Religious Intolerance In Old Lakeville

Divisiveness is as old as the hills.

If you think the present political climate is tense wherever people are still willing to speak to one another, it wasn’t so different in late 19th century Lakeville. 

In a recently published, thoroughly researched book, “Lake-ville Crucifix: A Religious War in 19th Century Connecticut,” local author Geoffrey Brown explores the genesis of religious intolerance, suspicion of immigrants, and divided politics.  

Brown gives the details of the story deep understanding in a captivating narrative. 

The placement of a 12-foot crucifix smack in front of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Lakeville caused a dust-up that captured nationwide interest in the 19th century. Much publicized, the controversy  even made The New York Times.  Intolerance ruled between the Protestants, the Catholics, the immigrants and others. Long after the dust had settled locally, the crucifix issue lived on in the public imagination.

One recognizes some of the attitudes of one’s grandparents, particularly if those folks had roots laid deep into the New England soil.

A helpful chronology of the contributing factors to the local crucifix problem started in the 1500s, according to the author, who zips the reader along through the centuries of European influences and then settles gently into a timeline focusing on Lakeville and its environs with the birth of the iron ore industry.  

The reader flies comfortably and informatively through time here, touching upon important local family names as the story moves along, each of whom would, in time, have a hand in that crucifix event.

The timeline carries the reader to a climactic point in late 1882 when a prominent cross was erected on the front lawn of St. Mary’s (recently consolidated with other parishes to form St. Martin of Tours), with a ceremonious addition, within days, of a life-like, vividly painted body of Christ on the cross. A public uproar ensued.

It’s an engrossing story of centuries of church history and societal divisions in the hands of a skilled historian who brings local history to life with impactfully dramatic writing. You’ll know the read was successful because the facts will stay with you.

Author Geoffrey Brown will speak about “Lakeville Crucifix” at the Scoville Library in Salisbury on Saturday, Feb. 16, beginning at 4 p.m. and will present to the Trinity Lime Rock book group meeting at Trinity Church in Lime Rock on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m.