St. John's To Celebrate 150th Anniversary on Sunday

Going strong for 150 years calls for a celebration. is celebrating its 150 Anniversary on Sunday, June 5.  All members of the community are warmly welcomed to attend the 11:30 a.m. Mass, which will be officiated by Cardinal Sean O’Malley. A formal reception will be held immediately after the Mass.

St. John’s Parish has much to celebrate, as building Catholic roots in Canton took much perseverance.  In the mid-1800s, a large influx of mainly Irish Catholics began to immigrate to the South Shore and Boston. While Boston more quickly developed parishes, the outskirts of Boston, such as Quincy, had to depend on missionaries to come down from Boston to officiate weekly Masses, according to the St. John's history guide.

In fact, during the 1840s, the West Quincy schoolhouse in which Catholics worshipped in was actually closed down illegally so that Catholics could not worship.  Irish Catholics faced grave threats to their freedom to practice their religion in those times, according to the St. John's history guide.

In 1854, the growing community of Catholics branched out to Canton, when Father Strain of Chelsea began to travel here to perform the Mass. In 1855, Reverend Fitzsimmons took charge and purchased Stone Factory Chapel, where the earliest Canton Catholics worshipped, according to the St. John's history guide.

The church that we know as St. John’s today was built a little over a decade later in 1868, when the blossoming parish population required a bigger worshipping space.  The site of St. John’s was purchased by Father Flatley, according to the St. John's history guide.

In 1883, a wealthy man by the name of Billings put his adjacent 11 acre property for sale, and Flatley immediately knew that it would be an excellent opportunity to purchase some of the surrounding land for a rectory and school site.  The price seemed out of the question, but  as fate (or faith) would have it, Flatley was able to purchase some of the property at a very fair price.  Thus, was built in 1883, according to the St. John's history guide.

St. John’s School has long been run by the Sisters of Notre Dame.  There is a lovely garden between the school and Church dedicated to these teachers of the Faith.

Over the past 150 years, St. John the Evangelist Church has undergone many changes, and welcomed many new parishioners, and laid to rest many more.  Its long history and success helps define the successful integration of Irish Catholics in America.

Be sure to view all of the photos of St. John's from the year on Patch.

Do you have an old photo to share? Email photos to: lisa.gentes@patch.com and we will add to our photo gallery!