The Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, CT.

This series begins at Part 1

Please continue to Part 3

The Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, CT, Part I. (Descriptions courtesy of John Pia)

Please continue to Part 2

The Mass of the Presanctified and the Veneration of the Holy Cross.

(Above) The asperges.

The Mass of the Palms: Blessing of the deacon prior to the reading the Gospel.

The Blessing of the Palms.

The start of the procession.

The cantors (above) and the schola of women (below).

(above) Cantors singing “Gloria Laus et Honor” (All Glory, Laud and Honor) before the entry of the procession into the church.

(Above) The Passion according to St. Matthew.

(Above and below) The singing of the conclusion of the Passion.

St. Patrick’s, in the old mill town of Norwich in Eastern Connecticut, was completed in 1879. It was “the finest parish church in New England” – at least until Immaculate Conception church in Waterbury was built in the 1920’s. 1) At the time both cities were part of the Hartford diocese. In 1953 St. Patrick’s became the cathedral of the new diocese of Norwich. The city of Norwich subsequently has shared in the drastic decline of manufacturing in Connecticut. And in June 2021 the diocese entered chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, overwhelmed by sexual abuse claims, many relating to the diocese-affiliated Mount Saint John Academy between 1990 and 2002. 2)

St Patrick’s offers to the visitor an austere stone exterior. The sucession of spires and gables on the facade is, however, fascinating. James Murphy of Providence, the architect, was responsible for many churches throughout New England. He had been the apprentice and then the partner of Patrick Keely, an even more prolific builder of Catholic churches – and married Keely’s sister-in-law! 3)

The interior produces an entirely contrasting impression: a riot of color! Warm tones of red/violet, green/blue and yellow dominate along with the wood of the pews. This appearance is due to a restoration, completed in 2013, which, based on an analysis of the original paint, recreated the Victorian-era color scheme. In addition, new murals were painted throughout the church. The contractor was John Canning & Co. 4) Their work is familar to those in Fairfield county, CT, who have visited the Basilica of St John, Stamford or St. Mary’s, Norwalk. Shawn Tribe has written a detailed description of the restoration.5) As can be seen in a photograph included in Tribe’s article, St Patrick’s, like so many other Victorian churches, had previously suffered from unimaginative, monochromatic painting.

After the magnificent nave, the sanctuary or chancel is somewhat of a disappointment. Judging from photographs, prior renovations from the 1950’s onward have here been especially invasive. The restorers tried to reemphasize the sanctuary by creating an odd, pseudo-stained glass painting on the flat back wall. Althought by no means as extreme, St. Patrick’s resembles in this regard the church of St. Francis Xavier in New York City: a splendid restoration of the nave and transepts leads to a sanctuary – after all, the focal point of a Catholic church – which reflects, partially or totally, other aesthetic and liturgical principles.

(Above) The Cathedral before restoration. (Below) St. Patrick’s church (before it acquired cathedral status) in an earlier photograph. Both from The Liturgical Arts Journal. 6)

A number of magnificent stained glass windows adorn St. Patrick’s, likely contemporary with the church’s construction. Their style closely resembles that of the early windows in St. Patrick’s, New York City. In both cases, a powerful, splendid effect is achieved, even if the craftsmen cannot be said to have exactly recaptured the true spirit of medieval glass. That would take many more decades of artistic effort!

I am glad for such such a splended restoration, which reinforces the status of this church as the true center of its diocese. It demonstrates what careful attention to the interaction of the architecture and the original decorative scheme can achieve. I only regret that, in New York City, churches of even greater artistic, historical and architectural significance – such as St. Thomas, All Saints or St. Stephen’s – are closed, sold off and desecrated.

1. Millionaires’ Triangle
2. “Diocese of Norwich expects to have proposed bankruptcy plan by April 1,” TheDay 12/15/2021
3. James Murphy(architect), Wikipedia
4. John Canning & Co – the Cathedral of St. Patrick.
5. Tribe, Shawn, “Before and After: St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Norwich CT,” The Liturgical Arts Journal, 9/2/2020.
6. Ibid.

This morning Father John Ringley celebrated a Rorate Mass, the Advent Votic Mass of Our Lady, at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk. Mr. John Pia served as Masters of Ceromony and Charles Weaver led the choir in chant.