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The Basilica Of The Immaculate Conception, Waterbury, Connecticut

   

The Feast of the Immaculate Conceptionis is celebrated on December 8 .

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
74 West Main Street
Waterbury, Connecticut

The parish traces its roots to November 1, 1847 when a group of Catholics in the area, under the leadership of pastor Father Michael O’Neil, purchased a former Episcopal church and dedicated the parish to St. Peter. The group previously rented Washington Hall at West Main Street and Exchange Place.
On July 5, 1857, the parish laid the cornerstone for a new church to be dedicated to the newly promulgated dogma of the Immaculate Conception. After it opened, the old church became St. Mary’s school in 1863.
Ground was broken for the current church in 1924 and it was dedicated May 20, 1928. It was designed by the Boston firm of Maginnis & Walsh and cost US$1.25 million to construct.
Its Italian Renaissance design is based on the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.
On February 9, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI bestowed the title of Minor Basilica on the church.





   

       

   

       

Rectory and Offices
   

Rev. Michael J. McGivney Memorial Building.     (built in 1883)
Father McGivney (1852-1890) was the founder of the Knights of Columbus and is a sainthood candidate,
   

   


Minor Basilica Proclamation
  FROM THE OFFICE OF THE CONGREGATION
FOR DIVINE WORSHIP AND THE DISCIPLINE
OF THE SACRAMENT - FEBRUARY 9, 2008
 
     At the request of His Excellency, the Most Reverend Henry Joseph Mansell, Archbishop of Hartford, in his letter dated December 8, 2006, prompted by the prayers and requests of the clergy and the faithful, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacrament, in virtue of special faculties given by the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, gladly bestows on the parish church dedicated to God in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Waterbury the title and dignity of a Minor Basilica, with all the laws and liturgical rites faithfully observed according to the Decree  

"DE TITULO BASILICAE MINORIS",  
promulgated on the ninth of November 1989.  
Anything to the contrary not withstanding.