Christmas Mass will be celebrated at Our Lady of Lourdes on Christmas morning, December 25 at 9:30.
Our Lady of Lourdes was built in 1877 to serve the town’s Irish Catholics, whose numbers were steadily increasing, climbing from 2% at the time of the Potato Famine to 25% of Hampton’s population by 1880. Until then, Masses were offered by Father McCabe, a Dubliner and pastor of St. James, on alternate Sundays at the home now owned by Peggy Fox.
During the first 25 years of the Gazette, Our Lady of Lourdes was rarely mentioned. Unlike the Congregational Church which has announced services and events since our inception and still, news of the Catholic Church was limited to the occasional list of children receiving the sacraments of Communion and Confirmation. The first reference to the history of the church appeared in a 1993 article by historian Jim Robertson titled “The Irish Come to Hampton” which states: “The Catholic Church – the Irish population were the only Catholics in town in 1880 – was built on Cedar Swamp Road”. Though Governor Chauncey Cleveland donated the acre of land in response to a request from Thomas McLaughlin, John Haley and John McMahon, the resident descendants of Irish immigrants interviewed claimed the location was “because Hampton’s ‘town fathers’ did not want it on Main Street … and even gave trees to plant around the church so that it would not be visible from Main Street.”
Coverage has changed substantially in the new millennium. The December 2002 front page celebrated the 125th anniversary of the church with a history of its origins, renovations and improvements, and priests, many of whom were remembered by parishioners. In November 2008, the front page again announced good news with the article, “Alleluia! Doors of Our Lady of Lourdes to Remain Open to Parishioners” when the Bishop confirmed the recommendation of a Diocesan committee. And in September 2017, the 140th anniversary of the Church’s dedication to “Our Lady of Lourdes” was also celebrated on the front page with an article by Michael Winters which described the special Mass and the importance of the “little gothic revival church” to its parishioners.
As Mr. Robertson reported, the first Catholics here were Irish, but the names of subsequent parishioners show Hampton’s rich immigrant heritage, making this little jewel of a church, at the crest of Cedar Swamp protected with tall pines, of historical and cultural significance to our little town. Merry Christmas to all of its Communicants!