Changes in the 1950s

At his Golden Jubilee in June of 1951, the gift of $500 from the Catholic Women’s Club to Fr. Foran was identified by him as the beginning of a fund to install a new marble altar in Saint Mary’s Church.  It would take him less than a year to realize and install his dream.  In an unpublished work by Jim Buckley, he identifies that the check Fr. Foran received at the Centennial to retire the parish debt allowed him to begin to fulfill his dream to replace the high altar in the upper church.  Through the first eighty years of the church, the same altar, installed by Fr. Cuddihy had graced the sanctuary and been the site of countless Masses offered on behalf of the faithful Catholics of Milford.  Through the intervening years each pastor had renewed and improved the church and its decoration, leaving the main altar untouched.  Until 1952, when Fr. Foran realized his desire to install a new finely crafted marble altar imported from Italy. 
Jim Buckley’s research identified that Fr. Foran could not find a design that satisfied his expectations and his vision on how to improve the sanctuary of Saint Mary’s Church.  One day while visiting the DePrato studios in Boston, the same firm who had executed the bronze crucifixion scene in the parish cemetery, he found a worthy model.  The prototype he saw in the studio in Boston had been completed from an assortment of the finest marble available from Italy, principally from Sienna.  Finding what he wanted, he approved the design and type of marble and a commission was given to Rambusch studios in New York to execute the design.  Next, he set about to select the structure that would support the weight of the new altar and its tonnage.
This request made to post-war Europe was a two-edged sword.  The need for industry and trades to re-emerge from the global conflict meant that there was not a large backlog or waiting period for materials to be quarried and shipped.  Europe was anxious for business and a postwar America converting from defense manufacturing to construction was a market for many of their goods.  Churches benefited since many items were at a cost affordable to many budgets and the desire to expand and improve parish buildings in the economic boon that followed the war.  However, the marble that Fr. Foran had liked so much was from a quarry that was about to be closed for a lack of worthwhile materials remaining in it.  Once informed of this change, Fr. Foran was insistent on what he had chosen and been promised in the signed contract that he had.  Realizing his insistence, the quarry determined it had a sufficient amount of worthy stone to fulfill the request and the marble was quarried and shipped from Italy for installation in the Milford church.  Work on the installation of this new furnishing began on Easter Monday, April 14, 1952.
The design of the new altar was reminiscent of the original wooden one.  Like the original, it had a series of Gothic arches with pointed pinnacles on either side of a center section that housed the crucifix.  Like the original, this altar had its highest point in the middle, over the crucifix, but this new one was designed to not obstruct the view of the window behind it.  Whereas the original had a higher peak in the center, the marble one had a canopy to shelter the crucifix illuminated by electric lights that made the gold metallic mosaic background glisten richly in its light.  The new marble crucifixion scene was a pure white marble one with individual statues of Our Lady and the Beloved Disciple at either side of the cross.  In the gold mosaic was also a dozen white stars organized as an oval outline.  Within the backdrop of each Gothic arch there is a mosaic of a fleur-de-lis.  This stylized image of the lily is understood as a symbolic reference to Our Lady, the patroness of our parish church, who in submitting to the will of God to enflesh the Redeemer in her womb, did not defile her virginity in doing so.  At each end, where an angel had stood in front of a pointed arch, there were now art deco angels completed in an exquisite detail.  Whereas the original altar had standing angels facing forward and holding candelabras, probably initially with wax candles, then ones illuminated by natural gas and finally electricity, the new altar had standing angels facing outward as if protecting the sacrament on the altar beneath them, their faces downcast in humility, expressing the unworthiness even of the heavenly host to gaze directly on the glory of the Godhead present before them in the Blessed Sacrament. 
In the center beneath the crucifixion was the tabernacle.  The previous one was inserted into the original altar whereas now it was a freestanding element, resting on the altar itself with brass doors describing the Holy of Holies contained within.  Beneath the altar, there was a carved marble image of a pelican, the Greek alphabet letters, Alpha and Omega.  These are ancient honored symbols for Christ.  The book of Revelation makes reference to Christ as the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.  The pelican is presented as stabbing itself with its razor-sharp bill to cause a bleeding to feed its young.  This is an image of Christ who feeds his disciples with his own Body and Blood in the eucharist.  These images were removed during the renovation in 1980 and the ochre marble pillars that flanked these carved images were installed on the front of the new free-standing altar still located in the sanctuary while the images of the pelican and the Greek letters have been lost to us.  The work took just under two months and the first Mass at the new altar was celebrated for Pentecost on June 1, 1952. 

In the history of the church, the events of February 24, 1953 are unprecedented in its life.  It was on that day, about 12:40 pm that Josephine Lucca entered the lower church to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament when she was driven back by thick smoke when she opened the door to the lower church.  Unable to enter, she crossed the yard to the convent of the Sisters of Saint Joseph to inform them of the situation.  One of the nuns ran to the corner and pulled Box 41 to summon the Milford Fire Department.  Arriving in a matter of minutes, the firefighters found the blaze raging in the lower church.  Donning masks, the firemen entered the church, needing to break several windows to try and quash the fire.  Between 1 and 2 pm, the entire fire department was summoned to battle the blaze and a company from Hopedale come to cover the Milford station during the conflagration. 
The company laid water lines from hydrants on Main Street to increase the water pressure in order to battle the stubborn blaze.  Six firefighters were overcome by smoke and needed to be treated locally at the Milford Hospital.  Meanwhile, several tiles of the metal ceiling collapsed and the decision was made to break through the floor of the main church to better reach the blaze which was discovered to be most intense at the rear of the lower church near the confessionals where votive lights were located, that were believed to have been the cause of the blaze.  During this time, at personal risk of death, Fr. Edward Sheehan entered the lower church with one of the firefighters to remove the Blessed Sacrament and then returned to remove sacred vessels and vestments from the sacristy.  By 2 pm, a section of the lower church ceiling was still burning, smoke was billowing from the church and there was six inches of water on the floor.  Within an hour the blaze was extinguished but the smoke was hanging heavy in the lower church and pouring from the broken windows and open doorways.  When darkness descended an hour later, the decision was made to set a watch for flare ups and looters and investigate the cause the next day.
The light of the following day revealed extensive damage.  First, a pumper was brought by the department to remove nearly a foot of water that flooded the lower level.  The area near the confessionals was extensively damaged as were the rafters above for the upper church.  It was determined that votive candles could not have been the cause of the blaze since none of them had been lit at the time.  Insurance adjustors were on site giving an estimate was that the damage would be in the vicinity of $75,000.  One of the questions was whether the entire church would need to be repainted from the smoke damage in the upper church.  In the meantime, Fr. Foran had moved the morning Lenten Mass to the hall at Saint Mary’s high school.  During the fire the previous day, Fr. Louis Fontana had visited the scene and offered Fr. Foran use of the lower church at Sacred Heart Church in Milford for the coming weekend.  In addition, Arthur Mabey, manager of the State Theatre had offered his facility to be used by the parish as well. 
Workmen were busy boarding up the broken windows and installing new flooring in the upper church where holes had been hacked to reach the fire.  The Sisters of Saint Joseph were busily attending to the laundering of the vestments and vessels for the weekend’s Masses.  Work was progressing so it was announced that temporary confession stations would be set up in the upper church for the weekend where Masses would take place following the usual schedule.  An inspection of the organ determined that it was fine and suitable for use for the upcoming weekend’s worship. 
The hidden blessing of the fire is that it revealed a dangerous possibility in the design of the church.  Following the fire, Fire Chief John Adams approached Fr. Foran to explain that additional exits would need to be constructed for the future to prevent a worse outcome in the event of another fire in the building.  At that time, the only exits in the upper church were the three doorways at the Winter Street end of the building. Chief Adams identified that a fire in the same location with the building occupied would not allow most of those inside to safely vacate the building in the event of an emergency.  He explained that two new exits on either side at the front near the sanctuary would need to be constructed.  He identified that a simple metal emergency stairway similar to what had been installed on the high school building with the construction of two new classrooms on the second floor of the hall would be acceptable. 
Jim Buckley identifies that Fr. Foran felt that this form would be a ‘desecration’ to the architectural integrity of the building.  Instead, he engaged the creative and engineering mastery of Consigli Construction to create two new emergency exits for each side.  On April 13, 1953, it was announced that two new exits were planned and would be built at the front of the church near the communion rail.  This same article identified that repairs were begun on the lower church as well as repairs to the chimney and windows.  Damage at that point had been calculated at $54,000.  His insight and the excellent craftmanship of Consigli in the design and construction of these exits are so seamless to the original design that almost no one who is a first visitor to the church since their construction do not recognize that they are not original to the design, but rather a modern invention for the safety of our worshippers not installed until 82 years after it was first built and used.