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The site of Rosary Church has been at the cutting
edge of social history in the city of Port-of-Spain from the early
19th century. In a way, it has been a symbol of social contradiction
for the last one hundred and seventy five years.
In 1829 Abbé Francis de Ridder purchased land that the church and
schools currently stand on. He was a free coloured priest in
Trinidad at a time when the first civil governor, Sir Ralph Woodford
Bart, had been imposing restrictions upon the coloured population.
De Ridder started a school and an “organisation with the aim of
human liberation for the people of colour.” His work and
independence challenged the colonial establishment. In the political
struggle for justice that ensued, the site of the Holy Rosary Church
was the free coloured headquarters in Port-of-Spain.
After de Ridder’s demise in 1831, Fr. Samuel Power, an Irish priest,
took residence in the Park Street property and continued de Ridder’s
work. By 1840, the new bishop had won Power’s confidence, convincing
him to end the schism, to submit to his (Smith’s) authority, to hand
over the sacred vessels, and to use his influence to bring the
people in Grenada and Trinidad back to the Catholic Church. Fr.
Power left for Rome in 1842, having been reconciled with Bishop
MacDonnell.
On April 13th, 1857, a sum of 10 shillings was
paid for conveyance by certain Trustees to Archbishop Spacapietra
for the site to be used as a Catholic chapel and School. The
original chapel was constructed in 1866 and blessed in 1867 with
generous donations from the parishioners. In 1889 plans were drawn
for a new church and construction began on July 2nd, 1892.
It was mainly the descendants of the original French colonists who
paid for the magnificent structure that stands today.
Having been a British crown colony, French
culture in Trinidad had been systematically dismantled over the 19th
century. The Holy Rosary Church was the last French enclave in a
predominately British Port-of-Spain. It is worth noting that because
finance for building came directly from the parishioners, the
progress of the project depended entirely on their fortunes. It took
almost fifty years of hard work for this beautiful building to be
completed and blessed in 1939, and a further forty for it to be
consecrated in 1980.
Today the church stands as a symbol of a third major social
collision. Its architecture symbolizes magnificence and grandeur,
but yet it is located in a part of the city that has become known
for its poverty and underdevelopment.
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