Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
| Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help | |
|---|---|
| Mission Church | |
| "Boston's Basilica" | |
 |
|
| Location | 1545 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02120 |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Architecture | |
| Status |
Basilica (also parish church) |
| Functional status | Active |
| Administration | |
| Archdiocese | Boston |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | Very Rev. Joseph Tizio, C.Ss.R |
| Laity | |
| Director of music | Glenn Goda |
| Coordinates | 42°19′57.30″N 71°6′2.15″W / 42.3325833°N 71.1005972°WCoordinates: 42°19′57.30″N 71°6′2.15″W / 42.3325833°N 71.1005972°W |
| Built | 1878, towers added 1910 |
| Architect | Schickel and Ditmars, towers by Franz Joseph Untersee |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 89001747 |
| Added to NRHP | November 6, 1989 |
The Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a Roman Catholic Basilica in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, sometimes known as "The Mission Church". The Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province have ministered to the parish since the church was first opened in 1870.
In May 1869, Rev. James A. Healy, pastor of St. James’s Church in Boston, invited the Redemptorists to give a parish mission. Pleased with the success of the mission, Father Healy recommended to the Bishop that the religious order should establish a mission-house in Boston. That year Archbishop John J. Williams invited the Redemptorists to Boston. In September 1869 the Redemptorists acquired a site in Roxbury, then known as the Boston Highlands, on Parker Hill. Parker Hill was named for wealthy Boston merchant, John Parker, who occupied the summit of the hill during the eighteenth century. The five acre estate was known as Brinley Place, and included a grand house, Datchet House built in 1723 by prominent English officer Colonel Francis Brinley in memory of his ancestral home. Colonel Brinley died in 1765. Wealthy merchant Robert Pierpont purchased the house in 1773. Pierpont enlarged and enriched the house to such a degree that it became known as "Pierpont’s Castle".
The Redemptorists built a modest wooden church on the location in 1870. This was to serve as a "mission house", a home base for priests traveling to distant parts of Massachusetts, Canada, and elsewhere. The church was dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The first mass was said on January 29, 1871. The original structure was located on the site where the rectory now stands.
The current church was designed by William Schickel and Isaac Ditmars of New York. The then German congregation broke ground in 1874. The Mission Church was constructed in Romanesque style, of Roxbury puddingstone, quarried from what is now Puddingstone Park, just down the block. An octagonal, cupola-topped lantern rises over a hundred feet above the crossing. The stained glass windows were made by Franz Mayer and Co. from Munich, Germany. Side altars were dedicated to the Holy Family and St. Patrick, respectively. The church was dedicated in 1878. At this time the church was not an ordinary parish in which all sacraments were administered, but was instead limited to penance and Holy Communion. Our Lady of Perpetual Help became a parish of the Archdiocese of Boston in 1883.
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