A different view

Statues

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All these statues came from France.

First pastor

Father I. Ponchele was the first Pastor of St. Mary's Parish. He was the one in charge of gathering the community of Irish immigrants together to form St. Mary's parish. He oversaw the construction of the first St. Mary's church. He died, however, before the church was completed. He was buried under the alter in a water-tight compartment.

When the community had moved to the current day church, they decided to dig up the grave of Father Ponchele and take him to the parish cemetery. Here's an account of what happened....

If you have trouble reading it...here is what it says

"Rev. Ignatious Ponchele, the first priest to have charge of St. Mary's Catholic church of Norwalk, died 4o years ago and his remains were placed in a vault under the altar of the church. Tuesday the body was exhumed to be removed to the church burying ground. The casket was opened and the parties having the matter in charge were startled and frightened at finding the remains in a perfect state of preservation. The face was as natural and lifelike as though the dead proiate had just lain down for a sleep. His clothes also were well preserved."

Over time i will keep featuring past pastors here on the blog. If you ever have any information to add to anything i post, just let me know!

Time for a new church?

And a new school?? Sure it is! (let's go back in time though, say a hundred years or so)

Here's what you'd see!


Looks a tad different nowadays don't it? (now there is no metal work on the steeple, and there is a different cross)

Wouldn't it be nice to have it looking like this again?

Take a close look at this picture. First, look at the church. There are no windows yet!! AND, there's a little tower on the back of the church, it's not there anymore.

Now the school. It housed about 80 students at it's heyday. It's not there anymore because it was condemned in the early 1900's due to huge structural problems. It looks very similar to the school at the old church.

A little history

Well we need to start somewhere, right? Why not start at the very begining?

This Church you see here was the very first St. Mary's Catholic Church in Norwalk. It was located on the corner of St. Mary's Street and Milan Ave. The Rectory of it, still stands today, and is the brick house on the south corner. It's pictured below in the modern recreation of the picture above.

This is from the inside. If you notice, the little table by the altar with the flowers on it? Well we still have it! And for the most part, it's the only thing we have left of that church. (except for most of the bricks from this church, which were used in the building of the century house. But that's a different story for a different time.)



Have you liked reading this? Well a full history of St. Mary's can be found on the main website (http://www.stmarynorwalk.com/) Just go to "Parish History by Mike Doughty" on the right sidebar!