Holy Ghost Society Archives [1967-1995]

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By 1905, Lowell had nearly 1,000 Portuguese immigrants, the majority having been born in the Azores. Most lived in the vicinity of Charles Street in the “Back Central” neighborhood, which was home to St. Anthony’s Church and a number of Portuguese social and religious societies. Among the more prominent was the Holy Ghost Society, founded in 1907, by a group of Azorean immigrants. Rev. Joaquim V. da Rosa, from the island of Pico and the first pastor of St. Anthony’s, supported the Society’s establishment. The following year Fr. Rosa performed the Solemn Sunday Mass and coronation for the first Holy Ghost Festival in the city. A large procession with a band streamed down Central Street to a public hall where an overflowing crowd enjoyed sumptuous feast and beheld the finely crafted silver crown. Over the first decade membership in the Holy Ghost Society grew. Although the annual Holy Ghost Festival, held on Pentecost Sunday, was the major event sponsored by the Society, members engaged in a variety of religious and social activities, including concerts and dances. By the mid-1910s the Holy Ghost Society had amassed sufficient funds to maintain a headquarters in the Odd Fellows Hall on Middlesex Street. In 1924, seeking a larger space for its many activities, the Society, which had incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts a year earlier, purchased over four acres of land on Village Street on the outskirts of Lowell. Over the years, the Holy Ghost grounds featured a clubhouse with a large hall, an amphitheater, a playground, and a soccer field. Although Azoreans continued to be the largest group within the Society, Portuguese from Madeira, mainland Portugal, and Brazil had become members and several served in leadership roles. Beginning in 1959, Lowell’s Holy Ghost Society adopted a common practice at other Holy Ghost Festivals in the United States, the coronation of a queen, representing the Queen Saint Isabel, and the selection of two queen’s maids, all young women between the ages of 16 and 21. In addition to the coronation, the queen and her maids were a prominent part of the procession, standing on top of a colorfully decorated float, often towed, as was the popular custom, by a new convertible automobile. In its early years, the Holy Ghost Society was led exclusively by Portuguese men, some who worked in factories and others who ran small businesses. Nonetheless, female members planned many annual activities and special events as participants in a ladies’ auxiliary. Beginning in the 1940s, however, women served as officers and presidents. The first female president, Clara (Silva) Correia, had immigrated from Graciosa, settled in Lowell in 1905, and had worked many years as a weaver in a textile mill. She was succeeded as president some years later by one of the best known members of the Society, Gladys (Mendonça) Picanso, a community activist who owned a popular hairstyling business in Lowell. The Holy Ghost Society continues to sponsor the annual Holy Ghost Festival, along with other events and charitable activities. Many of these are held at Holy Ghost Park on Village Street. But these events, whether they are concerts, dances, or sporting and recreational games, some of which include non-Portuguese participants, exhibit a distinctly Portuguese flair.