Saint Brendan Roman Catholic Church


No. 2186 Saint Brendan’s, photograph February, 2003

 

Saint Brendan’s Parish  was created on September 25, 1929 for the Cedar Grove section with territory derived partly from St. Gregory’s and partly from S. Ann’s, Neponset.  St. Brendan’s was organized under Rev. William F. Twohig, the first pastor. He held services for a time in the Granite Avenue Garage, but he moved quickly in erecting a brick Romanesque church on Gallivan Boulevard, which was blessed on November 5, 1933.

Daniel Hay, who is studying the Roman Catholic Churches of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, reported that the architect of St. Brendan’s was Raymond Gorrani of Worcester, MA. He built a few other churches in Massachusetts including buildings in Worcester and Marlboro. He vanished in 1940 with no traces.

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.

From St. Brendan’s website:

“From our first Mass in a garage on the corner of Gallivan Blvd. and Granite Avenue  in 1929, until the present day, our parish has been under the patronage of St. Brendan the Navigator.  Much has changed since then.  A growing city has matured.  Families that moved here in the Depression have endured and expanded.  Homes that squeezed in families of five or eight children after WWII, now provide a quiet refuge for a mature couple. Their children have fanned out across the city and suburban developments.  Each decade has brought new blood which renews the houses and yards.  All of them are stamped with an ‘Originally From Dorchester’ trademark. They also have a master hallmark.  Like a master jeweler’s necklace, each family is a gem that shines about the cross of faith – the faith learned here at St. Brendan’s. …. St. Brendan’s had taken pride in its faith, its ethnic heritages and its strong community.”

                                                       ~ Rev. Clifton Thuma

                                           75th Anniversary, October 2004


Source:

Dorchester Old and New, 1630-1930. (Dorchester: Chapple Pulishing Company for the Dorchester, Massachusetts, Tercentary Committee, 1930)

Lord, Robert H., John E. Sexton and Edward T. Harrington. History of the Archdiocese of Boston. (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1944) 3 vols.

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April 17, 2020