The final first Saturday devotions and daily Mass for 2014 at the Catholic Church of Mary Immaculate near Williamsburg will be Oct. 4 at 10:30 a.m.
Father Chapin Engler and Father James Conyers, both of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, Ronceverte, and St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, White Sulphur Springs, serve on an alternating basis as celebrant of the daily Saturday Mass which is part of the May through October first Saturdays observance.
The church, located on Catholic Church Road, just off the Frankford-Williamsburg Road, is the oldest Catholic church building in Greenbrier County, having been built in 1901. It served the Irish and German Catholics who settled in the Williamsburg-Renick-Frankford area in the mid and late 1800’s and was the third church building to serve those communities. The first two burnt.
Restored through the efforts of Dr. and Mrs. Larry Musselman of Butler Mountain, Renick and members of the Catholic Churches of the Greenbrier Valley, the Chapel has no scheduled services during the late fall or winter months, but hosts the first Saturday devotions May through October.
The public is invited to attend the service and tour the church and the near-by cemetery where many early Catholics are buried. The Alleghany Highlands Council 8689 Knights of Columbus also holds a public Rosary recitation on Memorial Day at the cemetery as well as assist in the support of the Church.
For information on the first Saturday devotions or to schedule a separate visit to the historic church, telephone the office of the Catholic Churches of the Greenbrier Valley at 304-536-1813.
