Northampton people are by many regarded as conservative. But they are ready to drop prejudices as soon as they discover them to be unjust and they are quick to recognize worth. This has been their attitude towards the Catholic Church and its representatives. They closed their inns and their homes against the first Catholic priest who came to their town to perform duties proper to his calling, but the priest was not with them very long before they opened to him and their hearts. This priest was Father Cheverus, afterwards Bishop of Boston and still later Cardinal Archbishop of Bordeau. Dr. Channing calls him "a good man, whose name is pronounced with blessing in many an abode of sorrow and want." He came to Northampton to administer the last rites of the church to two men who had been condemned to death by what is now regarded by many as mistake of justice. He remained for some weeks in the town and preached a number of times in the meeting house. He so won the goodwill of the people that he found it as hard to leave Northampton as he had found it in the beginning to get shelter there. The house of Mr. Clark on Hawley Street which was first opened to him afterwards became the home of the first resident priest in Northampton.

Father Cheverus may have celebrated Mass in Northampton, but the first Mass of which there is definite knowledge was said in the home of John Foley at Leeds, then called Straw Hollow, some time near 1834,by the apostle of Southern New England, Father Fitton, who was stationed at Hartford but attended widely scattered missions. In 1841 he purchased land on King Street for a church. Upon this land Father Brady of Chicopee built the church in 1844. It was dedicated by Bishop Fenwick in 1845 as part of the Diocese of Boston. According to a document preserved at the Rectory the church was to have been dedicated under the patronage of St. John the Baptist, but the name was changed to St. Mary's. Father Brady successors in Chicopee, Fathers Strain and Blenkinson served the church of Northampton and cared for its people till Holyoke was made a parish. Then the pastors of St. Jerome's, Holyoke, first the scholarly and energetic patriarch, Father Jeremiah O'Callaghan and then Father James O'Sullivan shepherded St. Mary's.

In January 1866, St. Mary's received its first resident pastor, Father P.V. Moyce. He remained six years and during that time he built a church at Easthampton, another at Haydenville and still another at Amherst. He also enlarged the church at Northampton. He was a man of extraordinary zeal and energy, and he is remembered for his scholarly attainments.

Father Moyce was succeeded on February 9, 1872, by Father Michael E. Barry whom St. Mary's will long remember as its greatest pastor. He enlarged and beautified the old church and its location were unsuited to the growing needs of the Catholics of Northampton. In 1873, he bought the "Mansion House" property on Elm Street. He laid, in the spring of 1881, according to plans drawn by P.W. Ford of Boston the foundations of the beautiful church of Saint Mary's of the Assumption. The corner stone was laid on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption, of the same year. In the stone were placed the local papers and the inscription: "Leo XIII, Pope, James A. Garfield, President, John Long, Governor, Luke Lyman, S.B. Fuller and Marcus Morton, Selectmen; P.W. Ford, Architect; Rt. Rev P.T. O'Reilly, first Bishop of Springfield in the eleventh year of his episcopacy, laid the corner stone of the church of Saint Mary's of the Assumption, in the presence of a large concourse of clergy and laity." The silver trowel used on this occasion was afterwards used to lay the corner stone of the Hawley Grammar school. It has been offered as a souvenir to the parish.

Bishop O'Reilly dedicated Saint Mary's May 10, 1885. The dedication sermon was preached by the eloquent Dr. McGlynn of Saint Stephen's, New York.

Workmen who helped to erect Saint Mary's are accustomed to say that it was "built upon honor." Its length is 150 and its width is 65 feet. So faithfully does it follow Gothic lines that an Italian Cardinal said of it: "You have a real church, and there are not many real churches in your country." The magnificent alter is of Italian, Spanish and Tennessee marble inlaid with alabaster. "You have done a grand work," said Bishop O'Reilly to Saint Mary's people on the day of dedication, such a beautiful church."

In 1880 Father Barry had consulted Bishop O'Reilly about building a rectory. He was encouraged to do so. But the letter which gave the encouragement, and which is still preserved at the rectory, contains words which now seem prophetic. "Life is uncertain and remember that you may be building a house that you will never occupy." Father Barry delayed beginning the rectory until the church was completed and partly paid for. Just two weeks before it was ready for occupancy, April 17, 1889, God called Father Barry home.

He had done more than erect buildings. In addition to his work for the salvation of souls, which God alone can rightly judge, he had increased the reputation of Catholics in Northampton. "In the death of Father Barry," said the Northampton Herald, "the Roman Catholic Church of this country loses one of its finest representatives, and ablest leaders, and this city one of those useful and honored citizens, whom no community can afford to lose." He was a man of literary tastes. He was eloquent too. "Especially eloquent is he" wrote the paper just quoted in 1885, "when dealing with subjects which awaken patriotic fervor, and his address on the soldiers of the late war will long be remembered." Courteous, polished and retiring he holds the respect of all."

Father Barry was succeeded by his friend and admirer Father John Kenny. It is said that before coming to Northampton, Father Kenny had a title, "The Friend of the Poor." It is said too that he bought the title. He did not lose it in Northampton. Unlike Father Barry in many ways he perhaps surpassed him in depth and exactness of scholarship. He was shrewd in business matters. He completed the towers of the church, and finished and furnished the rectory but his main concern was to afford opportunities for Christian education for the children of the parish.

To make such opportunities Father Kenny purchased shortly after his coming to Northampton, for $22,000, "Shady Lawn" for a Parochial School. Upon it was a Gothic building formerly used as an Academy. This Father Kenny fitted up for about $10,000 and opened to 150 pupils. The number of pupils increased yearly and Father Kenny determined to provide for them fitting accommodations. He was a keen observer and he was quick to discover and to utilize good ideas. A committee of educators went to Europe to study school buildings a little over a decade ago. They returned and reported what they considered the best plan for a school. The first man in Massachusetts to use the plan was Father Kenny. July 27, 1918, he let the contract for Saint Michael's school, according to specifications drawn up by the skillful architect, John Donohue, who has done much to beautify the buildings of the Springfield diocese. The school was opened in September, 1909. It is one of the most serviceable in the state. It is well lighted and ventilated. It can be emptied at fire drill in forty-five seconds. It furnishes accommodations for five hundred children. It saves the taxpayers of Northampton about seventeen thousand dollars every year, and it secures to its pupils sound religious training. It is under the care of the amiable and efficient Sisters of St. Joseph.

Saint Michael's School does more than teach religion. It gives a thorough grammar and a comprehensive high school course. It teaches patriotism. Four young men reported last week as severely wounded were members of St. Michael's. Its former pupils have been cited for bravery and decorated with the Cross of War. It is doing a service to the community.

Father Kenny died January 23, 1917. He was succeeded on the 30^th of March of the same year by Father Stephen Hallissey and Father Patrick T. O'Connor is at present continuing the work which his able and saintly predecessors have thus far advanced. For priests may come and priests may go but the church goes on forever.

The church in Northampton has grown in numbers as well as in institutions. There were but 150 Catholics in Northampton and Hadley in 1840. Now there are more than three thousand in St. Mary's parish alone, while Hadley has a separate parish. So too have Haydenville, Hatfield, Florence, Bay State and Amherst which were once missions of St. Mary's. From St. Mary's too have been formed the Sacred Heart and St. John Cantius parishes for the French and Polish speaking people respectively. St. Mary's has increased and multiplied.

Not in numbers only have St. Mary's children grown. Humble laborers were the first Catholics of Northampton, and they were looked upon somewhat as foreigners. Laborers, many of them still remain. But they are at home in this city. They are intelligent and patriotic. They yield to none in their interest in civic affairs. They have filled with profit to the community and credit to themselves every position service flag which represents a number of St. Mary's parish in their country's service at the present time greater than the total number of those who formed the first parish in 1844 reveals the pride with which St. Mary's responded when the country called for men.

The pastors of St. Mary's did not labor alone. They were assisted by energetic and zealous curates. St. Mary's does not want its curates forgotten. They are: Rev. F.J. Lynch, Rev. Charles McManus, Rev. Michael Walsh, Rev. Richard Walsh, Rev. Joseph Coyne, Rev. John T. Sheehan, Rev. M.J. Carroll, Rec. W. J. Long, Rev. T.P. Lucey, Rev. Michael Welch, Rev. Joseph Lynch, Rev. Patrick T. O'Connor, Rev. Florence Lane, Rev. John O'Connor, Rev. Harry Hackett, and Rev. Stephen Hallissey.

This history of Saint Mary of the Assumption was written in 1918. Saint Michael's School was closed in 1976. The facility now houses the elderly.

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