In 1880 Father Fitzpatrick of St. Gregory’s Catholic Church purchased a lot of 40,000 square feet of land on Minot Street in Neponset, and by December, 1881, a new church was ready for use. The church remained a ward of St. Gregory’s until 1889 when it became St. Ann’s Parish. In 1915 Father John S. McKone began the construction of a new church on a new site, on Neponset Avenue. The new church building in the style of a Roman basilica with a campanile in the rear was finished in 1920.
St. Ann was designed by Edward Graham, a significant architect in Massachusetts and in Cleveland, Ohio. His work was influenced by Maginnis. He designed Holy Name in West Roxbury, St. Paul in Cambridge and the major church in Winthrop. He also designed city hall annex and the Forsyte Dental Clinic in the Fenway.
July 23, 2020, the Dorchester Reporter newspaper stated that on July 1, 2020, the parishes of St. Brendan and St. Ann had been consolidated.
Later in 2020, the new parish was named St. Martin de Porres.
For more information, consult:
Lord, Robert H., John E. Sexton and Edward T. Harrington. History of the Archdiocese of Boston. (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1944) 3 vols.
Parise, Michael. The History of Saint Gregory’s Parish, Lower Mills, Dorchester and Milton, 1862-1987. (Dorchester: Published by Saint Gregory’s Parish, 1987)
Shand Tucci, Douglass. The Gothic Churches of Dorchester. (Issued by the Dorchester Savings Bank. Boston: Tribune Publishing Company, 1972)