St. Patrick’s Church, Rossie


St. Patrick’s Church was built in 1861 during the pastorate of Rev. Michael Clark of Carthage when Rossie was a flourishing community accommodating some 500 people, mostly Irish who had come there to work in the iron furnaces and lead mines. Rossie was settled about 1820 making the parish one of the older ones of the diocese. Rev. Patrick Foley is said to have offered up the first mass in the home of James Burns in 1836. The parish served as a mission of Ogdensburg until 1856. It was attached to the Carthage pastorate in 1860. From 1862-1878 it was a mission of Redwood.
Rev. William Kelly became the first resident pastor of Rossie and Antwerp in 1879. The present church was built during Father Kelly’s pastorate in 1883 and was constructed of native sand-stone on a knoll overlooking the Indian River. It was noted for its interior, considered one of the most beautiful in Ogdensburg Diocese. The altar was constructed of white Carara marble and was the gift of Lucia Spratt of Ogdensburg, as a memorial to her father.
On September 21, 1900, St. Patrick’s Church was incorporated under Rev. Cornelius J. Crowley, with Patrick Pound and John O’Brien as trustees. In 1906, St. John’s Church in Morristown, then a mission of the Cathedral, was transferred to Rossie. The 1922 Diocesan Directory listed Hammond, Pine Hill and Redwood as missions of Rossie. In 1927 Hammond and Rossie were united under one pastor, Rev. Walter J. Charbonneau, who resided in Rossie.
As reported in a regional news article in 1948: “Fire…completely destroyed the 65 year old St. Patrick’s church in Rossie and threatened for a time the rectory which is located only 20 feet south of the church. …The Blessed Sacrament and all sacred vessels remained in the tabernacle through the fire…together with the altar stone containing a small fragment of the true cross. All of the vestments were destroyed in the sacristy, along with the valuable chalices and other sacred vessels, the only ones surviving the fire being those contained in the tabernacle.”
The church was rebuilt and rededicated on Ascension Thursday, 1949. In 1963 Hammond became a parish with St. Patrick’s in Rossie changing in status to mission of St. Peter’s. It remained a mission of Hammond until the incorporation of the “Catholic Community of Morristown, Hammond & Rossie” in 2009 under Rev. Kevin McEwan.

Clergy Timeline

1878 – 1884 Rev. William S. Kelly
1884 – 1886 Rev. John Fitzgerald
1886 – 1898 Rev. Michael O’Neill – Rev. Francis Crogan
1899 – 1914 Rev. C.J. Crowley
1914 – 1917 Rev. J.J. Bent
1917 – 1920 Rev. M.J. Sweeney
1921 – 1926 Rev. Thomas E. Owen
1926 – 1928 Rev. J.L. Desjardins
1928 – 1932 Rev. Walter Charbonneau
1932 – 1933 Rev. Thomas B. Hurley
1934 Rev. Arthur J. Trudel
1934 – 1938 Rev. Francis E. Gilbert (Administrator)
1938 – 1943 Rev. Cornelius A. Collins
1944 – 1948 Rev. Joseph Stickelmyer
1948 – 1950 Rev. Paul Brunet
1950 – 1954 Rev. Armand Brunet
1954 – 1958 Rev. Gilbert J. Faucher
1958 – 1960 Rev. Vernon Doe
1960 – 1964 Rev. George Lemieux (Administrator)

(Mission of St. Peter’s Church, Hammond, 1963)

1964 – 1969 Rev. Daniel T. Keefe
1970 – 1971 Rev. Paul Oehler
1972 – 1978 Rev. Gilbert B. Menard
1979 – 1988 Rev. Lawrence E. Cotter
1989 – 1990 Rev. Stephen H. Gratto
1991 – 1992 Rev. Stephen Rocker
1992 – 1994 Rev. Dennis J. Duprey (Temporary Administrator)
1994 – 1996 Rev. Terry R. LaValley (Administrator)
1996 – 2000 Rev. Msgr. Lawrence M. Deno
2000 – 2002 Rev. Steven M. Murray
2002 – 2006 Rev. Albert J. Hauser
2006 – 2008 Rev. Douglas J. Lucia
2008 – January 20, 2009 Rev. Kevin D. McEwan
Current Pastor - Rev. Christopher Carrara


Incorporation: “The Catholic Community of Morristown, Hammond & Rossie”