Saint Matthew Roman Catholic Church

No. 2188 Saint Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church, photograph taken in February, 2003.

 

The Dorchester Reporter stated that the last mass was held on October 4, 2020. Three months earlier St. Matthew’s in Dorchester and St. Angela’s in Mattapan merged to create Our Lady of Carmel Parish.

In 1888 Father Fitzpatrick of St. Gregory’s bought a lot of land at the corner of Norfolk and Darlington Streets, and two years later opened a temporary church on the site. It opened on Christmas Day, 1890, and remained as a ward of St. Gregory’s until it became St. Matthew’s Parish in 1900. The new Saint Matthew’s on Stanton Street was the creation of Father John A. Donnelly, 1907-1923, the second pastor of the parish, and the new church building was ready for use in 1923.

The Pastors were:

D.J. Powers
John A. Donnelly, 1907-1923
Edward F. Hurley
Mihcael Cudahy
Thomas R. Reynolds, 1936-

St. Matthew’s was designed by Cambridge architect, Charles Grecco, who designed many church buildings, Catholic and Jewish, in Boston, Cleveland, Miami, Brockton, Jamaica Plain (Immaculate Conception) and Cambridge. He also built fire houses in Cambridge.


[Note: The Dorchester Reporter, January 31, 2008, carried an article entitled: Wesley Child Care Center moves to St. Matthew’s. The artilce notes that St. Matthew’s School was dormant since its closure in 2006 and that the Wesley Child Care Center has signed a 10 year lease.]

October 8, 2020, the Dorchester Reporter newspaper reported that Saint Matthew Church has closed its doors.



For more information, consult:

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.

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)

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April 17, 2020