“From the Archives” The Musical Monroe Family

Joseph M. Monroe served as organist at Saint Mary’s for more than 50 years. Beginning in the early 1880s, he played at Sunday High Mass, the children’s choir Low Mass, Vespers and Benedictions. He reportedly only missed one service in that entire half century! A news clipping from the time notes: “His punctuality also characterized his school life, he having six medals for punctuality at school.”

Mr. Monroe was a native of Alexandria and was born October 19, 1861. He was the oldest of six children of Thomas L. Monroe and Julia A. Rodgers. After studying music with the organist at Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Joseph was given the position of organist at Saint Mary.

Julia Monroe was a leading soloist of Saint Mary’s choir for 49 years. One evening in 1901, while she was singing at Vespers in the church, Mrs. Monroe was “stricken with paralysis” (according to a contemporary news report) and died a few hours later at her home. The same newspaper noted “90 years of musical service, without the least break, have been given by mother and son. It is probable that there is not a record like it in the United States.”

When fire struck and badly damaged Saint Mary’s on June 6, 1929, Mr. Monroe was in the church, smelled the fire, and hastily escaped from the burning choir loft. He also served as organist for the special solemn high Mass at Saint Mary on February 21, 1932, marking the national bicentennial celebration of the birth of George Washington.

Joseph Monroe celebrated his golden jubilee as Saint Mary’s organist with a recital for the parish, followed by Benediction. An informal reception followed and a purse of gold coins was presented to him on behalf of the congregation by Fr. J. O. Schmidhauser, assistant pastor. – Kitty Guy, Parish Historian

Throughout 2020, the Basilica of Saint Mary will present “From the Archives.” It is a weekly feature online and in our bulletin spotlighting the history of the parish. All of our “From the Archives” features are located here.