Holy Cross Church, Lewiston

Holy Cross Church is a church at 1080 Lisbon Street in Lewiston, Maine and is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

Holy Cross Church
Église Sainte-Croix (in French)
Church (center), 2013.
General information
Architectural styleBaroque
Town or cityLewiston, Maine
CountryUnited States
Construction started1924
Completed1926

Building

Over the main door of the church is the motto O Crux ave, spes unica (Hail to the cross, our only hope) - a line from the ancient Latin hymn Vexilla Regis Prodeunt. The inside of the church is adorned with important statues, a wooden carved altar, and gold leaf wrought iron railings. The stained windows also depict important Catholic Saints, and each window was donated by a parishioner.

History

The original church celebrated its first mass on September 14, 1924. The parishioners were largely of French Canadian heritage; after some early controversy over the name of the church, by 1926 the French name Église Sainte-Croix was adopted and the membership became almost entirely French American, as the Irish-American members joined St. Patrick's Church.[1][2]

A new church was constructed after World War II, and an extensive renovation was completed in 1985.[3]

Many marriages took place at Holy Cross Church and a recent book was written by Youville Labonté which relates to the genealogy involved.[4]

Facilities

The Catholic Church of Lewiston has a library of some 3,500 items.[5]

References
  1. "Church named for date of first mass", The Lewiston Journal, Jun 21, 1985, pp. 21-22.
  2. Larry Poitras, "Survivance: A Franco-American Obsession", Je me souviens (Journal of the American-French Genealogical Society), vol. 13, no. 2, Winter 1990 , pp. 39-40.
  3. "Holy Cross Church/Sainte-Croix Re-dedication", The Lewiston Journal, Jun 21, 1985 (special supplement section).
  4. OpenLibrary.org. "holy cross (church : lewiston me.) - Open Library". openlibrary.org.
  5. "Parish Library". Prince of Peace Catholic Community.


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