-
By William T. Clew
Courtesy: ©1999, The Catholic Free Press
WESTBORO - St. Luke the Evangelist Church is the centerpiece of the parish that was founded in 1870.
It is one of 10 churches in the diocese designated by Bishop Reilly as pilgrim churches for the Jubilee Year 2000. The other pilgrim churches are St. Paul's Cathedral, Worcester; St. Bernard's, Fitchburg; Notre Dame, Southbridge; St. Cecilia's, Leominster; Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Gardner; St. Joseph's Basilica, Webster; St. Mary of the Assumption, Milford; St. John the Evangelist, Clinton, and Mary, Queen of the Rosary, Spencer.
People of the diocese will be encouraged next year to visit some or all of the pilgrim churches, according to Father John J. Bagley, diocesan director of the Office for the Millennium and pastor of St. Mary's Parish, North Grafton. In each of the pilgrim churches there will be a Millennium cross placed in an accessible location, along with a table and stamp, which pilgrims can use to stamp a passport to mark their visit. The passports will be made available through the diocesan parishes and through his office, Father Bagley said.
St. Luke's is a parish with a rich history of faith, dedication, hard work and even some incidents of controversy and dissention early on. But that is getting a bit ahead of the story.
The first two Catholics known to have been in Westboro arrived on Sept. 15, 1740. They were Timothy Rice and a man named Tarbell, according to Rev. John J. McCoy, P.R., author of "History of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Springfield," published in 1900.
Timothy Rice and his brother Silas, along with two of their cousins, were captured by Indians in 1704 and taken to Canada. Mr. Tarbell, from Groton, also was a captive, though Father McCoy does not say when or where he was captured.
Both Silas and Timothy were raised near Montreal by Caughnawaga Indians who had been converted to Catholicism by French missionaries. Father McCoy said Silas married an Indian woman and apparently stayed in Canada. Timothy, adopted by a Caughnawaga chief, became a famous chieftain, known for superior talents, courage and warlike spirit.
The names of both brothers appear on an ancient parish register in the mission of St. Francis in Caughnawaga in Quebec.
It was not until almost 100 years later that there were enough Catholics in Westboro to receive the attention of a priest. In about 1834, according to Father McCoy's history, Rev. James Fitton, New England's missionary priest, established a station in Westboro "for the boot makers."
A station was a place where Mass was said but no church or mission building exists. Later, Father Fitton, on his way to Boston, stopped in Westboro to baptize the daughter of a Mr. Shea. It was the first baptism of a Catholic known to have taken place in the town.
There were few priests in New England in the early 1800s, and those few traveled widely to bring the sacraments to the scattered settlements of Catholics. Many Catholics walked miles to attend Mass when a priest was available in a nearby town or village. Often Catholics only were able to attend Mass and receive the sacraments once a month or less.
Rev. Matthew Gibson, who succeeded Father Fitton at St. John's Church in Worcester and who established many of the early Catholic stations in Central Massachusetts, traveled to Westboro to celebrate Mass in a home owned by a Matthew Sullivan. In 1851 Westboro had become a regular station served by Worcester.
Those first Catholics in Westboro were, for the most part, Irish immigrants who worked on the railroad or as hired help on farms. They were soon followed by French-Canadians, and later Italians, who worked in the factories and textile mills
Priests from Milford, Uxbridge, Marlboro, Natick and Hopkinton served Westboro. Because Catholics were refused the use of the Town Hall, they celebrated Masses in the homes of Catholics. But ecumenism was alive even then. Selectman Ethan Bullard, apparently not a Catholic, "interested himself in his Catholic neighbors and, after hard work, obtained from the town officials consent to use the Town Hall," Father McCoy wrote.
A man named Otis, not a Catholic, gave the Catholics a half acre of land on Elm Street, Father McCoy wrote. When a Father Barry came to Westboro in 1869, he bought the old Baptist church, traded the land on Elm Street for a plot on Milk Street, and moved the church to it.
The next year, 1870, St. Luke the Evangelist was established as a parish and Rev. Richard J. Donovan was named first resident pastor.
According to Father McCoy, Father Donovan and his successor, Rev. P. Egan, had trouble with some of the congregation.
"No definite charge was ever made against Father Donovan, the whole difficulty seemingly to have root in dislike for the priest by some of the people who, before his coming, had ruled the parish interests according to their own sweet will," Father McCoy wrote.
As for Father Egan, Father McCoy wrote that he had, in his late years, "shown a growing weakness of a convivial nature, which the people saw." He also had an assistant who, Father McCoy wrote, seemed to have lacked loyalty to his pastor.
In 1878 Father Egan was transferred to Boston and Rev. C. J. Cronin was named pastor.
Father McCoy wrote that Father Cronin, though he was greeted by a disrespectful demonstration when he came to the parish, "worked late and early,...preached in season and out of season,...sought the people in their homes , on the farms and in the shops. Day and night he labored and prayed, until it began to tell upon his health."
His dedication was successful in healing the wounds between clergy and parishioners. After he died on Dec. 22, 1881, the people of the parish erected a monument in the cemetery to his memory. The church burned in 1886. The pastor, Rev. R. S. J. Burke, used the insurance money to buy land next to the church-owned lot at Main and Ruggles Streets from a Mr. Cobb. Father McCoy wrote that Mr. Cobb did not keep his promises to Father Burke about the land. Father Burke then reminded his parishioners that they were not obliged to trade with Messrs. Cobb & Co., grocers. The resulting boycott brought Messrs. Cobb & Co. to their senses and the promises made to Father Burke were kept, Father McCoy wrote.
Father McCoy succeeded Father Burke as pastor. He built a wood-frame church, bought six more acres next to the cemetery and upgraded parish property.
The parish continued to grow over the years. In 1919 the church burned to the ground. The present Romanesque-style church, somewhat similar to its predecessor but made of brick, was completed at a cost of $112,196 and dedicated in 1921.
Even the present church has taken some hits. On June 9, 1953, the tornado that ripped across Worcester County, killing 94 people, blew in the church's rose window depicting St. Luke the Evangelist, patron of the parish. It also damaged the steeple, roof and six other stained glass windows, and knocked the chimney through the roof of the rectory.
Parishioners have continued to support St. Luke's. In 1968 the interior of the church was renovated to conform with liturgical reforms mandated by the Second Vatican Council. In 1969 the parish built and equipped a three-story Catechetical Center at a cost of $360,000. Ten years later the parish completed a capital campaign for a $150,000 parish center, exceeding the goal by more than $56,000.
In 1991 St. Luke's took on a three-year commitment to form a sister-parish relationship with Lo de Ban III, a small village in Guatemala.
In 1994 the church interior was renovated again. Bishop Harrington dedicated the building on Sept. 18.
Rev. George O. Lange, pastor, said the church guide book, written by Rev. Steven M. LeBaire, associate pastor, will be updated and made available to those who visit the church. It provides a short description of various parts of the church and a prayer that can be said at each location.
Father Lange said the parish will have special celebrations and prayers during the Jubilee Year to mark the fact that St. Luke's is a pilgrim church.