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St. Benedict PariSH
St. Mary’s Church in Canandaigua came together with St. Bridget/St. Joseph Church in East Bloom eld in 2012 to form St. Benedict Parish.
St. Mary
Iin 1843 Father Bernard O’Reilly celebrated Mass in a log cabin for the 15 Catholic families in Canandaigua, and St. Mary’s was founded the next year. Soon St. Mary’s rst church was erected, and it housed the growing parish until 1905. At that point the new church on the Granger property, which had been purchased in the 1870s, was completed and dedicated by Bishop Bernard J. McQuaid in
December 1905.
St. Mary School was founded in 1849 and is still in operation on the grounds of St. Mary’s Church. St. Bridget was formed as a mission of St. Mary’s in 1850. St. Bridget’s 16 Irish families built the parish’s rst church, a modest, white-frame building, in 1952.
Father William Hughes became St. Bridget’s pastor in 1861, and after recognizing the need for a larger church, he conducted a four-day campaign that became legendary for obtaining $13,000 in cash
and promissory notes from just 105 people. The cornerstone for the new church was laid in 1874, and the completed Romanesque-Byzantine structure was dedicated by Bishop McQuaid the following year. Father Hughes led St. Bridget until 1891, a tenure surpassed only by Father Patrick Neville, who was pastor from 1898-1931.
St. Joseph in West Bloom eld was founded as a mission of St. Bridget in 1956, and in 1990 it merged with St. Bridget.
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Worship Sites
St. Bridget/St. Joseph Church
15 Church St., East Bloom eld
St. Mary’s Church
95 N. Main St., Canandaigua