By 1750, Boston had grown into an important international seaport. Colonial life was dominated by the strong influence of Congregational churches, which at that time still maintained the Fundamentals of the Christian faith. As the city prospered, more and more non-Puritans began to settle in the area. Toleration of theological liberalism became fashionable. By the late 1700's, select groups of Roman Catholics began to discreetly meet for worship in Boston. While most Bostonians still believed the Roman Church to still be a tool of the Devil, toleration of Catholicism was present. In the 1790's, French and Irish Roman Catholic immigrants were openly worshiping in Boston. The first Roman Catholic church in Boston, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, was built in 1803.

Throughout the 1800's, Boston was a home for millions of European immigrants. Waves of settlers came from such Roman Catholic countries as Italy, France, Portugal, and especially Ireland. The Potato Famine in Ireland between 1840-50 sent tens of thousands of Irish Roman Catholic immigrants to Boston. Some of the traditional Bostonian families considered Catholicism a "detestable religion." However, the majority of Bostonians had long since abandoned the faith of their founding Puritan fathers. Roman Catholicism was accepted by a city that had forsaken the Bible as the only standard for life and faith. Today in Boston, Romanism prevails, while Puritanism is a historical object of the past.

The Italian North End

A visitor to the North End of Boston will experience a vibrant Italian community. Italians have been the ethnic majority in this area for about one hundred years. Virtually all the established residents in the north end are bilingual. The European Italian devotion to the Virgin Mary has been transplanted in Boston by these immigrants and their descendants. Daily mass is a common experience for many residents. Shopkeepers have prayer cards to Mary in their windows. Statues of Mary never seem to lack fresh cut flowers laid before the feet of the image.

Saint Leonard's Church, built in 1873, was the first church built in New England by Italian immigrants. This medium brick sized building, packed in a dense residential area, is a central point of Italian culture in the North End. Upon entering the chapel, a visitor must pass through a colorful prayer garden. A statue of Mary surrounded by adoring children is central to the garden. Inside the building are large, elegant murals with religious themes. One mural had the odd representation of Saint Leonard driving the Virgin Mary in a seashell chariot, so that the wheels of Mary's chariot could crush the heads of serpents. An interesting aspect of mariolatry in Saint Leonard's Church is their devotion to Mary as intercessor. Hundreds of prayer requests were sewn on a satin ribbon, and placed at the feet of a large image to Mary. This statue was surrounded with flowers, with a crown of white roses placed upon the idol's head.

It is difficult to walk through the North End for very long and not see a Roman Catholic Church. Saint Stephen's Church is prominent in the community, as is the Sacred Heart Italian Church on North Square. Founded in 1888, the Sacred Heart Italian Church has a majestic classic upstairs sanctuary, reserved for special occasions. The smaller chapel downstairs is a testimony to the successful transplant of a culture and a religion.

Everything about this building reminds a person of Italy, from the Italian spoken in the services to the numerous images of Mary and other saints that were carefully brought over to Boston by Italian immigrants.

The Portuguese Presence

Through the 1800's, Portuguese Roman Catholics immigrated in waves to Massachusetts. A typical obsession of the Portuguese is their veneration of the Virgin Mary of Fatima. The Fatima apparition is accepted as part of the life and culture of the people. Churches such as Our Lady of Fatima in the Cambridge neighborhood are central places of community life. Parents dedicate their daughters to Mary at birth. Mary is prayed to, spoken of frequently in daily conversations, and is adored by the people. Virtually every Portuguese home in the Boston area has an idol to Mary in the yard or in the house. Walking through these neighborhoods reveals a community obsessed with the Virgin Mary. During certain Marian feasts the streets are congested with adoring followers of Mary, who pass prayer requests to her in a basket before her image.

A typical example of the Portuguese devotion to Mary is seen in the Inman Square community in Cambridge. Older residents walk the streets reciting rosary prayers to Mary. Business people frequently have a portrait of the apparition of Mary at Fatima hanging as a good luck charm in their stores. On certain feast days, parades clog the streets, as people bow before the image of Mary as it proceeds around the Portuguese community. Near Inman Square is the Our Lady of Fatima Church. Here mass is said in both Portuguese and English. Devotion to Mary is unquestioned. She is adored, venerated, and worshipped as Queen of Heaven Mother of God, and as an Intercessor for the world.

The Irish of the South End

Marian devotion was successfully transplanted by Irish Roman Catholic immigrants to Boston. After arriving by the thousands in the mid 1800's, a huge Roman Catholic cathedral was built. The Cathedral of the Holy Cross, a massive cruciform Gothic structure, was completed in 1875, while the church traces its genealogy to French and Irish immigrants from around 1790. That makes this congregation the oldest Roman Catholic group in Boston. The structure serves as the mother church of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Upon entering the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, a visitor can be overwhelmed with the enormous size of the building, the elegant artwork, and the detailed craftsmanship seen in handcarved woodwork throughout the chapel. The huge vaulted ceiling and Gothic architecture make this structure the premiere Roman Catholic church in Boston. Designed and built by Irish immigrants, this cathedral towers over the surrounding neighborhood. A dominating statue in the front of the chapel shows Mary as Queen of Heaven, surrounded with fresh cut flowers. Candles are lit before her feet, to represent the prayers of Roman Catholics made to her in order to approach God.

Another Catholic Church in South Boston promoting mariolatry is the Church of the Immaculate Conception located on Harrison Avenue in the Irish community. This congregation was formed in 1861, to support Irish immigrants. High above the large main entrance to the building are carved in huge letters, "To Jesus Through Mary." This motto promotes the Roman Catholic idea that Mary must be first approached in order to reach her Son. An elegant, massive mural inside the dome above the altar displays the angels of heaven worshiping Mary as the Queen of Heaven. Huge stain glass windows adorn the chapel, representing various scenes from medieval Marian mythology, such as her immaculate conception, her role as mediator, and her duty as the one who crushed the serpent's head.

The New Immigrants

Boston has always been an immigrant city. The newest immigrants, according to a recent Associated Press report (May 14, 1999), are mostly Hispanic. They are coming from areas of Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. In the next few years, the population of Boston could reach close to twenty percent Hispanic. The influx of Hispanic Roman Catholics is good news to the long standing Roman Catholic churches of Portuguese, Irish, or Italian descent. Virtually all of the older Catholic churches now hold separate masses in the Spanish language.

Walking the streets of some Boston neighborhoods, such as in Dorchester or Roxbury, is like walking through a community in a Latin American country. Spanish is the language of preference in many neighborhoods. Latin music can be heard along the streets. And as has happened repeatedly in the immigrant history of Boston, devotion to the Virgin Mary has been transplanted into this former Puritan city.

Latin American people have a fanatical devotion to the Virgin Mary. Prayer cards to the apparition of Mary at Guadalupe Mexico adorn store windows and automobiles. In numerous yards or in the windows of homes, small idols representing the Marian apparition at Guadaloupe are abundant. The devotion of Boston's Hispanic community towards Mary is sensational. She is adored, worshiped, and constantly in the minds and hearts of the average person on the street. Marian metals are commonly worn by people of all ages, showing that the person has devoted themselves to the "immaculate heart" of Mary.

A Unique Marian Shrine

In East Boston stands the enormous Our Lady Queen of the Universe shrine. This unusual shrine contains one of the largest free standing idols dedicated to Mary in all the world. The structure holding the image of Mary stands upon a two hundred foot cliff, overlooking the international airport. A gigantic golden crown caps the top of the building. There are few places in the world that openly practice such flagrant Marian idolatry.

As a visitor drives up the steep, congested streets towards the shrine, a small marble image of Mary with open arms welcomes all guests. Further up the hill is a bronze statue of Mary in a birdbath, at which many people bow before entering the building. This fifty year old shrine was built mostly by Italian immigrants to Boston. Yet those who worship Mary from Irish, Italian, Hispanic, and Portuguese backgrounds frequently utilize the shrine. Here Mary is prayed to in numerous languages by her adoring followers. The Irish adore Mary in harmony with the Marian apparitions at Knock in western Ireland. The Hispanics venerate Mary in appreciation for the apparitions at Guadaloupe in Mexico. For the Portuguese, devotion to Mary at this shrine recalls the apparitions at Fatima. And for the Italians, Mary is worshiped as the Queen of Heaven.

The Our Lady Queen of the Universe shrine is mostly underground, having been dug deep into the side of a large hill. Two floors below the ground is a spacious chapel, where local and international Roman Catholic leaders often perform the Roman mass On all sides of the central chapel are eleven smaller chapels. Here numerous images to Mary are made from mosaic tiles, from tapestries, and from bronze. An especially elegant idol to Mary is encased in glass and antique wood to the right of the altar. This medieval statue shows Mary clothed in splendid royal robes, covered with expensive jewels, with an elaborate crown upon her head. This eight foot tall idol was surrounded with flowers, presented to Mary by her adoring followers.

An Illustration of Spiritual Decline

The history of Saint Stephen's Church in the North End serves as a typical example of how Roman Catholicism came to dominate a city founded by Bible honoring Puritans. This church began in the early 1700's as a Congregational type church, based on the Biblical theology of the Puritans. George Whitfield the English revivalist preached in this church during the Great Awakening of the 1740's, and had great success. Due to the influence of European Rationalism in the late 1700's, the church fell into the heresies of Unitarianism and Universalism. Within three generations, a church founded on the Bible developed into a group that denied every major scriptural doctrine.

During the mid 1800's, as Irish, Portuguese, then Italian immigrants settled in the North End, this assembly again transformed itself to conform with contemporary movements. Around 1850, a transformation took place which resulted in the assembly becoming Saint Stephen's Roman Catholic Church.

The building which houses Saint Stephen's Church dates from 1802. The architecture is distinctly colonial, as the decor is conservative and distinguished. The Archdiocese of Boston bought the building in 1862. The several Mary idols scattered throughout this historic colonial building seem out of place.

Saint Stephen's Roman Catholic Church stands as a memorial to a city that abandoned its theological roots. Compromise and accommodation to theological liberalism developed spiritual apathy in the people. Indifference to scriptural truths created over time a permissive worldview of toleration towards Roman Catholicism. These were the exact beliefs that the founders of Boston dreaded most. Today, Boston is known as a Roman Catholic city. The change from Puritanism to Romanism developed slowly, as the Bible no longer became the sole authority of faith and practice, as it was for the Puritan founders of Boston.

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