Today we have added 6 new volumes for the Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920. Today’s additions include two parishes in Roxbury: Blessed Sacrament, and St. Thomas Aquinas. This update includes 6 volumes, 1,000 pages, and 65,000 searchable names.
St. Patrick’s was established in 1836 to serve the Catholics of “Roxbury, Brookline, and Brighton” (Sullivan, p. 49). Originally the church was situated a little south of the South End, on Northampton Street in between Washington Street and Harrison Avenue. In the 1870s as the Catholic population grew, parish boundaries shifted. A new church (still in use) was built further south at the intersection of Dudley and Magazine Streets. The building of the new church began in 1873.
On December 10, 1894, Rev. Philip J. O’Donnell was appointed rector of a new parish which later received the name of St. Philip’s. Services were initially held in Old St. Patrick’s on Northampton Street, this young pastor quickly bought land between Harrison Avenue, East Lenox, and Reed Streets, on which he began the construction of a Gothic brick church. It opened for services in the basement by April 24, 1899, and was dedicated on May 4, 1913.
The 6 new volumes in this release are:
• St. Patrick (Roxbury) Baptisms, 1907-1920
• St. Patrick (Roxbury) Baptisms, 1920
• St. Patrick (Roxbury) Marriages, 1903-1920
• St. Philip (Roxbury) Baptisms, 1908-1914
• St. Philip (Roxbury) Baptisms, 1914-1920
• St. Philip (Roxbury) Confirmations, 1915-1920
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.