Just a little history: The Madonna of the Highways

It may surprise newcomers – not old-timers – but it has not been that many years since the only churches in Wake Forest were Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist or Presbyterian – the congregations that could use the Wake Union Church – and  there was strong prejudice against Catholics or Jews. We did not have Muslims to say nothing of Buddhists or other religions.

One of the major local changes in attitudes was the recruitment of northern athletes to play baseball or basketball or football at Wake Forest College. When people saw that those young men had just one head and were polite and friendly, the change began.

But before that anti-Catholicism was strong enough that George Bolus had to use a front man to be able to purchase the land where the first Catholic church in town, Saint Catherine of Siena, was built from Rolesville granite just as his house was.

One of the outreaches the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh used in those hard times for religious understanding was something called the Madonna of the Highways Trailer Chapel which traveled around a large part of the state with two priests, conducting masses, hearing confessions and acting like a mobile church. Although the state’s residents were hostile to Catholicism, there were always Catholics anxious to practice their religion.

There is a collection of Wake Forest postcards http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nc_post/searchterm/WakeForest (N.C.)/field/subjed/mode/exact/conn/and/order/rtitle!subjec/ad/asc/cosuppress/1 and the pictures are vivid. They show a 1944 yellow car (yellow? In 1944?) and small trailer with a small insert showing a priest standing in the back of the trailer under the back door which opened completely. He was standing in front of an altar.

The mobile chapel was a trailer that could accommodate two priests and held the altar and church equipment along with a PA system, a radio and a Victrola as well as a motion picture projector. It was dedicated in 1948 and its home base was 701 South Main Street in Wake Forest – also the address for Saint Catherine of Siena Catholic Church from its construction in 1939 until 1997 when the growing congregation moved to a new facility on West Holding Avenue which proved inadequate. The congregation dedicated a cathedral two years ago.

The Catholic church in Wake Forest began with a very small congregation that met in the Bolus home on South Main Street. As the number of Catholic athletes at the college grew, the diocese bought and outfitted a railroad car called Saint Peter Catholic Chapel Car which housed one priest and a small church.

As that grew unsatisfactory, Mr. Bolus tried to purchase the lot next to his house and was stymied, making the purchase by a third party necessary.

That first Saint Catherine of Siena Church is again a church after being a venue for weddings called the Stone Chapel.

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