Sisters of St. Joseph
In 1902 nine Sisters of St. Joseph from the mother-house at Le Puy took charge of the school in the French parish of St-Roch, Fall River, Massachusetts. The accession of other members from the mother-house enabled the community to take charge of three other schools in the city attached to French parishes. In 1906 St. Theresa's Convent was formally opened as the provincial house of the community, which was legally incorporated in the same year, and a novitiate was established. In the mid 1970s, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Fall River merged with the Springfield Congregation.
St. Joseph's Church (Fall River, Massachusetts)
Reverend Father William H. Bric, the first pastor and founder of Saint Joseph's parish was born in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, in 1841, and made his preparatory studies for the priesthood at Killarney, in the beautiful and historic lake section of the Emereld Isle, and then at Cambrai, in Southern France, after which he came to this country and was sent by the then Right Reverend Bishop McFarland to the Seminary of Saint Sulpice at Baltimore, Md., where he was ordained to the priesthood. After curacies at Woonsocket, R.I., and at the Providence Cathedral, he was named as pastor for Harrisville and Slatersville, R.I., remaining in charge there for four years. Then it was that he was selected by Right Reverend Bishop Hendricken to form and get into being the new Saint Joseph's parish in this city, where his tasks were large and his labors unceasing for a period of seven years. He had long suffered from rheumatism, and when this painful disease touched a vital spot on Saturday, August 7, l880, he was called away from earthly activities and summoned to the higher life. Apart from his priestly duties and responsibilities, he had served two full terms of three years each as a member of the Fall River School Committee, being regarded far and wide in the community as a man of scholarly attainments and broad-minded views.