In 1833, Father James Fitton celebrated the first Catholic mass in Norwich in a third floor loft with 12 people in attendance.

[2] St. Mary's parish continued to grow into the late 1860s, when Father James Mullen recognized that a new church was needed to address the overcrowding.

[3] "On the morning of Good Friday in 1873, the Irish marched from Greeneville with picks and shovels and dug the foundation of the church by hand.

"[4] The cornerstone of the church was laid on July 13, 1873; parishioners paid ten cents a week to finance the construction.

[6] The Most Reverend Bernard J. Flanagan, then Chancellor of the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, was appointed the first Bishop of Norwich by Pope Pius XII.