scarcity of priests, but he never faltered or hesitated in his tasks.
Boylan's first energies were necessarily directed at completing the preparations for the dedication of the church which took place on Memorial Day of 1885, Saturday, May 30. Right Reverend Bishop Hendricken presided over the dedication, and this was followed by a Solemn High Mass. The sermon was by Reverend Father R.J. Barry of Hyde Park, who spoke in English and French from the text: "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel."
Father Boylan reorganized the Sunday School, over which he placed as its first Superintendent William J. McGrath, drawn from the ranks of the Christian Doctrine Society, and who held the position for a number of years. The first mission in the parish history was in October 1886 and lasted two weeks - the first for the English-speaking members conducted by Reverend Fathers McGrath and Fitzpatrick, the second for the French speaking members in charge of Reverend Fathers Bournigable and Lagier, of the Oblate Order from Lowell.
During all these years the parish had been a mixed one, but with the increasing roll of French-Canadians they began to ask for the formation of a church of their own, and so on December 1, 1887, Saint Matthew's was set apart as a new parish with Reverend Father J.A. Payan as pastor.
In the summer of 1889 the old rectory was sold and moved off the premises, which soon housed a new building. The domestic affairs of the household are presided over by the two sisters of the pastor, the Misses Ellen E. and Kathryn A. Boylan.
On Sunday, November 22, 1889, the League of the Sacred Heart was introduced. Reverend Father Noonan, of the Society of Jesus, from Saint Joseph's Church in Providence, spoke at length at the morning masses that day on the advantages and blessings of membership in the league and again at the evening service.
In the fall of the following year, from October 26 to November 9, inclusive, a two weeks' mission was given by Passionist Fathers from Hoboken, N.J., Reverend Fathers Alphonsus and Norbert, the first week for the women and the second for the men.