Notre Dame de Lourdes, known from 2012 to 2018 as St. Bernadette Parish, is a former Roman Catholic parish in Fall River, Massachusetts. A part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River, the parish was established in 1874 to serve the growing French-Canadian population located in the city's Flint Village section. Since its founding, the parish has occupied three different church buildings; a wooden structure (1874–1893), a spectacular granite church (1906–1982) and the current modern church (1986-2018). The parish complex over time has also consisted of other multiple buildings, including St. Joseph's Orphanage, The Jesus Marie Convent, a school, the church rectory, the Brothers' residence, and the former Msgr. Prevost High School. The parish also includes Notre Dame Cemetery, located in the city's south end.
On May 30, 1891 the cornerstone was laid on what was to be one of the largest and most beautiful churches in New England. In December 1894 the lower church was completed and ready for use, much to the relief of the parish whose wooden church burnt a year earlier. For the new church, Destremps designed "A system of trusses, beams, buttresses and metal rods with turnbuckles" to channel the weight of the roof directly down through the granite walls and leave an unobstructed view of the interior of the church. M.J. Castagnoli, a master sculptor, was commissioned to do the plaster work on the columns, cornices, and bas-reliefs that decorated the church. Master artist Ludovic Cremonini created 18 majestic oil paintings which adorned the walls and ceilings, including his interpretation of Rapheal's "Last Judgement", which was one of the largest paintings in the northeast. In 1906 the giant pipe organ manufactured by the Brothers Casavant of St. Hyacinthe was installed and in November 29 of that year the church was officially dedicated. At 310 feet, the twin steeples were the second tallest in the United States at the time of their construction. The church building was meant to evoke the Notre Dame de Paris.
In 1982 the church enacted a renovation that was to be for $1 million. During the restoration of the church while soldering metal gutters,[citation needed] a workman's blowtorch had accidentally ignited the building, the roof timbers affected, starting a fire in the south steeple. The dry wood caught quickly and with no fire extinguisher nearby the fire spread in minutes The attic first caught fire. Carpenters ran to get the Sexton and all raced up the stairs of the tower to try to put the fire out. Running into a wall of thick black smoke they could do nothing. Now it was a race against time to get records, the Eucharist and anything else of value out of the church before the building was engulfed. The fire department responded quickly but their efforts were hampered by strong winds, intense heat from the fire and low water pressure in the hydrants. The fire, fanned by the high wind, spread to nearby buildings and soon engulfed homes and businesses on the next two streets. When the fire finally came under control many buildings were gone. The church was a total loss. The empty granite shell a ruin.
