St. Peter’s Church. Lowell Directory 1855 page 247. Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell
When immigrants arrive, they bring their religions with them. The Irish-Catholics of the 19th century relied on their church for more than godliness. Many were illiterate, due to English laws prohibiting Catholic education in Ireland. Those from the poorest parts of the island in the west, far from the wealthier areas near England, spoke only Irish. The priests were educated and from the earliest days of immigration, advocated for schooling for the children. In Massachusetts, which had long required enough education to read the bible, the clerics were, as they say, preaching to the choir. The Irish clerics did not want Catholic children learning the ways of Protestants, and the Protestants did not want to mingle with dirty Irish. Catholic parishes formed their own schools, usually taught by (unpaid) nuns. Lowell was a little different for a time. The city funded the schools in the Catholic neighborhoods and held them to the same standards as the other schools. The church was able to select the teachers.
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