St. Patrick's Catholic Church is a historic church at 380 Academy Hill Road in
Newcastle, Maine
Newcastle is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,848 at the 2020 census. The village of Newcastle is located in the eastern part of the town, on the Damariscotta River. Together with the village of Damariscot ...
. Built in 1807, it is the oldest surviving
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
church building in
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
, and was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1973.
It remains in use as a community within the Parish of All Saints in the
Diocese of Portland
The Diocese of Portland () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church for the entire state of Maine in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Boston.
The mother church ...
.
Description and history
St. Patrick's Catholic Church stands in a rural setting a short way south of the village of Damariscotta Mills, on the west side of Academy Hill Road just south of its junction with
Maine State Route 215. It is a rectangular brick building, bearing some stylistic resemblance to churches of the period in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. It has a gabled roof, and a projecting square tower with the main entrance at its base, set in a segmented-arch opening. The next stage of the tower has a round window, with a belfry at the next stage that has round-arch louvered openings. A projecting cornice separates the belfry from the two-stage steeple, which is topped by a cross. Historic photos of the church show it with a hipped roof over the belfry instead of a steeple. The interior of the church retains original fixtures, including floors, pews, and altar.
[ with ]
The church was built in 1807 and consecrated in 1808. Its construction was made possible by the efforts of two prominent local businessmen, both Irish immigrants. The parish was organized in 1796 by James Kavanagh and Matthew Cottrill, and first met without a priest in a wood-frame chapel. Kavanagh and Cottrill paid for construction of this edifice, which is built with brick made across the
Damariscotta River
The Damariscotta River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 22, 2011 tidal river in Lincoln County, Maine, that empties into the Atlantic Ocean. ''Damariscotta'' i ...
and hauled across the frozen river in winter. Lime for its mortar was imported from
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. The church's design is attributed to Nicholas Codd, who also built the
Gov. Edward Kavanaugh House in Damariscotta Mills and the
Matthew Cottrill House in
Damariscotta. It is the oldest surviving Roman Catholic church in New England.
[ Among the historical artifacts in the church are a bell cast by ]Paul Revere
Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, ...
& Sons and the original altar that Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus
Jean-Louis Anne Madelain Lefebvre de Cheverus (also known as John Cheverus; 28 January 1768 – 19 July 1836) was a French people, French-born Catholic Church, Catholic prelate who served as the first Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, Bishop ...
used to consecrate the building.
See also
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patrick's Catholic Church, Newcastle, Maine
Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Federal architecture in Maine
19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States
Churches in Lincoln County, Maine
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1807
National Register of Historic Places in Lincoln County, Maine
Buildings and structures in Newcastle, Maine
Irish-American culture in Maine
Religious organizations established in 1807
Christian organizations disestablished in 2009