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Saint Raphael History
This information is from the booklet "Saint Raphael
Church - 1890-1990"
We may presume that the French-Canadian immigrants of
Williamstown
dedicated their parish and their first church to St. Raphael,
because of his
special protection
of immigrants. The first Bishop of
Springfield, Patrick T.
O'Reilly had established a separate congregation for the
French Canadian
families of Adams, North Adams, and Williamstown in 1870. In
January 1872,
Rev. Charles Crevier, who came from the diocese of Montreal,
celebrated his
first mass in Williamstown in a rented hall two blocks from our
present church. There were 150 people present. In 1890, Rev.Louis LeDuc (photo
below) had
the
present red brick church built on the corner of Cole Avenue and Church St.
 The
first mass ever celebrated at St. Raphael
was on April 5,1889. We have, however,
no record as to what extent the church was completed at the time of the first
mass. In 1891 St. Raphael finally had its own pastor, the Reverend Alfred A.
Langevin,to be followed by 26 Pastors, who on the average, served only three years and eight months.
The church was dedicated in 1891. J. John M.
Cole
sold
the main parcel of land to Bishop O'Reilly for $1500 on May 31 1889.
Apparently the construction was begun much before the sale
was finalized and
documented. The total cost of the church construction amounted to $15,000,
financed by contributions and mortgage. By 1894, the parishioners raised enough
money to build
a rectory at the cost of $5,000, and to buy a house
adjacent to it for $4,000. This house was to be use as a convent, but this
project did not materialize and the house was eventually sold. The details of
the financial transactions between the parish, the Bishop of Springfield and the banks are no longer available. It appears that the Bishop was instrumental in getting interim-financing to make the purchase of land and the start of the
church building construction possible.
These costs seem to have been consolidated, and on March 4,
1899 a
mortgage
of $18,000 was granted to Bishop Thomas D. Beaven, who, as
Bishop of Springfield,
owned all church real estate of the diocese. On
September 27, 1920, the
full payment was acknowledged by the bank and the mortgage was
discharged and the
property was released. Full payment was celebrated in the
"Opera
House" formally located on Water Street, and in recent years obtained
by
the college and demolished.
The only parochial school in Williamstown was
founded by pastor Clovis
Baudouin and continued under the pastorate of Father
Amable L'Heureux. The school operated in the rectory and provided bilingual
elementary education (1st and 2nd grades) from 1900 to 1906. After finishing the
2nd grade, and after receiving first communion, the children were moved to the
public school known
as the "station school" on the south corner of
Arnold and Elm Streets. There
were no members
of a religious order among the teachers. Father Baudouin's relatives taught
there, Father L'Heureux's niece, Rose L'Heureux, and also Mrs. Perrault of North
Adams. Tuition in the parochial school was 15 cents a week per pupil. The
parochial
school was discontinued as the children's knowledge of English had generally
become sufficient to attend classes at the public school. There
are practically no records of important events in the life of the parish
for the years between the two World Wars. After WWII a thorough renovation of the church, built more than a half a century ago was necessary. To aid in
the fund drive for the renovation, the first bazaar was organized in the
Mitchell school in 1945. Under Father Cantin's leadership, not only was the interior of
the church completely redone, but new windows were installed, the basement
of the church was excavated, and a parish hall was created. The parish needed a
larger
meeting place for the various religious, educational and social activities
of its members. The main work was done in 1946, but in later years, especially
from 1973 to 1990, the hall was enlarged and improved and a new hatch way
was
built to give the hall a second exit. The men who worked on the hall not
only
sacrificed many days of their precious leisure, but used their own muscle power
to dig out the tremendous quantities of dirt from the area underneath
the
church.
In the early seventies the basement was enlarged and paneled
to accommodate weekly bingo games. The need for the supplemental income from
bingo became unnecessary and in 1979 it was ended, much to the delight of the
new pastor, Father Renaud. In 1959, the church was redecorated under
the pastorate of Father Joseph A. Remi, and for this project $5,000 was
collected. In the rear of the church, a baptistry was built, for which John Royal
and his wife Marion Corneiller Royal donated a baptismal font. The first child
baptized at the font was Dennis
Michael St. Pierre, with Mr. and Mrs. Royal as
godparents. In a later
reorganization of the interior, the baptistry was
converted into a confessional corner, and the baptismal font was moved to the
front. Ten years later, in 1969, a new altar was built
facing the people. The
communion rail was removed, carpeting was placed on the
floor, and new
kneelers were installed. all the changes were made in keeping
with the new
liturgy of Vatican II.
Over time the use of the French language in the homes of the parishioners has
slowly decreased or disappeared. Since 1969 sermons were no longer given in
French. The first Parish Council was elected by the
parish members in May 1983. The council consisted of 15 members serving one-year
terms. In 1985 a long hoped for pipe organ was to become
a reality. A most generous
gift of more than $30,000 made it possible to design
and build a modern organ made to specifications required for the size and
acoustics of the Church. The donor, Mrs. Florence E. (Crotty) Mayer, gave the
organ in memory of her late husband , Horace L. Mayer, grandson of Ottman
Mergenthaler, inventor,
designer, and manufacturer of the linotype printing
machine. Mrs. Mayer
died at the age of 97, in 1989. To
aid in raising funds to help defer the ever increasing costs in running a
parish,
Mrs. Bernadette St. Hilaire Snide personally organized a church bazaar
in 1978. This was so successful and popular, that it became an annual
event. This three day event included entertainment by singers dancers,
musicians clowns, a
Chinese Auction, a flea market, a children's fair, plant sales, baked goods,
crafts, candies, a small restaurant and the ever favorite, meat pies.
This
continued until 1999 when the festival, in its original size, was ended and
replaced by Christmas bazaars, and tag and food sales. These were much
smaller
scale events than the original bazaar. The
approaching centennial celebration gave the parish a special incentive to
continue with the renovation of the church. On a pay-as-you-go basis over
$100,000 was spent through several years for a general renovation of the church
and a partial renovation of the rectory. In 1989, a renovation fund was
established towards which member of the parish donated $48,000. Further monies
for the renovation were received from the proceeds of the festivals and from
various activities, like spaghetti suppers, bus trips, and the publications of a
parish cook book organized by Mrs. Rosemarie Stasiowski and her co-workers.
The 1989 yoking of the parish with Saint Patrick Parish put a halt to the
improvements planned for the rectory when the parish office was moved to the
rectory of St. Patrick Parish. Also about the same time, Father Cyr, Pastor,
moved into the rectory at St. Patrick's, followed a bit later by the move of
Sister Julia McGrath into the, now empty, rectory at St. Raphael. Some work
continued at St. Raphael's. The east and south sides fo the rectory were
externally repainted to protect the walls and to make the building attractive
again for the centennial. The most important restoration work was sealing off
the holes in the steeple and the tower. The deterioration of the 100 year old
construction was already so advanced that the entire removal of the steeple had
to be considered. The damage to the south-east corner was dangerous, parts of
the wall came down and the section endangered had to be closed tos the public.
This was all eliminated and the damage was repaired. The antiquated electric
wiring was replaced and the entire interior was repainted. the effect of the
main body of the church was continued over the sanctuary by lowering its
ceiling, thereby also saving some of the cost of heating. The original main
altar, donated by the LeBlanc family was redesigned and rebuilt by our senior
parish member Donald B. Boyer and his two sons, Robert and David, who donated
their work and the materials. Several pariish members helped, especially
by moving the pews and returning them one Sunday afternoon while the raspberry
mauve color carpeting was laid to cover the entire floor.
To be continued.
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