“The copper laden hills of Miami have seen booms and busts, but no matter the town’s fortunes, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church has played a major role in Miami’s history.
Catholics in the Miami and Globe areas were first served officially by Catholic missionaries in 1876. Visiting priests from Our Lady of Assumption Parish in Florence were assigned by Tucson’s Vicar Apostolic Jean Baptiste Salpointe, to Miami. Between these visits, Catholic lay people would gather in homes to pray. Bishop Peter Bourgade of the newly formed Diocese of Tucson transferred the authority of the Catholic Mission to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Solomonville in 1891. Circuit riding priests then came from that parish to administer the sacraments.
The first permanent resident pastor was Father Joseph Barrette who was also serving the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish (now Holy Angels) in Globe. By 1911, Fr. Barrette saw a rapid increase of Mexican and Anglo-European cultures, especially the Croatians, who were Catholic.
In 1911, Fr. Barrett had a small wooden church constructed on the hill (now known as Church Hill), to the south-east of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church. Miami’s first Catholic church was named Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Bishop Granjon visited Miami in 1915 and became aware of the area’s rapid growth. He thus established the parish of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament in Miami and assigned Fr. Barette as its first pastor. Fr. Virgil Genevrier took over Fr. Barrette’s place as pastor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Globe.
In 1916, articles appeared in the Arizona Daily Silver Belt about the Catholic Ladies’ Aid and other groups sponsoring activities for the purpose of fundraising for a permanent church to be built.
Fr. Barrette worked with the two largest mining companies, Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company and Miami Copper Company for land donations at the west end of Sullivan Street. Sufficient funds had been raised by late 1916 to begin construction of a new church. The architect for the project was Henry O. Jaastad, a native of Sweden but who lived in Tucson and eventually became its mayor. A Globe construction company, Briggs and Daniels Construction bid $9, 661.80 and won the contract for building the church. Both the architect and the contractors were already working on the new YMCA at the east end of Sullivan Street which Miami Copper Company donated to the town.
The formal dedication of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church was held at 10 o’clock, July 1, 1917. Parishioners and visitors, waited outside while Bishop Granjon blessed the church both inside and outside. After everyone entered, the Bishop blessed both the American and Croatian flags.
Services were held almost hourly, several days before the dedication by the visiting priests, to allow locals to see the inside before the formal dedication as the church only held 300 and the population of Miami at the time was near 6,000.
At 2 o’clock the Bishop confirmed children six years of age and under. At 7:30, confirmation was given for all children and all adults not already confirmed in the Catholic faith. Over 600 Catholics were confirmed that day.”
(Above text from “100 Years of Memories, 1917-2017, Celebrating the Past and Embracing the Future,” Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church)
Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
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