Saint Cecilia Parish

August 17th, 2007
In the late 1800s the maids (“Irish working out girls”) and coachmen serving the Yankee aristocracy of the Back Bay section of Boston requested a church of their own. Saint Cecilia Parish was established in 1888 and the church was dedicated in 1894.

Click the above photo to go to their photo gallery page.

The architecture is Romanesque, XII Century Norman. The main altar, notable for its massive simplicity, was carved from a single block of white Carrara marble. The painting in the center reredos is a reproduction of da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” and the lights in the dome above are set in 24K gold rosettes. [*]

The Saint Cecilia’s House program serves low income elderly providing one-bedroom and studio apartments designed for frail elders; the building is on Kilmarnock St., in the Fenway.

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More on the Irish working-out girls: The official history of the Archdiocese of Boston noted that in the post-Civil War era, Boston “swarmed” with Irish “working-out girls,” many of whom had no friends in the city and so, in case of sickness or unemployment, might find themselves in a troubling situation.

To deal with this problem, a few Catholic young ladies in 1866 founded a “home for sick and friendless servant girls” in three rented rooms. “Their undertaking aroused the sympathy of wealthy Protestants, from whom generous contributions were soon forthcoming (the subscription list is studded with such names as those of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mrs. Samuel Gridley Howe, or Mrs. Amos Lawrence.” [* - page 18 - PDF]

Filed under City life | Saint Cecilia Parish

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