A Beloved Pastor

originally published in the parish bulletin the weekend of September 1, 2019

Though Fr. Carraher was exonerated on the charges of assault in pointing an empty pistol at young citizens who were tormenting him and his dogs, he soon left Milford for another assignment that same year, 1854.  He was followed by Father Edward Farrelly as the third pastor in 1854.  Fr. Farrelly was well known to the Catholics of Milford having originally been assigned as the former associate to Fr. Hamilton who was the first pastor for the Milford  parish.  The extensive geography of the new parish in Milford had Fr. Hamilton split the pastoral responsibilities with his associate Fr. Farrelly taking responsibility at Saxonville, while he stayed in Milford.  Before he was dedicated to the Catholics of Saxonville, Fr. Farrelly was well known and much beloved by the Catholics of the Milford parish.

A young priest now in charge of a growing parish, he dedicated himself zealously to the parish.  The Milford Journal (November 24, 1854) recounts that there was a lecture to have been given at the Town Hall by Michael Doheny the previous Tuesday.  (Doheny had been accused of treason in Ireland, and condemned to Van Dieman’s Land (Australia) when he escaped to the US. He traveled through the States soliciting support for the Fenians in Ireland for independence from British rule).  Fr. Farrelly strongly condemned this announced lecture from his pulpit the previous Sunday and threatened excommunication for anyone who attended.  The lecture was cancelled but the local paper took up the cause by encouraging local Catholics to stand against the authority of their pastor.

Two years later, The Milford Journal (August 22, 1857) records that Fr. Farrelly had taken a year to journey to Europe and especially ’the Eternal City’ when he returned home early in poor health.  Two weeks after his return, on August 15^th, he died of consumption in the parish rectory; he was only thirty years and seven months old.  Clothed in his priestly garments, his body lay in state through the weekend Masses in the front of the sanctuary of the church.  His funeral was celebrated on Monday, August 17^th at 10 AM  in Saint Mary’s Church on East Main Street by Bishop Fitzpatrick of Boston. The newspaper remarks, ‘He had the respect of all who knew him, as an honorable and upright man, and the love of his people as a devoted pastor.  He was interred in the rear of the church.’  At some later date, his remains were moved to the hillside next to the church and a suitable monument was erected over his resting place.  In the most often seen photo of the original church, to the right of the church on the brow of the hill, is the monument that the parish erected out of local granite to show their respect and admiration for this pastor, lost too young.  It is crowned by a metal cross. 

When the new church was complete and the former church was demolished to prepare the land for sale, the remains of the beloved Fr. Farrelly were removed from their location.  On Friday, August 12, 1881, placed in a new casket, they were brought to the new church on Winter Street and remained overnight.  A solemn high Mass of Requiem was celebrated that Saturday and his body was moved to the small altar for the weekend Masses. 

Then at 5 PM that Sunday evening, the body of their beloved pastor was carried in a solemn procession from the church on Winter Street.  The Milford Journal records that it was not in a hearse, but in the hands of faithful parishioners as they did 24 years earlier who carried their beloved pastor to his new resting place in their parish cemetery.  The procession was a long one, beginning with a cross bearer, followed by altar boys, Sunday school children in the hundreds, then the young women’s sodality and the married women’s sodality, then the clergy, then then the coffin accompanied by twenty-four pallbearers and the remainder of the parish in procession.  Fr. Cuddihy pronounced the final blessing at the gravesite on Cedar Street where he rests still today.