Sacred Heart Monument Dedication slated for November 30

Sacred Heart Church, formerly located at the corner of Summer and Robeson Streets, was the Mother Church for the city’s French speakers. When formed in 1874, it served 140 families. As French-Canadians streamed into the city to work in the city’s cotton mills, the parish grew. It opened a bilingual French-English school in 1886. By 1908, the parish had grown to 1,000 families. Later, daughter churches were launched in the North End and the South End.

In 1999, after 125 years of service to the city’s French speakers, the church closed. Parishioners from the remaining 350 families went to nearby churches. When the building was demolished in January 2001, its furnishings were dispersed to several churches nationwide.

On Sunday November 30, former parishioners will dedicate a monument to memorialize Sacred Heart Church. The monument holds two significant relics. Students at GNB Voc-Tech built an enclosure and steel frame to hold the school bell, once hidden inside its steeple atop the mansard slate roof. Skilled masons from the city of New Bedford constructed the footing and the red brick base which incorporates the original cornerstone from the church.