The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-14
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(Continued from Page One) later, Dec. 22, 1877, he was ordained by Cardinal Gibbons, then archbishop of Baltimore Father Murphy had the distinction of having been a mem- Der of the first class that the d1stln- guished prelate ordained. q. Directly following his ordination, Father Murphy came Bridgeport. He was assigned to the curacy of St.
 Mary's parish, which at that time em- braced all of East Bridgeport.
 It was 3S years ago last Christmas Day that the young priest celebrated
 his first mass in St. Mary's church, the
 present structure and it was his first
 Christ mass in the new church. This was unCrr the pastorate of the late Rev. John F. Rogers.
 In the full vigor and pious enthu-
 siasm of his first two years in the priesthood, Father Murphy remained
 in St. Mary's church. The late Fath-
 CT Rogers and he were the only priests in East Bridgeport in those days and
 among the older persons of the East Side the early activities of the de-
 ceased pastor of St. Mary's are cher ished in loving memory. The quiet dignity, the geniality, the generosity and broad charities of the young
 priest presaged the long and useful life that was to be his, in the service of his Master.
 It was a matter of general regret that the announcement was made af- ter two years that Father Murphy had been assigned to a curacy in St.
 Patricks church, Norwich. Here he remained for one year. In the regu- lar course of episcopal appointments, Father Murphy went from Norwich, where he had been curate to the pas torate of the church of Our Lady of 1 Lourdes in, Hampton, Windham coun- | ty, where he. was stationed for anoth-
 CT year. The next year, 1881, he was
 assigned to the pastorate of St. Johns church, Cromwell, the scene of his longest term of service, longer even ithan the aggregate of his two Bridge port appointments. He remained there for nearly 15 years.
 | In Cromwell, Father Murphy was given an opportunity for the exercise of sound business judgment and by
 wise administration of the affairs of his parish he built both the church
 and house in Cromwell and St. James church in Rocky Hill, a mission of f the Cromwell parish through which the faith was carried to many remote ly situated from the Cromwell church. His next assignment was to St. Pat
 ricks church, Mystic. This came in LSeptenber, 1895. It proved an inn portant post with mission churches in Noapk and Stonington. Here he con- tinued his parochial ministrations un- til 1901 when on May 1 he was assign ed the pastorate of St. Lawrence's church, Hartford. This was his post
 when in Nov.S22, 1902. he was chosen |by the late Bishop Tierney to return
 to the parish which knew him first as
 a priest, as the successor of Rev. John
 F. Rogers, whom death had removed
 from the charge of St. Marys.
 Father Murphy came to St. Mary's
 with the parish much in debt for the
 work of building handsome new con- vent and a new brick school which had been completed under the able ad-
 ministration of the late Father Will liam H. Lynch, later rector of St. Charles. apd, though 9 necessary step tih the rgfoWth a'nH development of the pdTlSIl, eHtdlleu d CO1ISlueIdOle eX- pense.
 Father Murphy's wisdom in hand ling the affairs of the parish bore fruit in the reduction of the parish debt year after year until now in proportion to the splendid value of the parochia1 properties the liabilities are
 nominal. He endeavored not to bur- l den the parishioners with collections or other drains upon their purses but 1 by steady and consistent endeavor he
 managed to place the parish upon a
 strong financial footing.
 1 The parish holdings embrace the church at the southeast corner of Penn broke and Steuben streets the paro- l chial residence to the south, it's
 grounds extending to the next street
 to the south, Sherman street; the con- vent which lies in Pembroke street be- | tween sherman and Cedar streets and
 the school property at the southwest
 corner of Pembroke and Steuben
 streets.
 Though the setting off of the north ern portion of St. Marys parish Gall of
 East Bridgeport north of the railroad
 viaduct) into a new parish, St. Charles for a time handicapped the efforts of Father Murphy, the continuous growth of the city in the eastern sec-
 tion soon enumerated the loss and today St. Mary's ranks among the lar
 gest congregations in the city.
 Father Murphy's unostentatious methods were successful in concealing 1 nnyriads of charities. He made it a practice to keep in close touch with
 his entire congregation by personal