St. Mary of Sorrows Summer Photograph by Terry Rowe

St. Mary of Sorrows Summer

by Terry Rowe

Canvas Print

Framed Print

Art Print

Poster

Metal Print

Acrylic Print

Wood Print

Title

St. Mary of Sorrows Summer

Artist

Terry Rowe

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photography

Description

This photograph of St. Mary's of Sorrow Catholic Church was taken on a lovely summer day. It shows the simple beauty of this church that has seen so much history and life.

In the Beginning
In 1838, two Catholic families living in Fairfax, the Hamills and the Cunninghams, donated a tract of land to the Diocese of Richmond in hope of having a church built and a Catholic cemetery consecrated. A cemetery was created immediately. In the late 1850s, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad began to lay track westward from Alexandria and advertised for working men. Irish immigrants responded and ultimately settled at Fairfax Station. The pastor of St. Mary's in Alexandria and his assistant took care of the spiritual needs of the Catholics at Fairfax; they often said mass for railroad workers in boxcars standing at the Station, about one-quarter mile from the Historic Church. These immigrants became the nucleus of the new parish. Their names can still be read on the tombstones standing in St. Mary's cemetery.

Building the Church
In 1858 the Bishop of Richmond, Most Rev. John McGill, laid the cornerstone for the new St. Mary's and designated it a mission of St. Mary's in Alexandria. The men of the parish built the church on a slight hill overlooking what was then the main road leading into Fairfax from the south. For the framework, they used rough-hewn lumber probably logged from the heavily wooded area that surrounded the site. The only major purchase was a steeple bell from a firm in Baltimore. St. Mary's was dedicated in 1860.

The Civil War Years
It was not long after the dedication that the clouds of war appeared on the Virginia landscape. Given the church's important location on the main road from Fairfax Courthouse to the depot of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad (now Fairfax Station), the area, with St. Mary's as an identifying point, quickly became an important objective for both Northern and Southern armies vying to dominate the railroads in the area. At the outbreak of the war, Confederate forces were positioned in the area surrounding St. Mary's. The Union Army controlled the railroad out to Burke while the Confederate Army controlled the Manassas area. Therefore the land in between, where St. Mary's stood, was the scene of frequent, violent skirmishes.

Battle of Second Manassas
In 1862, President Lincoln created the Army of Virginia. The Southern forces, under Generals Lee, Longstreet and Jackson sensed an opportunity to threaten Washington, D.C. Lee's army met the Army of Virginia commanded by General Pope at the Manassas on August 28-30, 1862. This was called the Battle of Second Manassas or the Second Battle of Bull Run, depending on whether you are a Southerner or a Northerner. Casualties in the three-day battle were horrendous: Pope's ill-lead army suffered 14,462 killed, wounded or missing. Lee's forces 9,474.

As the Union Army withdrew before Lee's troops, a field hospital was moved to St. Mary's. The wounded were laid out on the Church's hill, many on pews taken from the church. They awaited the unloading of food and ammunition from the trains in the railroad yard nearby, so they could be placed on trains going east to Alexandria.

Clara Barton
Clara Barton had arrived from Alexandria on one of these trains. She was a clerk at the Government Patent Office who had gathered a group of volunteers to tend to the wounded and dying. She nursed the wounded for three days and nights as heavy rains fell and doctors operated in the only dry place available, the church. Many soldiers died and were buried in the churchyard. Although 20,000 Confederate soldiers began the push toward Fairfax Station, Miss Barton, her volunteers and the doctors remained until the last of the wounded were evacuated. She watched from the windows of the last train as the Confederate Soldiers captured Fairfax Station and set fire to the depot. As a result of her experiences at Fairfax Station, She devised a plan to establish a civilian society, which became the American Red Cross. A plaque honoring her heroism sits on the Route 123 side of the church grounds.

After the Second Battle of Manassas, there were many skirmishes in Fairfax. Finally the Union Army took and rebuilt Fairfax Station in 1864. However, John S. Mosby and his Rangers continually harassed the Union forces in the area.

After the Civil War
Cheap land and the promise of jobs within the railroad and lumbering industries attracted large numbers of former Union soldiers to Virginia when the war was over. Many of the former soldiers were German and Irish Catholics. Some settled into Fairfax Station.

The Church Community fit easily into the life of the Fairfax Station community. In spite of widespread bigotry in the United States against immigrants, St. Mary's services and activities were always announced and covered in the local newspapers. St. Mary's annual picnic during these years, first as a Fourth of July Celebration during the 1870's. Sometime after 1894 the affair was transferred to Labor Day. The event is now considered the oldest outdoor social function in Fairfax County, attended annually by over 10,000 people.

Architecturally Speaking
The church dedicated in 1860 has changed little in physical appearance. It began as a single-room clapboard structure. Later in the nineteenth century, an entrance vestibule, choir loft and the new steeple were constructed. The two story sacristy / priest's room was added to the east end and the upper story was used as living quarters for visiting priests. The original wood pews were destroyed during the Civil War, as mentioned above. Tradition holds that the present seats were installed at the order of President U.S. Grant. He often traveled by train to a resort in nearby Clifton, and ordered restitution when he learned of the damage inflicted on the church by Union troops. Most of the present pews date from this time. The interior was originally lit by glass reservoir oil lamps mounted at each window. The power for electric lights was installed about 1927. The original brick chimney and flue were for a cast iron, pot-bellied stove.

There was an elaborate white metal baptismal font within the Church, which is in storage awaiting restoration. The front doors are replacements, as is the steeple bell, which was cast in Baltimore around the mid-1880s. In 1988 the entire interior of the church was refurbished; new cypress clapboards and shutters were added on the exterior in 1995.

Around the Church
The soldiers buried in the churchyard during the Civil War were later moved to Arlington National Cemetery, with the exception of one Confederate named Kidwell. Only those bodies that could be positively identified were moved. Kidwell's relatives wanted him to remain on Catholic ground, so the contrived a ruse with the pastor to not mark Kidwell's grave so that his body would not be moved.

Most of the soldiers buried in the churchyard were moved to Arlington Cemetery with the coming of peace; and only one Confederate grave, located at the upper edge of the church's courtyard, remains as testimony to the battle that raged nearby.

Historic Designations
In 1972, Fairfax County declared St. Mary's a historic district and imposed strict zoning limitations on the land surrounding it to preserve its character and dignity.

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