Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

The Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a Roman Catholic Basilica in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, sometimes known as "The Mission Church". The Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province have ministered to the parish since the church was first opened in 1870.HistoryIn May 1869, Rev. James A. Healy, pastor of St. James’s Church in Boston, invited the Redemptorists to give a parish mission. Pleased with the success of the mission, Father Healy recommended to the Bishop that the religious order should establish a mission-house in Boston. That year Archbishop John J. Williams invited the Redemptorists to Boston. In September 1869 the Redemptorists acquired a site in Roxbury, then known as the Boston Highlands, on Parker Hill. Parker Hill was named for wealthy Boston merchant, John Parker, who occupied the summit of the hill during the eighteenth century. The five acre estate was known as Brinley Place, and included a grand house, Datchet House built in 1723 by prominent English officer Colonel Francis Brinley in memory of his ancestral home. Colonel Brinley died in 1765. Wealthy merchant Robert Pierpont purchased the house in 1773. Pierpont enlarged and enriched the house to such a degree that it became known as "Pierpont’s Castle".The Redemptorists built a modest wooden church on the location in 1870. This was to serve as a "mission house", a home base for priests traveling to distant parts of Massachusetts, Canada, and elsewhere. The church was dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The first mass was said on January 29, 1871. The original structure was located on the site where the rectory now stands.