St. Ann's Church Complex is now a historic cultural center in
Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Woonsocket ( ), is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 43,240 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island's northernmost city, Woonsoc ...
on Cumberland Street. It was formerly a
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
church within the
Diocese of Providence
The Diocese of Providence () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Rhode Island in the United States. The diocese was erected by Blessed Pope Pius IX on February 17, 1872.
The Diocese of Providence is a suffragan diocese of the Ar ...
.
Description
The Renaissance style church was built in 1913 by
Walter F. Fontaine to serve Woonsocket's
French-Canadian
French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the prov ...
community. The complex originally encompassed a church, school, convent, parish house and a gymnasium that doubled as a theater.
The church closed in October 2000 and later reopened as the St. Ann Arts and Cultural Center.
The St. Ann's complex was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1982.
See also
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Catholic Church in the United States
The Catholic Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion, communion with the pope, who as of 2025 is Chicago, Illinois-born Pope Leo XIV, Leo XIV. With 23 percent of the United States' population , t ...
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Catholic parish church
In the Catholic Church, a parish () is a stable community of the faithful within a particular church, whose pastoral care has been entrusted to a pastor#Catholicism, parish priest (Latin: ''parochus''), under the authority of the diocesan Bishop ( ...
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Index of Catholic Church articles
This is an index of Catholic Church articles. Portals and navigation boxes are at the bottom of the page. For a listing of Catholic Church articles by category, see :Catholic Church (and its various subcategories and pages) at the bottom of the p ...
*
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Pastoral care
''The Book of Pastoral Rule'' (Latin: ''Liber Regulae Pastoralis'', ''Regula Pastoralis'' or ''Cura Pastoralis'' — sometimes translated into English ''Pastoral Care'') is a treatise on the responsibilities of the clergy written by Pope Greg ...
References
External links
St Ann Arts and Cultural Center*
French-Canadian culture in Rhode Island
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1913
20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States
Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island
Historic American Buildings Survey in Rhode Island
Buildings and structures in Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Churches in Providence County, Rhode Island
1913 establishments in Rhode Island
Roman Catholic churches in Rhode Island
National Register of Historic Places in Providence County, Rhode Island
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