Saint Peter's Church: Parish of the People
The want of a Catholic Church or place of worship at Saratoga Springs, has been felt and regretted for a long time by the Catholic inhabitants of the County, and also by the numerous families and individuals... who annually resort to the Springs.... The advantages of having a Catholic Church and Ministry in places where Catholics reside or congregate, must be apparent to every person who reflects for a moment on the subject.
– John Costigan, Costigan Book, September 13, 1839.
Since its founding in 1839 as a place of worship for just a few dozen Catholic immigrants, St. Peter’s has served as the center of Catholic life in Saratoga County. Drawing on the legacy of local saints such as St. Isaac Jogues, the St. Peter’s community has acted as the “mother church” for the region, and has brought its community closer to the Catholic liturgy. Its parishioners and clergy, including people of diverse backgrounds and prestigious reputation, have played important roles in shaping the parish’s history. Additionally, its architecture has changed to reflect shifts in Catholic belief and practice. To this day, St. Peter’s keeps these ideals alive through its tight-knit, familial congregation; it is, in the end, a “parish of the people.”
Early Beginnings, 1600-1839
Throughout the seventeenth century, Jesuit missionaries from Catholic Québec came to the New York area, determined to convert local Native Americans to Catholicism. Iroquois warriors kidnapped or killed many missionaries, whom they believed were threats to Iroquois society. One of these missionaries, St. Isaac Jogues, failed to convert his kidnappers. The natives blamed Jogues for various social problems and killed him in 1646. While some natives resisted conversion, others adopted and embraced Catholicism. During the late seventeenth century, St. Kateri Tekakwitha secretly studied Christianity despite her village’s hostility. After fleeing her village, Tekakwitha took care of the sick and taught prayers to children until her death in 1680. Religious figures, such as St. Tekakwitha and St. Jogues represented a regional legacy of Catholicism for the wandering Catholic community that appeared in Saratoga County during the nineteenth century.
Despite these attempts to spread Catholicism, regional Catholic communities only began developing in the nineteenth century. During the early nineteenth century, Irish Catholic immigrants entered the U.S., seeking employment in northern New York on the railroad and in Saratoga’s summer industry. By 1834, this Catholic community had begun meeting around Saratoga and relied on neighboring and traveling priests to lead them in worship. Around this time the wandering community began to look for a permanent parish. By 1839, Saratoga Catholics purchased the former Lyceum, and determined “that said Church or Religious Society shall hereafter and for ever be known and distinguished as Saint Peter’s Church in the Village of Saratoga Springs.”
Despite these attempts to spread Catholicism, regional Catholic communities only began developing in the nineteenth century. During the early nineteenth century, Irish Catholic immigrants entered the U.S., seeking employment in northern New York on the railroad and in Saratoga’s summer industry. By 1834, this Catholic community had begun meeting around Saratoga and relied on neighboring and traveling priests to lead them in worship. Around this time the wandering community began to look for a permanent parish. By 1839, Saratoga Catholics purchased the former Lyceum, and determined “that said Church or Religious Society shall hereafter and for ever be known and distinguished as Saint Peter’s Church in the Village of Saratoga Springs.”
Early Victorian Saratoga
While St. Peter’s served a small, dedicated community at its founding in 1839, we can imagine that the parish offered a significant community life to newly-arriving immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s. The community grew in Saratoga Springs, as elsewhere in North America, as thousands of Irish sought legal benefits in British North America (Canada) and to escape the Irish Potato Famine. Many moved from Québec to Saratoga for work opportunities at the railroad.
The increasing Catholic presence unsettled some Protestant Americans, leading to violent protests against Irish Catholics from the 1830s through the onset of Civil War. Although there were no violent clashes in Saratoga, the Spa City was not entirely free of anti-Catholic sentiment. In 1853, one potential Saratogian convert, called “Miss Lamb” in newspapers, was kidnapped by three Episcopal priests, before she escaped and was able to convert in Albany.
Yet there were positive experiences as well. The conversation of Father Clarence Walworth, son of New York Chancellor Reuben Walworth, to Catholicism in 1845 connected St. Peter’s to one of the nation’s most prolific preachers. Walworth, a Redemptorist father, converted thousands in Saratoga and across the U.S., including a future Cardinal. Even in 1853, Apostolic Nuncio Gaetano Bedini, who came to Saratoga Springs to dedicate the new St. Peter’s building, found the town at least relatively welcoming. Although Bedini was attacked by nativists in other cities, he extended his visit in Saratoga to a week, suggesting the watering spot was a welcoming stop on his journey.
The increasing Catholic presence unsettled some Protestant Americans, leading to violent protests against Irish Catholics from the 1830s through the onset of Civil War. Although there were no violent clashes in Saratoga, the Spa City was not entirely free of anti-Catholic sentiment. In 1853, one potential Saratogian convert, called “Miss Lamb” in newspapers, was kidnapped by three Episcopal priests, before she escaped and was able to convert in Albany.
Yet there were positive experiences as well. The conversation of Father Clarence Walworth, son of New York Chancellor Reuben Walworth, to Catholicism in 1845 connected St. Peter’s to one of the nation’s most prolific preachers. Walworth, a Redemptorist father, converted thousands in Saratoga and across the U.S., including a future Cardinal. Even in 1853, Apostolic Nuncio Gaetano Bedini, who came to Saratoga Springs to dedicate the new St. Peter’s building, found the town at least relatively welcoming. Although Bedini was attacked by nativists in other cities, he extended his visit in Saratoga to a week, suggesting the watering spot was a welcoming stop on his journey.
Local Community in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
By 1853, St. Peter’s was locally, nationally, and internationally recognized as an established institution and the congregation began offering more services to the local community. In 1855, Father Daniel Cull established the first Catholic school in Saratoga County, providing local children of both Protestant and Catholic faiths with a Christian education. The school’s future remained uncertain, however, as it closed in 1882 for unknown reasons. In 1900, Father James Flood reopened the school, and begun plans for a new modern school building before his death in 1922. In 1926, the church built a three-story parochial school on Hamilton Street, presently called “The Parish Center.” By the mid-1920s, the well-established school was filled with pupils. Starting as a fairly small endeavor, St. Peter’s created a religious educational institution well embedded in the larger Saratoga community.
During the mid- to late-nineteenth century, St. Peter’s continued to expand its local presence by solidifying the physical remnants of its past. In 1862, church member John B. Ricard, a Frenchman, presented the parish with the northeast corner of Greenridge cemetery. The resting place of many distinguished local figures the St. Peter’s community was now physically included in this important marker of local history. In the 1870s, the parish used land on West Avenue to create St. Peter’s Cemetery. Within the same decade, the Albany Diocese recognized St. Peter’s notable contributions to the community and officially incorporated the church in 1870, reinforcing St. Peter’s status as a significant institution in the larger Catholic community.
From the "Gay Nineties" to the World Wars
The “Gay Nineties” was defined by Italian immigration, wealthy Saratogians, and a major parish renovation. Widespread social distress in southern Italy brought Italians to New York and to St. Peter’s in the 1890s. Among the wealthy congregants was convert Ellen Walworth, niece of Father Walworth. She founded the Daughters of the American Revolution society, wrote Kateri Tekakwitha’s biography, and supported women’s suffrage. Ellen Walworth represents parishioners’ faith and their ties to national women’s rights. Another prominent female congregant, Blanche Nolan, helped fund major parish renovations in 1895. This renovation added opulent Gothic revival details and new stained-glass windows.
In the early twentieth century, Catholics in Saratoga witnessed two world wars and sponsored a second renovation of the 1853 parish structure. In 1917, the U.S. joined WWI with the help of 70 Saratogians. Of these, four St. Peter’s congregants fought and survived. That year also marked the founding of St. Clement’s parish, which solved the issue of overcrowding at St. Peter’s. In 1932, a new renovation began on the St. Peter’s Parish and Academy, adding a Germanic medieval aesthetic. Over the following decade, over 800 parishioners--many of them young people--would leave Saratoga to fight across the globe in WWII.
The presence of African Americans at St. Peter’s is a final important note. African American Saratogians who had worked in the hotel industry lived near St. Peter’s in the 1800s. While other parishes, including Bethesda Episcopal Church, have histories of racial segregation, St. Peter’s appears to have welcomed this community in its parish and school since at least the 1940s.
The presence of African Americans at St. Peter’s is a final important note. African American Saratogians who had worked in the hotel industry lived near St. Peter’s in the 1800s. While other parishes, including Bethesda Episcopal Church, have histories of racial segregation, St. Peter’s appears to have welcomed this community in its parish and school since at least the 1940s.
Post-War St. Peter's
Throughout the mid-twentieth century, St. Peter’s parishioners confronted nation-wide social change while maintaining the Church’s legacy of public service. Under the leadership of Monseigneur Burns, the parish entered a period of financial security and community outreach. Meanwhile, St. Peter’s faced a period of tense political and social turmoil. Among these changes were the election of President John F. Kennedy, a Catholic Irish-American, and the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), which attempted to update and adapt the Church for the modern world. As St. Peter’s Academy students reflected the growing anti-war and civil rights sentiments among the nation’s youth, the church embraced Vatican II’s emphasis on parishioner involvement and music of the people. In particular, Father Edward Fitzpatrick hoped to extend these changes into the physical parish, which was falling apart. With Parish Board’s vote, St. Peter’s began interior architectural renovations in 1979.
The 1980 renovation stripped the parish of its medieval interior in the hopes of reflecting Vatican II’s emphasis on “the church as the people of God.” Walls were whitewashed and support beams left bare, and chapel and worship space were added to the west side of the parish. The new semi-circular layout of the pews and central altar allow parishioners to face one another and approach the altar as priests do. These radical architectural changes brought about a wave of controversy to Saratoga. Some members were so upset they chose to leave the parish. Others, however, approve of the new parish’s ability to bring the congregation closer to the liturgy.
The 1980 renovation stripped the parish of its medieval interior in the hopes of reflecting Vatican II’s emphasis on “the church as the people of God.” Walls were whitewashed and support beams left bare, and chapel and worship space were added to the west side of the parish. The new semi-circular layout of the pews and central altar allow parishioners to face one another and approach the altar as priests do. These radical architectural changes brought about a wave of controversy to Saratoga. Some members were so upset they chose to leave the parish. Others, however, approve of the new parish’s ability to bring the congregation closer to the liturgy.
St. Peter's since 1980
In recent years, music at St. Peter's has reflected changing attitudes toward the Second Vatican Council and Catholic tradition. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the movement to involve regular people in mass had a profound impact on church music. At St. Peter's, a parish folk band combined the popular message of Vatican II with "God-centered lyrics." By the 1980s, however, the parish had re-embraced traditional compositions, incorporating diverse examples of both modern and traditional music of various Christian denominations in services. Today, St. Peter’s remains one of the few places Saratogians can regularly hear live music.
To parishioners, St. Peter’s represents not only a place of worship, but also a place of familial community support. At St. Peter’s, parishioners interact with clergy as friends and counsels, and celebrate the sacraments, such as baptism and marriage. Despite prolific focus on the physical changes of the parish, St. Peter’s legacy is carried through its parishioners and clergy. To this day, St. Peter’s keeps the ideals of its founders alive through its tight-knit, familial congregation; it is, in the end, a “parish of the people.”
To parishioners, St. Peter’s represents not only a place of worship, but also a place of familial community support. At St. Peter’s, parishioners interact with clergy as friends and counsels, and celebrate the sacraments, such as baptism and marriage. Despite prolific focus on the physical changes of the parish, St. Peter’s legacy is carried through its parishioners and clergy. To this day, St. Peter’s keeps the ideals of its founders alive through its tight-knit, familial congregation; it is, in the end, a “parish of the people.”