Ninety-nine years ago, our grandparents belonged to the "dime-a-week" club. The head of each family, if working, contributed that amount toward the building of this cathedral, the dedication of which took place 90 years ago this September.

There are 1,600 stones weighing ten tons each in this church, designed by the late James Murphy of Providence, Rhode Island.

Conceived originally by the late Reverend Daniel Kelly in 1845, Saint Patrick's Church was to have been built on Church Street. But time passed and it was not until the arrival in Norwich of the late Reverend Daniel Mullin that the plan took life again.

Father Mullin was the pastor of old Saint Mary's Church on North Main Street but, for our purposes, his name will live in history as the power behind the building of Saint Patrick's Church. He was a showman too, and paraded with 1,500 parishioners to the Appleton Meech property on Broadway, which had been purchased for $17,000.00.

The date was August 25, 1869; on september 3^rd of that year he bought the property at the rear and on April 8, 1870 bought a 50-foot strip which gave the church an outlet to Otis Street. The farsighted priest then had a house removed, which came with the purchase, to the rear of the land, which might serve as a building for a convent or academy.

Ground breaking began April 7, 1871 and men of the parish, with picks and shovels, dug the foundation. The cornerstone was laid July 13, 1878. Monson granite was selected and local labor used as much as possible. This church measures 200 feet in length by 100 feet across the transept.

When Father Mullin died on March 3, 1878, walls and the roof to the ridgepole had been completed and the Reverend Patrick Shahan from Stafford Springs succeeded him.

It was his lot to continue Father Mullin's dream that this church would be so formidable a structure, "it could be seen from the Thames River." Father Shahan incorporated the parish according to Connecticut's laws on March 26, 1878. On the eve of Saint Patrick's Day, 1879, the church was ready for its first Mass but the floor was not yet ready. Yet, the faithful knelt as best they could on a temporary floor.

Most reverend Lawrence McMahon presided at the official dedication September 28, 1879 with the well known Cardinal Gibbons preaching. Saint Patrick's was then designated the sole parish in Norwich, Saint Mary's was closed but restored in 1898 and incorporated.

The land where the rectory now stands was purchased by Father Shahan on June 17, 1879 and in 1882 the cornerstone of Saint Patrick's School was laid. The building was completed at a cost of $41,500.00 and opened in September of 1883 with 650 students and a teaching staff of twelve.

Father Shahan was succeeded by Reverend Peter Kennedy who served the parish until 1897. It was during the latter's pastorate that Sacred Heart Parish in Norwichtown was established.

Reverend Hugh Treanor was Father Kennedy's successor and, at his direction, a bell was installed in the tower. The bell was donated by John Byrne, one of the famous Byrne brothers, known as the Eight Bells, who appeared for many years as a feature act with Barnun and Bailey circus.

Succeeding pastors were Reverend John Broderick, Reverend Monsignor Michael H. May, Reverend Alexander F. Mitchell, Reverend Monsignor John J. Reilly and Reverend Monsignor Joseph V. King. Monsignor Reilly, a former curate here, returned to Saint Patrick's in 1951 as pastor and it was his task to renovate the church in preparation for the Diamond Jubilee, scheduled for 1954. The work began in January, 1953 and the renovation was complete from the top to the bottom; the old pulpit replaced with a sound system, the original pipe organ rebuilt, new pews, altars moved forward, side galleries removed and a baldachino raised over the marble mensa of the old main altar.

In the midst of the renovation, the Diocese of Norwich was created as a Suffragan to the Archdiocese of Hartford and Saint Patrick Cathedral was made the Cathedral of Norwich Diocese on December 2, 1953. Pope Pius XII named Reverend Monsignor Bernard J. Flanagan, the chancellor of the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont as the first bishop of Norwich. He was installed April 9^th of that year and the jubilee celebrated September 28, 1954. Bishop Flanagan was succeeded by our Most Reverend Vincent J. Hines on Saint Patrick's Day, 1960.

It has been evident through the last 99 years that our forefathers, their sons, and now we, have kept the faith and this beautiful church stands as testament.

A tale handed down over the years was told about one of the early foundation diggers, who instead of "working for his church," stayed home and dug a well. The well collapsed, the story went, and the poor man was rescued in the nick of time by his foundation-digging brethren who rushed to his aid. The moral of this story, said one of our grandparents, was "never shirk your duty to your church."

Whatever any of us can do today can never equal the blood, sweat and tears given without argument by the early faithful.