One hundred and twenty years ago, on December 5, 1905, Bishop John Shanahan, the Third Bishop of Harrisburg, dedicated and consecrated St. Vincent de Paul Church in Hanover, a Gothic church with Bavarian windows, brownstone trim and gas lighting features among its electrical fixtures. The celebration of the church’s consecration was a unique situation, given that it was completely free of debt, thanks to the overwhelming generosity of a deceased benefactor and his forward-thinking sister.
The legacy of St. Vincent de Paul Church, its benefactors and faithful parishioners were honored on the evening of December 3, as Bishop Timothy Senior celebrated a Mass to mark the anniversary of the church’s consecration. Father Michael Reid, pastor, and Father Joseph Gotwalt and Father Ignacio Palomino, retired priests in residence, concelebrated. More than a dozen of the parish’s altar servers also filled the sanctuary for the celebration.
“The beauty of the church shows us that God dwells close to our heart,” Bishop Senior said in his homily. “The church building also represents a timeless reality. Buildings come and go but the church remains a timeless reality.”
“We are the Church – that’s the timeless reality,” he said. “You are also a temple of God, a dwelling place for the Lord,” the bishop said.
Land and materials for the site and construction of St. Vincent de Paul Church were made possible by the generosity of the late Vincent O’Bold, a wealthy banker who lived in Hanover and was a member of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in nearby Conewago. When O’Bold – a widower who had lost his wife and their four children to tuberculosis – died in December of 1902, his sister carried forth his dream of donating a church to the Diocese. O’Bold’s sister, Gabriella Smith, sold five lots on Third Street in Hanover to Bishop John Shanahan for $1 and provided the $50,000 from her brother’s estate to build a church there.
Throughout its 120-year history, St. Vincent de Paul Church has undergone three major renovations; the most recent from 2009-2014 included a scope of work to repaint, add a new pulpit, altar rail and murals, and uncover stained-glass windows in the sanctuary.
Yet its legacy remains a place of worship where faithful have encountered Christ and handed-on the Catholic faith for generations.
“It’s important for the parish to celebrate this anniversary to remember the history of the church and give thanks for the dedication of the families who have gone before us to sustain the faith community here,” Father Reid told The Catholic Witness.
“We also have the legacy and generosity of Mr. O’Bold whose intention was to build a church, but since those years we’ve also had the legacy of the people who have lived out the Catholic faith. This church has continued to be their place of worship. Without the faith community and their devotion and steadfastness to the parish, we wouldn’t have the vibrancy of our parish,” he said.
St. Vincent’s is home to an active Knights of Columbus Council, Women’s Council, Boy Scouts organization, and a ministry that serves the homebound. Its service-minded parishioners faithfully contribute to the Manna for the Many food collection before Thanksgiving and an annual drive of hats, gloves and scarves distributed to people in need through the Hanover Council of Churches.
In the summer of 2024, the church welcomed pilgrims on the Seton Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage as pilgrims journeyed from Immaculate Conception in New Oxford and to the Basilica and St. Vincent’s along the way to the final stop at St. Joseph’s in Hanover.
“The simplicity of celebrating this anniversary Mass centers us as a faith community in Jesus in the Eucharist and how, through the blessings of the bishops and priests throughout the years, the Lord has been present here at St. Vincent de Paul,” Father Reid said. “The Eucharistic Presence of the Lord has certainly sustained the legacy of the Catholic faith here in our parish.”
(Photos by Chris Heisey, The Catholic Witness.)
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
