Fort Ann parish marks 125 years

Last weekend, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, far right, celebrated Mass at St. Ann's Church in Fort Ann to mark the parish's 125th anniversary.

In a second celebration, a concert of sacred music was performed on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, by three seminarians from the Albany Diocese.

St. Ann's Church stands on the south parapet of an English fort that defended the area during the French and Indian War of the 18th century.

In 1880, a mission church of St. Mary's in Sandy Hill (now Hudson Falls) was established at Ft. Ann. Masses were celebrated in private homes until a church cornerstone was laid in 1890 on July 25, the Feast of St. Ann.

The mission originally bore the name of St. Anne of Denmark, but Rev. J.J. O'Brien, the priest credited with establishing the permanent parish, changed it to St. Ann, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The mission became its own parish in 1920. The first resident pastor, Msgr. Daniel R. Burns, was a Navy chaplain in World War I who later became a chaplain at Great Meadow Prison at Comstock. He remained pastor until 1942. The current pastor is Rev. David LeFort.

Parishioners plan to mark their anniversary in other ways: at their annual barbecue later this month and at a formal dinner in October in Queensbury.

(The parish's website is www.ourladyofhopesaintanns.org.)

(8/18/05) [[In-content Ad]]