When a church celebrates an anniversary, it is a celebration of people - the people of God. The parishioners of St. Patrick's Cathedral Parish are justifiably proud of the beauty of the Cathedral building and its surroundings. But, over and above the exterior and appearance, let us recall on this 125^th anniversary that it is always the people who make a place of worship possible.

Numerous parishioners down through the years helped make St. Patrick's Cathedral a reality. Starting with those nickels and dimes and hard physical labor built the Cathedral, we move to those people today, who, through their contributions of both time and money, support the ongoing life of the parish.

We gratefully acknowledge the efforts of those who have gone before us and pray that they may continue to rest in the loving embrace of the Father they served so very well.

We sincerely thank all present parishioners for their loyalty and faithfulness to St. Patrick's Cathedral and acknowledge your importance to the life of the parish.

St. Patrick's was the dream of Fr. James Fitton, Norwich's first Catholic priest, back in 1835. Fr. Fitton's dream was made a reality by a Civil War chaplain, Fr. Daniel Mullen, who purchased the land and led the Catholic people of St. Mary's parish in Greenville to build Norwich's second Catholic church.

It was on Good Friday, April 7, 1871, that the work began. The Irish from Greenville marched 1,700 strong to the present site preceded by the Norwich City Band with horses and carts filled with picks and shovels. They worked endlessly from Good Friday morning until the Monday after Easter, and that army dug the complete foundation by hand in just over three days. It was during that time that they realized that they were building not a simple wooden church but a majestic, stone, Gothic, spired cathedral for the future. Fr. Mullen, who had led his flock, died on March 3, 1978, after ten years of extraordinary dedication and labor.

Two weeks later, on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1878, Fr. Shahan took charge of St. Mary's and vigorously rushed the completion of St. Patrick's. When Fr. Shahan became pastor, the church's walls, roof, and towers were completed to the ridgepole.

The first Mass was said in St. Patrick's one year later on St. Patrick's Day with parishioners standing on temporary wooden floors. The solemn dedication was performed that same year on September 28, 1879. After a pastorate of 14 years, Fr. Peter M. Kennedy succeeded Fr. Shahan on February 1, 1892.

St. Patrick's served as the largest parish in Norwich and witnessed the migration of Italian immigrants from Italy and Sicily at the turn of the century to a point where the parishioners were almost equally divided between the Irish and the Italians.

Over the years, a succession of pastors brought many changes to our Cathedral. In 1897, Fr. Hugh Treanor succeeded Fr. Kennedy and replaced the bells in the steeple donated by a parishioner, John Bryne of the famous theatrical family. The bell, more fitting for the lofty steeple, weighed almost two tons. It was a Jewish friend of the parish who, in 1954, donated an automatic bell ringer.

By 1911, the church had been renovated at a cost of $11,000 and all bills were paid. The church was debt free. On September 23, 1911, Bishop John J. Nilan solemnly consecrated St. Patrick's church.

Fr. Michael H. May was appointed pastor on June 15, 1921 until his death in 1936. Fr. Alexander F. Mitchell then became pastor and supervised extensive improvements and repairs to the parish plan. The cost of updating the church, the basement, school and rectory was $100,000.

In 1938, the famous hurricane destroyed the beautiful St. Patrick's windows and caused other extensive damage. Fr. Mitchell died on January 2, 1950. It was at this time that Bishop O'Brien of Hartford recalled Fr. John J. Reilly from Washington, DC, who had once served here as curate. Fr. Reilly was serving as director of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception when he was called back to completely renovate St. Patrick's for the Diamond Jubilee in 1954.

Before the work was completed, Fr. Reilly was elevated to Monsignor Reilly and the church was completely renovated with new confessionals and Stations of the Cross, the choir loft was rebuilt, and the side balconies were removed. The extensive remodeling, landscaping and rebuilding of the church organ cost $400,000.

On September 2,1953, St. Patrick's was named a Cathedral to be the seat of the new Diocese of Norwich under the Archdiocese of Hartford. His Holiness Pope Pius XII named the Most Reverend Bernard J. Flanagan of Burlington, VT as the first Bishop of Norwich; installed December 9, 1953.

In 1959, the Most Reverend Vincent J. Hines was installed as the Diocese's second Bishop. In 1975, Bishop Hines retired for reasons of health.

On August 6, 1975, Bishop Daniel P. Reilly became the third Bishop of Norwich, and after almost 20 years as our spiritual leader, he was installed in 1994 as Bishop of Worcester, MA.

On November 1, 1995, Bishop Daniel A. Hart was installed as the fourth Bishop of Norwich. After almost 8 years as our spiritual leader, he retired and presently resides in the Cathedral Rectory.

On May 14, 2003, Bishop Michael R. Cote was installed as the fifth Bishop of Norwich. Bishop Cote welcomes you to the Cathedral of Saint Patrick and hopes that your visit here will be a grace-filled occasion.