One of the inescapable confrontations in a plural society like ours is the issue of race relations. In the 1830s, a coloured priest named Francis De Ridder from Demerara (Guyana) caused a schism in the local Roman Catholic Archdiocese by breaking from the mother church and erecting a chapel of his own, where free coloured persons could worship in equality.
This was anathema to the colonial attitudes to class and colour, since this was several years before emancipation. De Ridder faced massive opposition as the white French-Creole Catholics wielded the real power in the colony. A long war of words and litigation with the Vicar Apostolic, Rev D MacDonnell left De Ridder a broken man. He was even jailed for his crusade, eventually leaving Trinidad shortly before his death.
The schismatic chapel was mortgaged to pay some of De Ridder's legal costs. The site on Park and Frederick Streets, where De Ridder had constructed his church, remained unoccupied, until the need for a chapel of ease for the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity arose. In 1866, the land was designated by Archbishop Spaccapietra to Fr Mariano Forestier to build a chapel, which the latter did by whipping up a frenzy among parishioners who vied with each other to help in construction.
Stones and sand were brought by hand from the bed of the St Ann's River, much of it hauled by two women, who, ironically, were notorious for being practitioners of the world's oldest profession. In 1867, the church was consecrated by Archbishop Louis Gonin and dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. The interior was described thus in 1887:
"The altar in it is of white stone from France, and over it two statues of angels show Christ's face during his Passion. The triple east window represents our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, and St Veronica." Among the most generous benefactors were Corsicans Louis Le Roy and his sister, Marie.
A significant part of their great wealth went into completing and maintaining the chapel, and when both died-Louis in 1873 and Marie in 1907-they were interred in a vault under the church's sanctuary. In 1892, Archbishop Flood embarked on an extensive remodeling project, which saw a new altar being donated by Sir Louis De Verteuil, and the screening of the chancel. Bells cast in Lyons, France, were hung in the belfry.
Using a legacy of $21,000 (a huge sum) from Marie Le Roy, the church was completed and blessed in 1910. The construction continued with the addition of two massive stone towers resembling those of the Rheims Cathedral in France. These were funded from money willed by Eugene Cipriani (another Corsican) and a loan from Barclays Bank, which was not fully repaid until 1980, allowing the towers to be blessed by the late Archbishop Pantin.
Today, the church of Our Lady of the Rosary is in dire need of restoration, perhaps awaiting the coming of another Marie or Louis Le Roy.
