Kings County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
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ST. BRIDGET�S CATHOLIC CHURCH
 
     St. Bridget�s Catholic Church, of Hanford, Cal., was originally a mission 
attached to the parish of Visalia. In 1881 a plain little frame chapel was built 
by the Rev. Aguilera, pastor of Visalia, on two lots donated by the Southern 
Pacific Railroad Company. This chapel was named after St. Bridget of Ireland, as 
the early Catholic settlers of Hanford were mostly Irish. The lots adjoining the 
church property were then a shepherd�s camp. 
 
     From the church records it appears that in the fall of 1886, the Rev. P. J. 
Smith was appointed first resident pastor of St. Bridget�s church. In July, 1891 
he was succeeded by Rev. P. Murphy, who held the rectorship till 1894, when the 
Rev. J. Brady was appointed. Meanwhile the growth of the parish made it 
necessary to enlarge the modest little chapel and to give it a more imposing 
appearance. This work was ably planned and carried out by Father Brady, so that 
the present church has a seating capacity of three hundred. 
 
     In 1907 Father Brady being called to other fields, the Rev. G. Ashe was 
temporarily appointed pastor of St. Bridget�s.  During the six months of his 
labors in the parish a debt of several thousand dollars was liquidated. He was 
followed by the Rev. P. F. McLaughlin in 1908, who further embellished the 
interior of the church. 
 
     The present pastor, Rev. P. G. Scher, was appointed in August 1911. In 
February, 1912, an assistant was given him in the person of Rev. M. Salvador 
from Portugal. Immediately additional Sunday services were arranged for in order 
to accommodate the ever increasing attendance and new fields were opened as 
missions of St. Bridget�s. 
 
     The Reverend Fathers now in charge master the English, German, Italian, 
Spanish, Portuguese and French languages. All of Kings county and a good portion 
of Fresno county is the extensive field of their labors. 
 
     Owing to the growth of the city the church in recent years found itself in 
the best business section, hence the parish, after having successfully purchased 
a splendid site of nineteen lots in the heart of the residential district of the 
city, in June 1912, moved the old church to the new site, disposed of the old 
parish rectory and erected in its stead another more spacious and better adapted 
to the needs of the parish. 
 
     It is confidently hoped by the present pastor that ground will be broken in 
the fall, 1913, for a large public hall and parochial school, large enough to 
accommodate from three hundred to four hundred children. A Sunday-school of two 
hundred children, a marriage record of over sixty and a baptismal record of 
nearly two hundred and seventy in the year 1912, give sufficient guarantee for a 
good school. A convent for a teaching order of nuns is also being contemplated 
at a later date. 
 
     Among the three missions of St. Bridget�s that of Lemoore is the most 
important. On January 6, 1911, the cornerstone was laid by Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. 
McCarthy, V. F., of Fresno, for the new St. Peter�s church, which was erected at 
the cost of $5,000. Instead of one monthly mass with an attendance of fifty, 
there are now three monthly masses with an attendance of one hundred and fifty 
to two hundred. The church was dedicated with great solemnity by Rt. Rev. Bishop 
Thomas Conaty, D. D., of Los Angeles, November 24, 1912. 
 
     Twelve miles from Hanford is the Indian Mission of Santa Rosa of Lima. The 
entire tribe of Taches, about sixty in number, is Catholic. Their present 
chapel, now in a deplorable condition, was built by them about forty years ago, 
under the direction of Father William, a zealous Indian missionary of the 
Dominican Order. A new chapel will probably be built in the near future. 
 
     Riverdale, nineteen miles northwest of Hanford, is the latest mission of 
St. Bridget�s. Mass is said there once a month in a public hall. Catholics in 
that district have increased so rapidly during the past few months that the 
erection of a chapel in Riverdale or the near town of Lanare is at present 
receiving considerable thought. 
 
     Catholics in Stratford, about twenty-one miles southwest of Hanford, are 
also endeavoring to secure several lots, on which to build a chapel. Thus St. 
Bridget�s parish can boast a rapid and wonderful growth, which no doubt in the 
near future will become even more phenomenal, as Providence has places it in the 
midst of vast stretches of fertile lands rarely found. 
 
SOURCE:  History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical 
Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 Pp 462, 463
Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn