Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Tiny Tuesday!
 
Dating to 1911, this fragile cream and gold ribbon features a thick embroidered band and a vignette of the Catholic Holy Communion. This ribbon was a souvenir given to someone for their First Holy Communion at St. Patrick’s Church.
 
One of the major ethnic groups in Fall River during the 19th century were the Irish, particularly in the city’s South End. St. Patrick’s Church opened it’s door to parishioners in 1889 as one of the Roman Catholic churches throughout Fall River. For well over 100 years, St. Patrick’s Church served as a place of worship for the city’s many Irish citizens.
The gorgeous Gothic Revival church was designed my Irish American architect Patrick Charles Keely (1816-1896), a prominent ecclesiastical architect during the 1800s. Today, the church is known as Good Shepherd Parish.
 
The Historical Society has an enormous collection of artifacts and documents pertaining to the various ethnic groups which settled in Fall River!