History of St. Coleman Parish

With the approval of His Grace, Most Reverend Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley, Bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine, a twelve-acre tract was purchased on SE 12th Street and Federal Highway with the farsighted plan of erecting a new church, school, convent, auditorium, and rectory.

 

In February of 1958 Fr. Fogerty, Pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Church, announced a Building Fund Drive to raise funds to defray the costs of construction for a new church, an eight-classroom elementary school, and a convent for ten teaching Nuns of the Congregation of the Third Order of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate.

 

The school opened on September 9, 1958, with Rev. Michael J. Fogerty as Pastor and Sr. M. Thelma Majer as founding Principal. The school was called Our Lady of the Assumption and was part of the Diocese of St. Augustine. Eight classrooms had been erected, seven of which were utilized immediately. The enrollment was 247 children in grades one through seven. Grade eight was added in 1959.

 

In October 1958, the new Diocese of Miami was formed with Coleman F. Carroll as Bishop. On May 7, 1959, Fr. Fogerty announced a change of title. Bishop Carroll decided this was an opportune time to separate Our Lady of the Assumption on A1A from Our Lady of the Assumption on 12th Street. The A1A Parish kept its title and this Parochial unit became St. Coleman Parish.

 

-St. Coleman School Self-Study, 1972

 

 

Our Parish Patron

St. Coleman of Cloyne was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 522 and died about 610. His Feast Day is November 24th.

 

As a young man, he was blessed with many talents and he so excelled in the arts of poetry and music that he was made one of the Royal Bards (chronicler and genealogist as well as poet laureate) at the King's Palace in Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland.

 

When Coleman was about fifty years of age, he became a Catholic. One of his instructors in Faith was St. Brendan the Navigator who, according to some historians, may have landed in America long before either Christopher Columbus or Leif Erickson.

 

St. Brendan baptized Coleman and soon afterwards Coleman embraced the Monastic life and was ordained a priest. He preached the Gospel in the areas of the Counties of Limerick and Cork, Ireland, for several years. He also founded the Church of Cloyne, County Cork, of which he became the first Bishop. For many years thereafter, he labored for the glory of God and the Church and established many more churches in the South West area of Ireland.

 

In his later years, he was able to devote more time to his literary talents in the service of God. During those years he composed several poems on sacred subjects.