Holy Cross Church was a church at 1080 Lisbon Street in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ) is the List of municipalities in Maine, second most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine, with the city's population at 37,121 as of the 2020 United States census. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, Augusta, the sta ...

and was part of the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Diocese of Portland. The church held its final Mass on Sunday, June 29, 2025. Msgr. Rene Mathieu was the celebrant, alongside Pastor Daniel Greenleaf and many other priests.

Building

Over the main door of the church is the motto ' (''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 French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

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 French Americans or Franco-Americans () are Citizenship of the United States, citizens or United States nationality law, nationals of the United States who identify themselves with having full or partial French people, French or French Canad ...

, as the Irish-American members joined

St. Patrick's Church St. Patrick's Church, Saint Patrick's Church, St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church or Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, and similar, may refer to: Australia * St Patrick's Church, Adelaide, a heritage-listed church in Adelaide, South Australia ...

. A new church was constructed after World War II, and an extensive renovation was completed in 1985. Many marriages took place at Holy Cross Church and a recent book was written by Youville Labonté which relates to the genealogy involved. The church held its final Mass on Sunday, June 29, 2025. Msgr. Rene Mathieu was the celebrant, alongside Pastor Daniel Greenleaf and many other priests.

Facilities

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

References

External links

* Roman Catholic churches in Lewiston, Maine Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland {{Maine-RC-church-stub