Does anyone know where a Catholic family from Shirley, Massachusetts may have married in 1852?

Question

I'm curious if anyone may know of churches in the region (near Athol, Phillipson, Templeton, Gardner, Winchendon, etc). I know of St. John's in Worcester that was there since 1846, but the record I'm looking for wasn't there.  If anyone may know of a list of Catholic churches and founding date for Massachusetts I'd appreciate it.

Comments

The Diocese of Boston was erected in 1808, and encompassed much of the northeastern United States. After that there were changes to the territory, both additions and removals.

The site http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/ has information on both current and historical dioceses worldwide and should be of help.

If this does not help, you might try contacting the archives of the Archdiocese of Boston for assistance.

Edit … more info

Although Catholic Canon Law apparently permits a wedding outside of a church with the permission of the Bishop, they are typically reluctant to approve it, at least currently. The sacramental and spiritual aspects of the wedding would argue against approval.

In other churches, and possibly longer ago, marriage was considered a civil affair and not in the purview of a church. The Catholic Church used to view a civil wedding as not really valid; for example if someone had a civil marriage and was later divorced, they could subsequently get married by the Church; whereas one could not be remarried in the Church after a civil divorce of a Catholic wedding.

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Thanks !!

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(Answer below)

Answer 1

A lot of people, may have married in there houses, i know many of my ancesters did.

Answer 2

AmericanAncestors.org has this database: 

Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920

Has anyone checked it for you? 

Answer 3

St. Bernard's Parish in Fitchburg, Massachusetts is a possibility, and they could have gotten there on the train. It might also be possible that the priests made regular rounds of the smaller communities.

http://saintbernardparish.net/about-us#:~:text=St.%20Bernard%20church%20was%20the,2010)%20was%20dedicated%20in%201880.

Although Groton and Shirley are designated Middlesex County, they developed out of Lancaster, Massachusetts, and acted as part of that Lancaster-Fitchburg-Leominster area, at least before the the Army base developed (Stevens in the Civil War, Devens after).  Once the Federal Government committed to a base there, the Groton(from which Ayer split off in 1871)/Shirley/Littleton area took its own path.

Lowell (St. Patrick's started in 1831) and Boston are the next places I would check, then Lawrence, Methuen, Worcester...all of them water powered mill towns with rail service which were already developing Irish and French Canadian communities. Leominster and Gardner did not have Catholic parishes until 1871-2. The other towns are smaller, soWinchendon comes as a bit of a surprise to me http://heartofmary.net/parish-history