Church Dedication  1917

DEDICATION …. ST. PATRICK CHURCH … 1917

NOTABLE EVENT AT EAST JAFFREY, PETERBOROUGH TRANSCRIPT   SEPT. 3, 1917

One of the most notable events which have occurred in Jaffrey was the dedication of the beautiful St. Patrick’s Church, Monday of this week at 10:30 a.m.  It was realized some time ago that the old church was too small for the large and growing parish of St. Patrick’s, now a full twelve hundred people, and steps were taken toward the erection of a new edifice.  On Monday the completed temple was consecrated with most impressive ceremonies to the sacred uses for which it had been reared.

The building is one hundred and seven feet long and fifty-seven feet wide, with a tower fifty-seven feet high.  It is rural Gothic style of broken ashlar, giving a most pleasing and picturesque appearance.  The stones were gathered from the fields, almost entirely in Jaffrey.

The main entrance is on the north side.  On the easterly side is an entrance through the tower.  From the main entrance one passes into the vestibule running across the whole front of the church.  From this vestibule three doors lead into the auditorium, which has a seating capacity of about five hundred.  There are two rows of columns dividing the auditorium into the nave and the two aisles.  The lighting system is very fine.  The altar is lighted by indirect lighting from behind the proscenium arch.  This has the effect of drawing the worshipers’ attention to the tabernacle and the holy of holies.  The present windows will later be replaced by beautiful memorial windows.  The exterior of the building is very pleasing to the beholder and is a great credit to Father Hennon, who has wisely and untiringly led in the enterprise, and also to his loyal and devoted people.  It is an ornament to the town in which it stands.

The dedication services began at 10:30 with ceremonies outside the sacred building.  A procession led by the altar boys of St. Patrick’s and followed by some twenty-five priests from Keene, Manchester, Exeter, Harrisville, Newmarket, Winchendon, Worcester, Penacook, Greenville, Troy, Nashua, and Derry, Bishop Albert Guertin of Manchester, the orders of St. John the Baptist, Ste. Anne Society, The Altar Society, Sisters from the convent in Manchester, marched around the church, the Bishop consecrating it.  Then after the doors were thrown open and the dignitaries passed in, the public quickly filled every seat, and the service of dedication began.

Solemn Pontifical High Mass was said by Father Hennon, with the assistance of the visiting priests and the choir.  Then Bishop Guertin spoke in English and more briefly in French.