The Irish Catholic Roots of Denver: A Legacy Written in Faith
- Guest Contributor
- Jun 30
- 5 min read
Sacred Heart, St. Patrick and generations of immigrant families helped build both the city and the Catholic faith in Colorado.
By Karyl Klein
Archivist
Archdiocese of Denver
As America celebrates its 250th anniversary and Colorado marks 150 years of statehood, it is worth remembering the many immigrant communities that helped build both the nation and the Church in Colorado.
In Denver, Italian immigrants working in mining and farming founded Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish. Slovenian and Polish immigrants employed in the Globeville smelters established Holy Rosary and St. Joseph Polish parishes. Irish immigrants, one of the largest immigrant groups to come to Colorado, primarily worshipped at Sacred Heart, St. Patrick and St. Leo parishes.
Irish Catholic Denver
“Hibernians in early Colorado lifted, hauled, dug, fought, cleaned, fed and scrubbed. They were the sweat, blood and muscle of an expanding American empire, extracting precious metals, laying new roads of iron and steel and tending to the needs of the privileged,” writes James Walsh in the book Irish in Denver.
Many Irish immigrants came seeking opportunity in the mines or by helping build the railroads, primarily settling in Gilpin and Lake counties. Others came west to escape anti-Catholic prejudice in the eastern United States, where Protestant America was less than welcoming to this predominantly Catholic immigrant group.
The silver crash of 1893 brought many former miners into Denver, where they found work in the police and fire departments. Irish women often worked as domestics for wealthier families, entered religious life or opened businesses in industries such as dry goods, milling and dairies. At the same time, the Diocese of Denver saw an increase in the number of Irish priests arriving to minister to the growing Catholic population.
Sacred Heart and the Growth of Irish Catholic Denver
In 1860, St. Mary Pro-Cathedral was established at 15th and Stout streets as Denver’s first Catholic church. In 1878, the German community founded St. Elizabeth Parish, and soon afterward, Sacred Heart Parish opened its doors to serve Irish and Italian immigrants.
Sacred Heart remains the oldest continuously operating parish in the Archdiocese of Denver, as both the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and St. Elizabeth are no longer located at their original sites. Designed by Emmet Anthony in a traditional cruciform shape, Sacred Heart was entrusted to the Jesuits by Bishop Joseph Projectus Machebeuf, who administered the parish until 1988.
The church was formally dedicated on April 25, 1880, with a school opening that same year in the church basement. Sacred Heart School was dedicated in 1889 and operated by the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. Although the grade school closed in 1979, the building today houses Centro San Juan Diego, a ministry of Catholic Charities. Sacred Heart quickly became one of Denver’s fastest-growing parishes, eventually establishing St. Ignatius Loyola as a mission parish in 1909. Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor, who was of Irish background, worshipped there alongside her husband, Horace Tabor.
St. Patrick’s and Irish Identity
St. Patrick Parish was established in 1881 by Bishop Machebeuf to serve residents of “North Denver.” Soon afterward, the parish welcomed its outspoken Irish pastor, Father Joseph Carrigan, who helped organize Denver’s first St. Patrick’s Day celebration in 1885.
Believing the parish needed a larger church, Father Carrigan began construction on the current church building in 1907, despite objections from Bishop Nicholas Matz. Designed by Harry Manning, the church features a cloister connecting it to the rectory. The building was completed in 1909, though Father Carrigan was later reassigned to St. Stephen Parish in Glenwood Springs amid growing tensions with the bishop.
The parish school opened in 1884 under the direction of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and remained active until 1969. Although St. Patrick’s formally ceased to function as a parish in 1998, the Capuchin Poor Clares now reside there and continue to welcome worshippers to Sunday Mass.
Irish Catholics in Civic and Church Life
Denver’s Irish Catholics also formed social and charitable organizations that influenced both civic and Catholic life. One of the most prominent was the Ancient Order of Hibernians, established in Denver in 1889. The organization marched through the city during its 1902 convention and counted Bishop J. Henry Tihen among its members. Though the bishop was of German heritage, one Hibernian famously remarked that “he is a better Irishman than most of us Irish,” given Bishop Tihen’s frequent use of his pulpit to advocate for Irish independence. The Hibernians, together with the Denver Catholic Register, also played a significant role in opposing the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s.
Many Irish immigrants went on to become successful businessmen and philanthropists. Among the most notable was John K. Mullen, who built his fortune in flour milling and generously supported Catholic causes throughout Denver. Mullen High School and the former Mullen Home both bear his name.
In 1887, Mullen helped fund St. Leo the Great Church at Colfax and Tenth, on what is now the Auraria campus. The church served English-speaking Catholics who struggled with the German-language liturgies at nearby St. Elizabeth. One of the parish’s most notable pastors was Father William O’Ryan, who also became the first director of Catholic Charities of Denver. Financial difficulties eventually forced the parish to close, and the church was demolished in 1965 to make way for the Auraria campus.
A Lasting Legacy
When the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was dedicated in 1912, many prominent Irish Catholics appeared among its donors, including Philip Clarke, who operated a religious goods store, Denver Fire Chief John Healy, James McParland of the Pinkerton Agency, businessmen Martin O’Fallon and Dennis Sheedy, and Andrew Smith, one of the first people married in the Colorado Territory by Bishop Machebeuf.
The Irish Catholic story in Denver is also deeply personal for many families, like mine.
My grandfather, Cornelius Lucy, immigrated from Inchigeelagh, County Cork, in 1910, sponsored by his uncle, noted physician and former councilman Daniel Lucy, who had come to Denver in 1893. Dr. Lucy was very active in St. Patrick Parish, and that was where my grandfather worshiped until his marriage in 1927, when the family moved into Sacred Heart Parish, where both my mom and my aunt were baptized.
Cornelius Lucy later retired from the Denver Police Department in 1952 after nearly 30 years of service.
