Celebrating the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul In spite of economic hardship and adversity across the country, 1934 and 1935 were blockbuster years for new construction in Lewiston and Auburn. The area’s largest project was rising on the corner of Bartlett and Ash streets in Lewiston — Saints Peter and Paul Church, but other […]

Henry Hoffman, right, holding the fedora, stands at the top of a spire of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in this 1950 photo, 168 feet above the ground. Hoffman was the treasurer at that time for Hahnel Brothers roofers of Lewiston. The workers, who are unidentified in the photo, were installing lead-coated copper […]

A view from the air highlights the cross shape of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Celebrating the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul LEWISTON — With approximately 600 churches and civic buildings already on his resume and nearing the end of his career, Boston architect Timothy G. O’Connell wanted to build a grand […]

This statue of Mary stands above the front entrance on the Ash Street side of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Celebrating the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul On Tuesday, Nov. 26, 1935, the Lewiston Evening Journal featured a front-page photograph of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, still under scaffolding, with […]

One of the fallout shelter signs at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston. Celebrating the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul The book of Psalms, Hebrew poetry written centuries before the birth of Christ and the atomic bomb, makes frequent references to the defense provided by God. Using words like “shield,” “a […]

Celebrating the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul On Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday, Catholics commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is a part of the Passion (from the Latin for “suffering”), the name given to the last period of Jesus’ life from his entrance to Jerusalem to his crucifixion on Mount […]

Saints Peter and Paul Basilica in Lewiston is made up of carefully laid pieces of granite that were mined from a quarry in Jay. Stone from the quarry was used, in part, to build Grant’s Tomb in New York City, the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company building in Philadelphia and Portland City Hall. Celebrating the Basilica […]

Celebrating the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul Last week’s installment of the Sun Journal’s ongoing series on the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, which highlighted the Dominican priory in Lewiston, provided a basic timeline of the monastic order’s presence within the city. Unlike religious orders living in isolated communities, Dominicans have long been considered […]