St. Mary is a

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 ...

church in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

, United States, part of the

Diocese of Bridgeport The Diocese of Bridgeport () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church located in the southwestern part of the state of Connecticut in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical provin ...

History

Around 1854, Greenwich became a mission station of St. John's in Stamford. Visiting priests offered Mass in private homes or at the Town Hall. In 1860 a small church was erected on William Street. The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

was founded in 1874."About Our Parish", St. Mary Church, Greenwich
/ref> In 1875 Rev. M.A. Tierney added a choir gallery to the church. He later purchased land for a new church from James Elphich. During the tenure of Rev. Denis J. Cremin, the cornerstone of St. Mary's Church was laid by Bishop Thomas Galberry of Hartford.O'Donnell, James H., ''History of the Diocese of Hartford'', D. H. Hurd Company, 1900, p. 272
/ref> The new white frame colonial church was dedicated on May 18, 1879. Rev. Thomas Smith became pastor in September 1879. He converted the old church on William St. into a school, which was staffed by the Sisters of Mercy from Middletown. The church was decorated in 1884 and enlarged in 1888. on May 16, 1900, a disastrous fire destroyed the early church along with a number of other buildings in the area. The funeral of Adolphus W. Green, the founder of

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(including

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biscuits), was held in this church on March 10, 1917. Msgr. Frank Wissel was appointed pastor of St. Mary's in 1997. On the occasion of his retirement in 2014, a marble statue of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, donated anonymously, was erected outside the churchmin honor of Wissel. He died a week later on June 19 at the age of seventy-six.

Architecture

The current stone church was designed in 1900 by Henry C. Pelton. The parish complex also contains a school and convent. St. Mary Church and Rectory are included as significant contributing properties in the Greenwich Avenue Historical District, Greenwich, Connecticut. Greenwich Avenue Historical District, Greenwich Connecticut (Photos, #14)

References

External links

St Mary - website

Diocese of Bridgeport
Roman Catholic churches in Greenwich, Connecticut Churches in Fairfield County, Connecticut Roman Catholic parishes of Diocese of Bridgeport {{Connecticut-RC-church-stub