Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 17.

[p. 7] Gilligan used to say, ‘We are so comfortable here I fear it will be difficult to finish the interior of the upper church.’ Alas! he did not live to see his great work completed, for in 1900 he passed away, after a long and painful illness.

In March, 1900, the Rev. Thomas L. Flanagan came to Medford from the parish of Stoneham, where he had been pastor for some years. He was an intimate friend of Father Gilligan, and he took up the work of completing the new church as Father Gilligan laid it down. And indeed, as we review the twelve years that he has been in Medford, the amount accomplished by his efforts, with the hearty co-operation of the parish, seems quite wonderful. The large debt which he found on the church has been paid off, a handsome and commodious rectory, which is a conspicuous ornament to High street, has been built and is free of debt.

Within the last eighteen months the interior of the upper church has been almost entirely completed. It is really beautiful in its harmony of decoration, its fine stained-glass windows, and in the lofty outlines of its architecture. It is also redolent of the spirit of selfsacrifice and generosity of the people, for the windows, the high altar and the altar to Our Blessed Lady, the pulpit, the candlesticks, the sanctuary lamp, the musical sanctuary chimes, the new golden chalice, the golden communion trays, the stations of the cross, are all donations, the most of them memorial gifts. And it was a happy day when His Eminence the Cardinal came out on Sunday, June 2, 1912, to dedicate the church and its contents to the worship of God.

There are now three priests to minister to the congregation, the Revs. William H. Flynn and Daniel F. Desmond, assisting Father Flanagan. Four successive Masses are celebrated every Sunday morning and are well attended by both men and women. There is a large Sunday School, which meets in the chapel on Sunday afternoons before Vespers, and there are always two, and generally