Church of the Holy Cross (first) is dedicated

The church is located at 20 School Street. The congregation had been formed by French and Irish immigrants in 1784. The dedication ceremony includes the first public, Catholic Mass in Boston. It is celebrated by l’Abbe Claude de la Poterie, a former chaplain for the French navy, in what had previously been a Congregational church. The church is replaced by a new building (second) on Devonshire Street in 1803,* and then by the current cathedral (third) in the South End in 1875.*