Anthony’s School, the great work of the Filippini sisters, for the men
and women who have served as Lay trustees over the years, for the
priests who have served here and for the growth that has kept pace with
the growth of Watertown.
One of the great accomplishments of the parish has
been its celebration of the Mount Carmel
feast. It is one of the
longest continuously running parish festivals in the whole Northeast.
In 2006 the parish celebrated its 90th anniversary of Mount
Caramel.
On July 16, 1251, Our Blessed Mother appeared to
Saint Simon Stock in
England
and placed in his hands the habbit which was to be the distinctive garb
of the Carmelites. Pope
innocent IV blessed this habit and attached it to many privileges, not
only for the members of the order, but also for those who entered the
Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
There’s a longstanding tradition to be enrolled in
the scapular of our Lady of Mount Carmel
at the time of First Holy Communion.
Once a person has been enrolled, he or she is enrolled for life.
There are many benefits accorded to those who wear the scapular
and have the devotion to our Lady.
Italians have great devotion to our Lady under the
title of our Lady of Mount Carmel.
On January 1, 1916 a congregation of the blessed virgin of
Mount Carmel (Congregazione Della Benedetta Vergine Del
Carmine) was incorporated for the men of Saint Anthony’s parish.
The first celebration of the Feast of our Lady of Mount
Carmel at Saint Anthony’s was July 16, 1916.
In the beginning, the statue of the blessed virgin of Mount Caramel
was carried on the shoulders of 4 to 6 members of the Society.
The procession was accompanied by a band, followed a longer route
that today. It was concluded
at the church with a religious service.
Afterwards food stands, games and other attractions help the
people to celebrate the Feast.
Before 1951 when
Arsenal Street was widened, it was customary
to celebrate three Feasts of Saint Anthony’s:
June 13-the Feast of Saint Anthony
July 16-the Feast of our Lady of
Mount Carmel
August 16-Feast of Saint Rocco
Because the
Arsenal Street bridge and the new State road
were under construction for so long, the parish initiated one big
celebration for Mount
Caramel
rather than three separate celebrations.
In the late sixties and early seventies, a
celebration of Mount Carmel was expanded.
Carnival rides were introduced; fireworks climaxed a celebration.
By the late seventies, it had gained a reputation
for good Italian food, the occasion for family reunions, and a great
social event for the city of
Watertown
and the neighboring communities.
It has given rise to some similar celebrations in
other parishes. While Mount Caramel
has been a great source of financial help for our parish we hope that
its religious and family celebration will always be the most memorable
aspects of the feast. To
enjoy good food together with our parish family and friends on the
occasion of our Lady’s Feast is
CELEBRATION indeed!
In the next year the adjacent lots and houses on the
corner of Bellew Avenue
were acquired. When Bishop
Navagh stopped at Saint Anthony’s on June 13, 1957 on his way to
installation the next day at Ogdensburg, he learned that a new rectory
was to be built. “Oh, no, ”
he said, “you’re going to have a catholic school first.” Plans for the
campaign were totally revised.
In October of that year $156,000 was pledged to build a new
school and convent.
The ground breaking was in March 1958 and
construction was hurried along so that classes began for the first five
grades in September that year.
Bishop Navagh formally blessed the new school and convent on May
17, 1959 and at the same time invested Father Lynch as Monsignor.
Monsignor Lynch was transferred to Clayton in 1960 and was
succeeded by Father Paul Brunet, who was made Monsignor while at Saint
Anthony’s. Father Aloysius
Isele became pastor in 1964 and then Father Henry McFadden in 1966.
Father McFadden led a successful debt reduction campaign and
prepared the way for planning a new rectory.
In July 1971, Monsignor Anthony Milia came back to the parish as
Pastor. He was the first
native priest of Italian decent ordained in the diocese of Ogdensburg.
One of the first tasks he accomplished as a new
Pastor was the establishment of the parish council.
The church was extensively repaired and redecorated.
New pews, furnishings and carpeting were installed.
Aesthetic arts of Montreal supervised the
renovation and renewal which was completed in July 1972.
The roof of the school was repaired and a new roof put on the
convent.
In 1978 a new parish house, designed by Moran &
Yaussi of Watertown
was constructed by Deline construction company was occupied.
For 40 years the priest lived in a prefabricated Sears Roebuck
house. In 1978 Saint
Anthony’s was pleased and proud to have a comfortable and well built
parish house to serve both the priest and the people.
All of those improvements have been made because of the
generosity of the people through their weekly envelopes, the Mount
caramel feast, bingo, spaghetti suppers and many acts and projects of
just plain hard work.
The
Mount
Caramel pavilion was
completed for the feast in 1979.
This combination food pavilion and garage was built by Deline
construction and Jeff-Lewis Board Of Co-operational Educational
Services.
Since 1937 Saint Anthony’s has been blessed by many
hardworking and dedicated young priests.
Father Joseph A. Conti served the longest from 1969 to 1979.
On October 1, 1983 Bishop Stanislas J Brazana
ordained Vincent J Frattalli and Richard C. Warner, Sr.
as permanent deacons.
They are the first two and only permanent deacons ordained in the
parish.
In 1986 Saint Anthony apartments was built on a
portion of land sold by the parish and Frank Palumbo to a nonprofit
corporation formed by Saint Anthony’s parish and the Italian and
American Civic Association.
Catholic charities of the diocese of Ogdensburg helped the corporation
get a grant from the department of housing and urban development.
It has 30 units of housing for senior citizens.
On January 1, 1988, the newly formed Altar/Rosary
society was initiated. The
Rosary Society and the Altar Society merged to form one society.
In October 1989, Monsignor Milia completed 30 years
as Diocesan director of the society for the Propagation of the Faith.
In May 2000, Monsignor Milia celebrated the 50th
anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.
A year later, Bishop Gerald Barbarito accepted Monsignor’s
request to retire as pastor after serving 31 years.
A retirement party was held at IHC junior senior high school to
honor Monsignor Milia for his many years of faithful service to the
people of Saint Anthony’s.
In August 2001 Father Donald A. Robinson was
installed in the seventh pastor of Saint Anthony’s.
A year later Father Robinson commenced a capital campaign to
raise funds necessary to renovate the interior of Saint Anthony’s
church. The people of the
parish were very supportive and generous as the goal was reached a very
short time. Patrick Beyer
and sons, Southington, CT
began the restoration at the beginning of the New Year 2003 and the
parishioners moved back into the renewed church on Holy Thursday
evening, April 17, 2003.
Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito rededicated the Church on the Feast of Saint
Anthony, June 13, 2003.
Over the years the people of
St.
Anthony’s have provided for good Catholic education and formation for
their young people both in their Catholic school and religious education
program.
After many years of study and reflection it was
decided to reconfigure and consolidate the Catholic schools in Watertown.
Saint Anthony’s School closed in June 2004.
A newly consolidated Catholic School System opened in September
2004 with IHC Primary, IHC Intermediate, and IHC junior/senior high
school.
Father Robinson celebrated his 25th
anniversary ordination to the priesthood in May 2005.
With the growth of
Fort
Drum and expanding
development of Arsenal
Street, many new families have moved into the
area and the parish community of Saint Anthony’s continues to grow.
As the people of Saint Anthony’s look forward to
100 years, they can truly rejoice in the blessings of the past: of the
leadership they have enjoyed from the time of Father Sechi, for the work
of the parish societies, for the reputation and accomplishments of Saint
It is good for us to know something of our
roots so that we can really understand our own lives in their place
in society in our place in the world.
It is good for a Parish and people in a Parish to know
something of their roots.
Saint Anthony’s
has a long and rich history.
The celebration of the Mount caramel feast, likewise, has a
lengthy and interesting
story.
On November of 1903, Monsignor Joseph H.
Conroy, as Vicar General and Administrator of the Diocese, gave
permission to Father Royer to “erect a building for the spiritual
needs of the children in the section of Watertown known as the
‘flats’.” On December 14, 1903 the Sacred Heart Fathers purchased a
house and lot where the church now stands with the idea that it
would be converted into a Chapel and school for religious education.
The Catholic the directory for 1903 showed that the
priests from Our Lady of Sacred Heart were in charge of the chapel at
West Watertown.
Very early on it was given the name: “Saint Anthony’s”, because it is so
identified in the directory for 1905.
So for the first 10 years, the small group of immigrant families
were cared for by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
Father Claudius Sechi was ordained as a secular
priest at Sassari in Sardinia on
December 7, 1904. He worked in
his home diocese for six years before going to
Rome
to study Canon Law for two years.
It was while in Rome
that he met an American priest from the Ogdensburg diocese, Father
Onesime Boyer, who happened to be recommended to Father Sechi when he
was looking for a teacher to help him learn Italian.
At the end of the school year in 1912, Father Sechi
obtained permission from his Bishop to travel for six months to America as he had the opportunity to accompany
his sister and brother-in-law who were coming to New York.
Father Sechi must have gotten an extended leave from his Bishop
because he ended up spending a year in
New York City, serving as an Assistant at Saint
Stephen’s church. Eventually
he came to visit Father Boyer at Benson Mines and through him was
recommended to Bishop Gabriels.
To his great disappointment, Father Sechi, upon his
arrival here, found the conditions were not what he expected.
Led to believe that the church he was to serve was already firmly
established, he was shocked when he found instead only a small weather
beaten wood structure that had been a private dwelling before it was
converted in makeshift fashion to religious purposes.
There was no rectory and he lived for a while in Saint Patrick’s
rectory.
In time Father Sechi was able to find rooms
where he could rent and begin to support himself by giving music
lessons. The early years
must have been extremely difficult and all the while there was the
likelihood that after World War One ended, that his Bishop would
order him home again. It
was not until 1919 that papers were filed to officially incorporate
Saint Anthony’s Church.
Once this was done, then the church could purchase for $3,500 a
building that had been bought in 1903 by the Sacred Heart Fathers.
In 1920 Father Sechi announced plans for new
church. The old chapel
was moved from the front to the rear of the lot.
The cellar was gone and cement basement walls were completed
and covered with a temporary roof.
For the next 10 years the church basement served as a place
of worship. The bishop
required that $30,000 should be on hand before construction could
continue.
Despite the fact that Father Sechi was able to
get some papers from his home diocese to allow permanent transfer to
the Ogdensburg Diocese, he did become a naturalized citizen of the
United States on June 25, 1921, an action that indicate that the
bishop of Sassari was losing what ever chances he might have thought
were his to bring Father Sechi home again.
Finally at the beginning of the great
depression there was enough money on hand to continue with the
building of the church.
On April 5, 1930 the upper church construction was begun by the
contractors Burns Brothers and Haley under the direction of the
local architect Mr. David Kieff.
The church was completed in late fall and solemnly blessed by
Bishop Conroy and December 14, 1930.
At the time Father Sechi to charge there were
upwards of 100 Italian families in
Watertown.
By 1923 he was able to report 203 families, comprising 2800 souls
and 500 children under religious instruction.
Total summer offerings for the year were $1400.
Five years later 268 families, but the growth was slow.
By 1935 there were over 300 families and in 1937, 410 families.
1937 was a big year for Father Sechi.
He went home to Sardinia
and was finally able to bring back a document that would allow his
official transfer to the diocese of Ogdensburg.
While Father Sechi was away, Father Fix was in charge of the
parish. With the Bishop’s
encouragement he was able to organize a drive to raise money for convent
and rectory. The old church
hall was remodeled and equipped for a sister’s convent.
The house of Mrs. Rose Gaffney was purchased for a rectory.
Four sisters of the order of Religious Teachers Filippini we’re
assigned in September 1937 to do social service work and teach religion.
An assistant priest was assigned,
the sisters convent opened in September, the rectory in December, $3000
was paid on the church debt and Father Sechi was invested as a
Monsignor, a Papal Chamberlain, by Bishop Conroy on December 12, 1937.
When Monsignor Sechi retired in June, 1954, the
parish was out of debt and had $33,000 in the bank.
The new pastor Father Lynch was able to repair the outside of the
church and redecorate the interior for the 25th anniversary
of the church dedication, observed in 1955.