For at least 185 years, there has been a Catholic chapel in Sweet Springs, Monroe County, with the earliest records indicating the Chapel was being built and was in use in 1839.
On Aug. 15, the Church will be open for public tours at 4 p.m. and for the Mass of the Feast of the Assumption at 6 p.m. with an ice cream social on the grounds following the Mass and the public is invited.
Built by slave labor on the Lynnside Plantation, the red brick church served as a family/community church for the family of Gov. John Floyd, his wife and daughters who had attended Catholic school when the late Governor of Virginia was employed in Washington and later served as Governor of Virginia in Richmond. The daughters and later his wife converted to the Catholic religion.
Served by priests from other Virginia parishes in the 1800’s, primarily from the Catholic community in the Wytheville, VA, area, in the later part of the 1800, it served as a starting point for establishing Catholic Churches in Lewisburg (Immaculate Conception) and Summersville (St. John’s). The Chapel is the oldest standing Catholic church in WV still in use.
Much of the history of the Church has been completed by Father Harry Winters OMI, the last resident Catholic priest in Monroe County. The Church is now a Chapel in the St. Charles Borromeo Church parish. White Sulphur Springs, which joins with the St. Catherine of Siena parish in Ronceverte which serves most of northern Monroe County in the Aug. 15 observance.
Music for the Mass will be provided by the Hymns and Hers, the choir of St. Catherine of Siena Parish, and the newly organized choir at St. Charles Borromeo in White Sulphur Springs.
In addition to Msgr. Kevin Quirk, newly appointed pastor of both St. Charles Borromeo Parish and St. Catherine of Siena Parish, priests from other parishes in southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia often con-celebrate the Mass. In addition, Msgr. Williams from the Diocese of Raleigh, NC, has indicated he will be there Aug. 15.
Books published about the area and by Father Harry Winters OMI about the Sweet Springs plantation and church history will be available for sale by members of the Greenbrier Valley Council 8689 Knights of Columbus who also help with the Feast day observance.
From the west, take I-64 east to Exit 183 and VA/WV 311 to Sweet Springs; from the east, take I-64 west to Exit 10 Callahan VA 159 south to VA 311 to Sweet Springs; from the southern WV and SW Virginia take US 219 north to Union and WV 3 east to Sweet Springs.
For further information, telephone 304-536-1813 (the office of the Catholic churches of the Greenbrier Valley) or 304-645-1373 (the Knights of Columbus).
