St Anthony of Padua Parish

General information

St. Anthony of Padua is a Roman Catholic church in New Bedford, Massachusetts, part of the Diocese of Fall River.HistorySt. Anthony of Padua was founded in 1895 to serve the needs of French Canadian Catholics who lived in the North End of New Bedford. The new parish was under the care of first pastor, Fr. Hormisdas Deslauriers (1861–1916), an energetic leader who would have great influence on the parishes future development. The first mass was celebrated on Oct 6th 1895 at ‘’North Union Hall’’ on Bullard Street. Shortly thereafter a two story wood frame church was dedicated on March 8, 1896.BuildingThe present Romanesque style church was begun in 1902 when the parish acquired plans from Canadian architect Joseph Venne of Montreal. The cornerstone for the new building was laid in June 1904 and work began on shortly thereafter. On September 20, 1904 several construction workers were seriously injured and one killed when a 50-foot wall collapsed at the construction site.After the accident the original contractor, Michael J. Houlihan of Providence, Rhode Island, withdrew from the project and noted Fall River architect Louis G. Destremps was brought in as supervising architect. The church exterior was completed in December 1905 and the lower church was available for masses by 1908. The upper portion of the church, though not yet ready for religious service was opened for public viewing on January 17, 1909. The period of 1909-1912 was largely taken up by extensive interior decoration and the installation of a large Casavant pipe organ. The finished church was formally dedicated on November 28, 1912.