Notre Dame de Lourdes Church (Fall River, Massachusetts)

A part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River, the parish was established in 1874 to serve the growing French-Canadian population located in the city's Flint Village section.

The parish complex over time has also consisted of other multiple buildings, including St. Joseph's Orphanage, The Jesus Marie Convent, a school, the church rectory, the Brothers' residence, and the former Msgr.

[2] This name gives a connection to both parishes as it was Saint Bernadette who was reported to have witnessed the apparition of the Immaculate Conception (the Virgin Mary) at Lourdes, France.

The Parish of Notre Dame de Lourdes first church was a wooden structure located where St. Joseph's Orphanage is now.

By 1888 however, the wooden church was badly dilapidated and no longer fit for use by the large parish, which had grown to 900 families.

In 1890, parishioner and noted architect Louis G. Destremps was asked by Father Prevost to design a new church.

M.J. Castagnoli, a master sculptor, was commissioned to do the plaster work on the columns, cornices, and bas-reliefs that decorated the church.

In 1906 the giant pipe organ manufactured by the Brothers Casavant of St. Hyacinthe was installed and on November 29 of that year the church was officially dedicated.

[citation needed] The church building was meant to evoke the Notre Dame de Paris.

Lucien Hippolyte Gosselin of Manchester, New Hampshire was chosen as the sculptor of the bronze statues.

The bronze work, done in Paris, consisted of The Sacred Heart statue, an Angel cradling a soldier, and three plaques, one for the Army, one for the Navy and the last with the names of the men.

This plan was scrapped and the tall pinnacles were reduced to 235 feet instead; everything above a four-way arch above the clocks was removed and replaced with a shorter, simpler cap with smaller crosses at the top.

[4] During the restoration,[citation needed] a workman's blowtorch accidentally ignited the building,[5] the roof timbers were affected,[6] starting a fire in the south steeple.

The fire, fanned by the high wind, spread to nearby buildings and soon engulfed homes and businesses on the next two streets.

The three Angels that had adorned the Sanctuary Lamp and two candlesticks, though in the middle of the blaze, managed to survive the inferno.

[11] It was announced that St. Bernadette Parish would close and the final Mass was held on August 5, 2018 by Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha.