An increasing Irish-Catholic immigrant population occupying Providence in the 1840s necessitated the need of both a parish and school. Saint Patrick’s Church was established in 1841 and, within two years, the school followed. Opened on November 1, 1843, as a Sunday School, the original building was constructed behind the church and fully furnished at a cost of five hundred dollars. Soon after construction, the structure went through several changes. In 1845, the building was moved from Smith Street to Davis Street and enlarged to two rooms “capable of containing 300 children each, with yards and outhouses, separate for boys and girls.” In 1848, St. Patrick’s became a day school for 35 boys with tuition at $1 per quarter, followed a few years later by a school for girls run by Sisters of Mercy. By 1871, the original building was replaced with a new structure to meet the demands of the continually growing community. Built on Davis Street in Providence, this new building, larger than the original to meet expected attendance demands, was a brick structure with eight classrooms and a large hall for school assemblies and parish activities. It served as a Grammar School until 1923 when it became Saint Patrick’s High School. While the school maintained its presence on Davis Street, another change was coming to Saint Patrick’s. Reverend Martin F. Reddy decided that the school needed to once more go back to Smith Street and continue to serve the needs and education of the children. Believing that a modern building, larger and more suitable to the needs of the community and children, was needed, Reverend Reddy moved forward with his plans. After purchasing Jones Lot on Smith Street, the new structure served as an elementary school upon completion in 1928 and continued to educate the children of Smith Hill until the first major significant change in the mid-twentieth century. In the 1960s, Smith Hill underwent a rapid transformation. Urban redevelopment, the completion of Route 95, and declining populations in the area resulted in diminishing parishioners to Saint Patrick’s Church. Along with these changes, high operating costs, and lack of enrollment the building closed its doors in 1971. Then, one year later, the school found itself in full operation once again. In collaboration with the Word of God Community, it reopened as Saint Patrick’s Word of God School. As part of the Charismatic Renewal Movement, the Word of God Community held weekly prayer meetings within the community. Students attended day classes, while parents enrolled in an eight-week “Life in the Spirit” seminar to understand the Christian way of life. With these methods in place, Saint Patrick’s reopened, continuing to teach school children over the next thirty years. In 2003, Saint Patrick’s School experienced another potential closing because of financial problems and declining enrollment. Despite passionate pleas and generous donations, the elementary school closed in 2008 in favor of a Catholic high school. On August 24, 2009, Saint Patrick’s School was changed to Saint Patrick’s Academy, focusing on a high school curriculum with a religious based faith. Today, the school thrives as it prepares students for college. St. Patrick’s Academy is selective, only accepting 25 freshman every year. Once students are accepted and enrolled, they are provided support as they pursue college. Through the Explore Club, St. Patrick’s students work with Providence College to determine their long-term goals, while parents receive assistance with FAFSA forms. Its graduating class averages fifteen students, all college bound towards promising futures.

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If it’s the first weekend in August, it’s time for “The Feast.”

New Bedford’s Feast of the Blessed Sacrament is the largest Portuguese Feast in the world and attracts 100,000 visitors to its festival grounds on Madeira Field each year. Now more than 100 years old, the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament was founded by four immigrants from the Portuguese island of Madeira in 1915. One popular story explains that they held the Feast in thanksgiving for their safe ocean journey to America. That may be true, but mostly the Feast was their effort to connect with the cultural and religious traditions of their native Madeira and to share those customs with their children in their new home.  The Feast has grown exponentially from a simple one-day religious festival hosted by Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church on Earle Street into a massive four-day event that successfully blends popular entertainment with cultural and religious traditions.  Since 1953, the Feast has been organized and presented by the feisteros (which translates to “party-people”) of the Club Madeirense S. S. Sacramento. These volunteers work throughout the year to plan the food, live music and entertainment, parade, Museum of Madeiran Heritage, and religious celebrations that come together to create the Feast. They consider it an honor to do so. Women and children now play important roles, but traditionally the male members of Club Madeirense were the stars of the show.   Four stages of live entertainment feature traditional Portuguese music and dance provided by New Bedford’s Grupo Folclorico, as well as contemporary rock, pop, and country performers. There is no entrance fee, so all the entertainment is free. Nights at the Feast can get a little rowdy, especially in front of the main stage, but the feisteros have taken steps to ensure that there are quiet grottos where families and friends can gather for conversations and the evocative performances of traditional Fado singers.  Traditional foods draw large crowds to the Feast. Barraccas (stands) on Madeira Field feature bacalhau (dried salted and spiced codfish), cacoila (marinated pork), favas (beans in spicy sauce), linguica (Portuguese sausage), pops (crusty rolls), and malassadas (deep-fried sweet bread dough coated with sugar). A culinary highlight for many Feast-goers is the opportunity to cook their own carne de espeto, large chunks of beef on six-foot long metal skewers that they turn over a blazing hot charcoal pit. Experienced chefs continually pour beer over their beef and bring zip-top bags of vegetables from home to add to their skewers.  Volunteers sell beer in vast quantities at the Feast, but Madeiran wine is the traditional drink of choice. Visitors line up ten deep to buy tiny cups of what has been called “Portuguese crack.” Madeiran wine evolved by accident in the hulls of sixteenth-century ships as a result of the constant movement and sauna-like conditions that gave the vinho a brandy-like quality. The Feast is the only event allowed to purchase Madeiran wine by the cask, which requires a permit from the Madeiran government.   100,000 visitors look forward to the Feast each year, but the event is more meaningful for the hundreds of volunteers, often multiple generations of the same families, who make it happen. At the 100th celebration of the Feast, Father Manuel P. Ferreira, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish from 1979 to 1992, said, “It’s a renewal of not only their faith, their customs and their culture, but also a renewal of their brotherhood together.”

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