R-157 Page 1 of 2
2023
No. R-157. House concurrent resolution congratulating St. Peter Roman Catholic Church of Rutland on the 150th anniversary of the construction of its home.
(H.C.R.124)
Offered by: Representatives Howard of Rutland City, Andriano of Orwell, Burditt of
West Rutland, Canfield of Fair Haven, Clifford of Rutland City, Harrison of Chittenden,
Jerome of Brandon, Maguire of Rutland City, McCoy of Poultney, Nicoll of Ludlow, Notte of Rutland City, Peterson of Clarendon, Sammis of Castleton, and Shaw of Pittsford Offered by: Senators Collamore and Williams Whereas, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington was founded in 1853, and St. Peter Parish in Rutland, established in 1855, is the mother parish of the Roman Catholic community in the Rutland area, and Whereas, the original St. Peter Church was built in 1855 on the south end of Meadow Street in Rutland and had, by the late 1860s, become too small due to the growing Roman Catholic population in the region, and Whereas, in 1869, the Rev. Charles Boylan, the pastor of St. Peter, enlisted the services of ecclesiastical architect Patrick C. Keely of Brooklyn, NY, who designed over 600
churches during his career, to create a plan for a new building to serve the Rutland parishioners, and Whereas, that same year, ground was broken at the ledge lot on the corner of Meadow and Mechanic Streets, the stone was quarried from the site, and the parishioners, many of
whom were employed in the nearby quarries, personally completed much of the work, and Whereas, the construction process required four years, and Father Boylan implemented the architectural plan meticulously, and Whereas, on Easter Sunday 1873, Father Boylan joyfully celebrated the first mass in the new St. Peter Church, and the formal consecration of the building occurred on Sunday,
June 30, 1873, the date that year of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and the Rt. Rev.
Louis DeGosbriand, the first Bishop of the Diocese of Burlington, performed the rites of
consecration, and Whereas, Father Boylan died in December of 1886 and was buried next to the church he built and loved, and Whereas, major renovation and restoration work occurred under the direction of Bishop Robert F. Joyce (1950s), Rev. Msgr. Thomas H. Connor (1970s), and Rev. Wilfred Andre Houle (2000s), and Whereas, for 150 years, St. Peter Church in Rutland, which since 2006 has been a Capuchin Franciscan ministry, has continued to serve as a physical monument to the faith and dedication of generations of Rutland-area Roman Catholics, now therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly congratulates St. Peter Roman Catholic Church of Rutland on the 150th anniversary of the construction of its home, and be it further VT LEG #370836 v.1
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Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to St.
Peter Church in Rutland.
VT LEG #370836 v.1