By Parker Anderson
It is believed that the first Catholic priest to pass through the area that later became Prescott was Father Francisco Garces, of the San Xavier del Bac Mission in Tucson, circa 1776, on his way to minister to the Hopi Indians. Nearly 100 years later, in 1863, tradition holds that Santa Fe Archbishop Lamy celebrated a Christmas Eve Mass with the regiments at Fort Whipple.
The first governor’s party arrived in early1864 to set up the capital of the new Territory of Arizona on the banks of Granite Creek. By May of that year, the new little village was named Prescott, after the famed historian from Massachusetts, William Hickling Prescott. John N. Goodwin was the first Governor of the Territory.
Existing records show that the first Catholic Mass ever celebrated in the new village of Prescott proper occurred on January 22, 1871. Visiting priest, Father J. M. Chaucot from La Paz, performed the Mass in a store owned by Manuel Ravenna which was located at the corner of Goodwin and Montezuma streets.
In subsequent years, other priests visited Prescott to hold Mass for the growing Catholic population. By 1877, Archbishop Salpointe of Tucson sent Father Michael Murphy, a native of Ireland, to Prescott to officially establish a Catholic Church. Father Murphy arrived in October of 1877, reportedly suffering from consuption at the age of 37. He celebrated Mass a few times, but passed away two months later, on December 6, 1877. He is buried in Citizen’s Cemetery.
Bishop Salpointe then appointed Father F.C. Becker to succeed Father Murphy in establishing a Catholic Church in Prescott and he was soon followed by two nuns, including Lady Superior Sister Mary Berchman who died the following year. While in Prescott, Father Becker attended to the spiritual matters of murderer James Malone prior to his execution.
In the ensuing years, a number of other priests came and went, attending the Prescott flock. It is believed that Mass was held in a building at 227 North Marina Street, roughly across the street from where the first Sacred Heart Church would later be built. Among these priests was Father F.X. Gubitosi, who counseled the murderers Frank Wilson and Martin Duran before they were hanged. He also performed the marriage of William 0. "Buckey" O’Neill to Pauline Schindler in April of 1886.
In 1889, Father Alfred Quetu, a priest of French extraction, came to Prescott to take over Sacred Heart Parish. This would become a turning point for the Church in Prescott, as Father Quetu did more to strengthen the local church than any of his predecessors had done. He set out to build a new church on North Marina Street which still stands today. It would have a substantial brick structure in Gothic Style, decorative brickwork and two colors of tuff stone for trim and foundation. It would have steeple 115-feet tall, an impressive addition to the little town of Prescott.
Next week we will see the accomplishments of Father Quetu in his nearly 20 years as Prescott’s Parish Priest as well as the history of the old church since his departure from Prescott.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po0526p) Reuse only by permission.
Father Alfred Quetu, c.1895, came to Prescott in 1889 and was the Priest of Sacred Heart Parish at the time the church was built on North Marina Street.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(photo by Kathy Krause 9/2010) Reuse only by permission.
This historical marker is located at the front of the old Sacred Heart Catholic Church building on Marina Street. The building now belongs to the Prescott Fine Arts Association and is regularly used for theatrical productions.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(photo by Kathy Krause 9/2010) Reuse only by permission.
Notice the shades of color of the rhyolitic tuff stone in the trim of the church built in the 1890s. The steeple was struck by lightning a few times and was consequently removed in 1930.