Mansfield - St. Colman Catholic Church, popularly known as "The Little Catholic Church on Irish Mountain“ located in Raleigh County, West Virginia, burned to the ground in an apparent arson attack Sunday, according to the local volunteer fire department.
The boxy, simple building originally constructed of hewn logs around 1877-1888, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1928, the log structure was covered with clapboard wood siding painted white.
“On 6/26/2022 units from Beaver VFD were alerted to a structure fire at the Saint Colman Catholic Church on Irish Mountain Road in Shady Spring, WV,” the Beaver Volunteer Fire Department said in an online post.
Once the department arrived at the scene, the church had already burned to the ground and was “smoldering,” the post says. The post says the fire is considered “suspicious in nature.” The fire is being investigated as arson, the post says.
The church dubbed St. Colman after its restoration carried a large, unadorned wooden cross rose above the roof level at the chapel’s front. Inside, the white altar and some of the benches for the congregation were constructed in 1904 by Father J. J. Swint, who was a carpenter as well as priest, and later became Bishop of Wheeling.
Kelli Thompson Harrison, 50, from Crab Orchard, West Virginia, told CNA that her ancestors were Irish Catholic immigrants who worshipped at St. Colman Catholic Church.
“It’s just truly heartbreaking because there’s so much history there,” she said. The church was a place of meaning and purpose for the immigrant community, Harrison said, and it saddens her to see it destroyed.
It is unclear whether the suspected arson attack that destroyed the church this week is related to its phantasmal reputation, or to the spate of arson attacks against Catholics that have plagued the US as a whole in recent months.
The West Virginia fire department is asking anyone with relevant information to contact State Police Trooper D. Daniels at (304) 256-6700. Other points of contact are the West Virginia State Fire Marshal’s Arson Hotline at 1 (800) 233-3473, Crime Stoppers of Raleigh County at 304-255-STOP, or www.crimestopperswv.com.”
-CNA/CatholicMasses