“From the Archives” — Parish Organizations of The Past – Part 2

Additional interesting Saint Mary groups that are no longer active today but provide insight into parish life of earlier times include:

Saint Mary’s Sewing Circle. According to an 1873 article in The Alexandria Gazette, “The ladies of St. Mary’s Church have formed a sewing society. Mrs. King [no first name given] is President, and members are already engaged in making clothes for free distribution among the children of the poor of the parish.”

• The Total Abstinence Club celebrated its first anniversary in 1897, according to Father Henry Cutler, the pastor, who also reported the group was rapidly increasing its membership.
• The Holy Name Band, organized in 1912, was a marching band that performed in parades in Alexandria and surrounding towns. It also gave concerts and entertained at picnics and sporting events.
• The Women’s Seminary Auxiliary was organized in 1912 to aid the bishop in raising funds to educate seminarians, and to pray for future priests. Members of this group also taught Sunday school classes at nearby Saint Rita Mission. — Kitty Guy, Parish Historian

(See FROM THE ARCHIVES, May 7, 2023, for “Parish Organizations of the Past – Part 1.”)