A History of Saint Joseph’s Parish in Salem, Massachusetts: 1873-1948

Abstract

This volume focuses attention on the centrality of St. Joseph’s parish (the people as well as the structures) in shaping, sustaining and celebrating the spiritual, cultural and linguistic life of French-Canadians and their descendants. Over seven decades, the parish grew in size and import, providing bilingual and classical education in its schools, organizing and launching social organizations, financial institutions and cultural events to assist its members with life in the United States, and offering a rich religious experience that helped generations of French-Canadian families maintain cultural, faith and linguistic connections to their ancestral homes. Written in 1948, on the occasion of the parish’s seventy-fifth anniversary, the authors not only trace the growth and transformation of St. Joseph’s but offer a close accounting of the place of the parish and its parishioners in the civic, economic and ecclesiastical life of the city, the region, the Commonwealth and even the global church. Originally published Published by the Laurier Association, 1948 Translated from French by Dr. Elizabeth Blood, Salem State University Edited with an Introduction by Dr. Elizabeth Duclos-Orsello, Salem State University