HISTORY

ST. SYLVIA

HOLY REDEEMER

 

Since the year 1613, when three Jesuit Missionaries landed in a large and beautiful harbor on the Island of Mt. Desert, which the Indians called “Pemetic” and there elevated the cross and sang Mass, it is probable and possible that the rites of the Catholic Church were seldom, if ever, celebrated on Mount Desert until 1881.

 

Around that time, a great influx of visitors began to arrive in Bar Harbor.  Occasional services were held perhaps once or twice a season, sometimes in an old schoolhouse, more frequently in the parlors of a prominent hotel called The Rodick House.  But until the preceding summer, no priest remained permanently in the place to attend to the needs of the rapidly growing number of Catholics.

 

The plan to build a church edifice began with De Grasse Fox, who with Brooks White of Philadelphia donated a choice piece of land for a suitable building.  The plan for a structure was generously furnished by W. R. Emerson of Boston, an outstanding architect of that day.     

 

The name St. Sylvia was given the chapel as the Fox family had special devotion to that Saint.  The chapel was to stand on Scott’s Hill at the base of Green Mountain, overlooking the ocean.  Construction began 1881, when Rev. John Coffey was pastor in Ellsworth and given charge of the mission in Bar Harbor.  Rev. Thomas Butler replaced Fr. Coffey and was given charge in May 1881.  However, that summer an English priest, Rev. J.R. Madan (later to become a missionary in Borneo), said daily Mass in the chapel of St. Sylvia’s and collected furnishings and equipment for the church.  Besides the ordinary furnishings, the chapel had over the altar an oil painting of St. Sylvia which had been imported from Italy and presented by Mr. Mathews of Boston.  The Misses Iasigi of Boston donated the Stations of the Cross, also made in Italy.  Dr. Hasket Derby donated the candlesticks and the crucifix carved by Joseph Mayr of Oberammergau.

 

It was in these early years that St. Sylvia’s was to host many distinguished visitors.  Among the most prominent to appear were His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, of Baltimore, Archbishop Ryan of Philadelphia and Archbishop Kenrich of St. Louis.

 

On August 13, 1882, St. Sylvia’s was dedicated by Bishop Healy.  The cost was $2500.00 In October of 1884; a large bell arrived for St. Sylvia’s weighing 516 lbs. from the McShane Bell Foundry of Baltimore.  On one side, it bore the inscription “Sancta Sylvia Ora Pro Nobis”.  It was believed to be the only church bell on the island at the time.

 

 

In 1887, many alterations were made in the church, increasing the seating capacity of the building to accommodate 500 people.  The church was cut in the center and 15 ft. was added to its length.  Six large dormer shaped ventilators of stained glass were set into the roof.  The firm of Guptil and Eaton of Cherryfield made an entirely new set of pews of ash and handsomely finished with black walnut.  A new altar top was installed, beautifully carved with the center niche painted carmine and the side blue.  On either side of the altar were stained glass windows with doves in the center.  The church was now fitted with electric lights.

 

Father Butler served the mission until 1894 when he was transferred to Lewiston and was replaced by Rev. James D. O’Brien.  The population of Bar Harbor had increased so by 1894 that the chapel was no longer adequate, even with an addition of a vestry that served as a winter chapel.  In 1907, Fr O’Brien relinquished Ellsworth to another pastor and took up residence in Bar Harbor, which was then a parish in its own right, no longer a mission.  St. Sylvia’s was soon razed to give way for the present Holy Redeemer Church. 

 

The cornerstone of the new Holy Redeemer was laid by Bishop Walsh, August 11, 1907.  The title of the church was changed to Holy Redeemer to revive the name and memory of the Jesuit Mission of 1613.  The name of St. Sylvia did not disappear, as it was given to the basement chapel of the new church.

 

In 1911, Northeast Harbor became a mission attached to Bar Harbor.  Then, in 1912, Bishop Walsh blessed the Seal Harbor Holy Family Chapel and, in 1913, Grindstone was made a mission.

 

The year 1913 proclaimed the third Centenary of the first mission.  A grand gathering graced by the Bishop of Portland, host to His Excellency, the Most Rev. Papal Delegate John Bonzano, D.D. and several Bishops of New England.

 

As was the history of St. Sylvia’s Church, paid for almost entirely by the maids and men of work employed about town, likewise the history of the new Holy Redeemer Church in clearing 70% of the debt.

 

This beautiful structure, a living monument to the Rev. James D. O’Brien was built at a cost of only $44,000.00.  He had witnessed the razing of St. Sylvia’s, the grandeur of Holy Redeemer, the establishment of the missions, and the opening of St. Edward’s School and Convent.

 

In 1913, Gen. and Mrs. Edward de V. Morrell had donated land and house for a convent.  It was named St. Edward by Bishop Walsh in honor of the donor.  Sister Mary Josephine of the Sisters of Mercy was the first Superior.  At the opening of the school, 28 children were enrolled in classes held in the convent.  In November of 1917, the Sisters occupied a new convent, also the gift of Gen. Morrell, erected on the site of the earlier one, which had been moved away.  Mass was celebrated there for the first time on the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  

Gen. and Mrs. Morrell donated St. Edward’s School, built in 1914.  Bishop Walsh had blessed the cornerstone, August 9th.  The School has an alumni of 300.  The parish and school produced the following vocations:  Sister Nancy DeFranc, Rev. James Gower, Rev. Dayton Salisbury, Rev. Joel Macul, and Sister Kathleen Smith.

 

Here is how Father Kealy, a church historian of that day describes the new church:  “Holy Redeemer, an imposing granite building standing on the most prominent corner of Mt. Desert Street, thus carrying out the beautiful Catholic tradition of giving the best site on hill or in valley, for the cross and the temple wherein Almighty God is worshipped.  Its majestic, silent form is a real sermon in stone.  The cross stands on the highest point of the building and a statue of the Holy Redeemer arms the facade to welcome all into its sanctuary.  It is not too unworthy of the Holy Redeemer in whose honor it was named.”

 

When the 300th anniversary of the landing of Jesuit fathers on Mount Desert Island came around in 1913, the Holy Redeemer Church was the scene of a celebration at which John Cardinal Bonzano presided as Papal delegate of the Holy See of Rome.

 

The Maine Central Railroad furnished a special car for the party from Portland and the steamship Norumbega carried the group across Frenchman’s Bay from Mount Desert ferry to Bar Harbor.  The party arrived in Bar Harbor on Tuesday evening, August 5, and was received by the Rev. Fr. O’Brien, pastor of Bar Harbor, and General Edward deV. Morrell.  Gen. Morrell was host to the Papal delegate and bishops attending.

 

Sisters of Mercy had arrived from Portland a few days earlier to take part in the ceremony.  The convent, standing farther down the street, was the gift of Gen. and Mrs. Morrell following an appeal of the bishop that a convent should be constructed prior to the tercentenary.

 

At 10:30 a.m., the procession began, led by the crucifix; the candles were borne by priests on each side of the cross.  Penobscot Indians, descendants of those who had first greeted Catholic settlers at St. Sauveur, next came in line wearing brightly colored festive costumes with features and medals of ornament.

 

The sanctuary choir boys of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at Portland sang during the dedication and Mass.  After them, came the priests, more than 80 in number, from all parts of Maine and others from each New England State, Pennsylvania and Maryland.  The officers of the Mass next in the procession were the Rt. Rev. Monsignor M. G. McDonough, assistant priest; Rev. Timothy Butler and Rev. Arthur T. Hamel, deacons of honor; Rev. Timothy Linehan, deacon; and Rev. Henry Gory, subdeacon of the Mass and finally, the Most Rev. Bishop Louis S. Walsh of Portland in mitre and with crozier wearing the silver and white pontifical vestments of the cathedral in Portland.

 

The streets near the church were crowded during the ceremony; the church itself was unoccupied.  At the front door, the bishop began the ceremony of blessing the new church by a prayer.  As the procession circled the outer walls, holy water was sprinkled by the bishop and the choir chanted the Miserere.  The Gregorian chant was used in this and other psalms during the ceremony.

 

After entering the building, the priests chanted the litanies of the saints, all kneeling as the bishop reached the sanctuary.  Toward the close of the litany, the altar was blessed by the bishop and then the choir chanted psalms of joy as the procession continued around the inner walls of the building.  A final prayer was chanted by the bishop and the material building was dedicated to the worship of God.         

 

Following the dedication of the Holy Redeemer church, the personal representative of the Pope St. Pius X John Cardinal Bonzano was escorted to the church.  The choir sent forth the hymn “Unfold Ye Portals” as the Most Reverend Papal Delegate and the bishops entered.

 

Bishops who gave dignity to the occasion were the Most Rev. M. Harkins, D.D., bishop of Providence, senior bishop of New England;  Most Rev. Thomas D. Beaven, D.D., bishop of Springfield;  Most Rev. George A. Guertin, bishop of Manchester;  Most Rev. Joseph J. Rice, D.D., bishop of Burlington; and the Most Rev. John J. Nilan, D.D., bishop of Hartford.

 

At the close of the Mass, His Excellency bestowed the special papal blessing upon all the faithful present.

 

Two days later, August 7, the first Mass in the new convent was celebrated by the Most Rev. Louis S. Walsh, bishop of Portland.

 

A pilgrimage was organized and went by the Norumbega to the site of the first St. Sauveur mission near Somes Sound.  At Seal Harbor, a stop was made where the carriages of Mrs. Mark Hanna carried the visitors to the chapel of the Holy Family where the bishop spoke briefly and the papal delegate offered a blessing.  Mrs. Hanna, a non-Catholic, had been the chief benefactor in building the chapel in August, 1912.

 

Near Fernald’s Point, judged to be close or at the scene of St. Sauveur, the bishop and all the company said the Our Father, the Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father.  The priests in turn chanted the psalms and hymns of devotion to make the same hills resound with the identical sounds of the Jesuit fathers and the Indians who had chanted the Mass and Vespers there 300 years before.