About Our Patron Saint
 

HISTORY of St. Norbert

In the 1880’s Father Luger Marceau from Notre Dame des Victoires parish in St. Johnsbury brought the Sacraments to Hardwick.  Father Marceau offered the first Mass ever celebrated in Hardwick in 1890 at the home of John E. and Anna Sullivan and their children on West Church Street. This house is now occupied by Laurent and Teresa Bellavance.

In 1897 Father James P. Rand, pastor of St. Theresa Parish in Hyde Park, was assigned the Hardwick area as a mission.  He celebrated Mass in several public buildings as did his successor, Father Norbert Lachance, who was named pastor of St. Theresa in 1901. Father Lachance rented the Advent Church building on Mill Street where he celebrated Mass every other Sunday. Father Lachance also celebrated Mass in the Knights of Pythias Hall and the Hardwick Town House on Church Street which in those days was also known as “the opera house.”

The first church building

 The Catholic population of Hardwick increased and in 1901, Father Lachance’s plans to build it on a high plot of land at the corner of S. Main and Upper Cherry streets were approved. It was dedicated to St. Norbert in tribute to Father Lachance. The new church with an 80-foot steeple was blessed in 1902. In years to come, St. Michael became a mission of the Hardwick parish.

Our current St. Norberts

In October 1974, a fire of unknown origin destroyed St. Norbert Church. The construction of the new church was overseen by a new pastor, Father Julien LaFlamme, who years earlier had been pastor of St. Michael Parish. The new St. Norbert Church was dedicated and consecrated by Bishop Marshall on June 6, 1977.  The beautiful stained-glass windows in the new church had been salvaged from the fire ruins of the old church, thanks to the skills of a talented craftsman.

St. Norbert Parish celebrated its centenary in 2002.

Pastors from the early years:

• Father Norbert Lachance, 1901-1911
• Msgr. William Crosby, 1911-1915
• Father John Kennedy, 1915-1919
• Father Charles Regan, 1919-1920
• Father Arthur LeVeer, 1920-1946
• Father Raymond Blais, 1946-1949
• Father Patrick Hannon, 1949-1951
• Father Leo Gingras, 1951-1964
• Father John Shortill, 1964-1967
• Father Joseph Pagliuca, 1967-1975.