Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church is a neo-Gothic church on Chestnut Street in Springfield. This is in the Liberty Heights neighborhood of the city. Its campus included a rectory, churchyard, convent, and school. PARISH LINK
Church
The original Sacred Heart Church was done June 14 1874. James J McDermott was the founder of this wonderful church. James had been ordained August 11 1866. The first mass was in 1874 at the Chapel of the Sacred Heart which was on Everett Street.
Sacred Heart Church that you see here now was started in October 21 1888 (cornerstone lain) and finished in 1896. The plans were made by James Murphy. It was consecrated on October 18 1896. The church is made of Longmeadow Sandstone. The church has 27 stained glass window that were made in Munich Germany. The metallic turrets were added in 1998. The organ is a Steere and Turner make from 1874. It was made for the Sacred Heart Chapel Church in that year. In 1896 they moved it from the chapel to the church. Steere and Turner is a Springfield based company.
External LINK to the history of the church campus.
Churchyard
Father McDermott was buried alongside the church in 1891 – FINDAGRAVE. He had gone to Paris France to deal with tuberculosis but died there. The memorial gravestone is a John Donohue design. FINDAGRAVE
Sacerdos in Eternum
Ave in pace Sacerdos Rari exempli Fide Fortis Spe Laetus Caritate Fervens Tui Immemor de Aliis Sollicitus Mitis et Constans Rectus et Prudens
[Hail in Peace, Priest, Rare Example of Faith, Strong in Hope, Joyful in Charity, Fervent in Thyself, Unmindful of Others, Concerned, Gentle and Constant, Upright and Prudent.]
Convent
From 1877 the nuns would occupy the former rectory. In 1882 a convent was built. The nuns were from the order of the Notre Dame. There was a garden in the back of the convent during the early 1900s. It had a garden house called a summer house.
The newest convent is from 1953. The nuns have a chapel of their own. Nowadays the Monsignor Farland Center is here. This is an education center.
School
The school was at 27 Everett Street and was ready in August of 1877. In the beginning it was called the Convent School of Notre Dame. The church would be for a while on the ground floor and the school on the second floor. The third floor was a social hall. The cellar was for fraternal groups. The school was served by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur who also served the girls’ schools in Chicopee and Holyoke. They only served girls. In 1881 a high school system started. Boys were allowed into the elementary school only by 1908 but then that system was changed in 1925 since there was no room for them. After the 1970s the boys were allowed back into the school. When the school was razed, the statue that was in the front hallway of the school plus its corner stone and cross were saved.
In 1925 a new school was erected on the back side of the old school. The new school was a John Donohue design. It would be both a high and an elementary school.
In September of 1970 Sacred Heart High School joined with the Notre Dame High School of Chicopee in a joint school. They took on the name of Notre Dame but stayed in Springfield at this location. The high school school closed for good by 1976. The elementary school lasted much longer only closing in 2002.
POSTCARD look at the church and the back of the school.
Tue, Jun 10, 1924 ·Page 13
Rectory
In 1872 the house that would become the rectory was built and occupied by a Luther Fisk. After the death of McDermott, Reverend Thomas Smythe took over. The first rectory was at 35 Everett Street and McDermott lived there from 1874 to 1877.
| name | starts | ends | burial |
| James J McDermott | 1874 | 1891 | in churchyard |
| Thomas Smythe | 1891 | 1927 | |
| John F Griffin | 1927 | 1930 | Burial |
| Daniel H McDermott | 1930 | 1946 | Burial |
| John D Sullivan | 1946 | 1967 | Burial |
Neighborhood
Two streets over on Carew Street in 1896 the Sisters of Providence started the Mercy Hospital.
Missions
Our Lady of Hope Parish LINK was organized in 1906 as a mission church of Sacred Heart.
All Souls Church LINK was another mission church of Sacred Heart. It was on Plainfield Street and started in 1907.
Sanborn MAPS – 1886 map – 1896 map – 1911 map
