Holy Name of Jesus was found in 1903 by a group of Polish immigrants seeking spiritual succor for themselves and their children in a language native to them. The permission to build the Church was graciously given by The Most Reverned Michael Tierney, then bishiop of the Diocese of Hartford. Bishop Tierney assigned the Reverend Sigismund Luczycki as the first pastor of the newly organized parish. Under the guidance of Fr. Luczycki the parishioners immediately made a determined and inspired beginning. A parcel of land was purchased on South Street and a simple, wooden structure was erected on that site to serve as a church, school and convent. Over one hundred years later, the site stil serves as the orignal three.

Rev. Luczycki was succeeded by the Rev. Ignatius Kruszynski in 1906. Though thwarted in his attempts to build a new church and a new school, nevertheless, he contributed to the material growth of the parish by purchasing the present rectory at 4 Pulaski Street.

The third pastor, the Reverend Joseph Raniszewski, assumed his pastoral duties in 1910 and ministered to the nspiritual needs of the parishioners for the next seven years.

In 1917 the Reverend Louis Rusin was appointed to succeed Father Raniszewski as pastor of Holy Name Parish. Whithout neglecting the spiritual, the new pastor set about to improve the financial and material conditions of the parish. Although he never achieved his goal, he did manage to liquidate the debt.

On June 26, 1922 the parish entered the golden age of its history with the assumption of the pastoral office by Father Wladasz. The parochial school, which had beend closed, was reopened with the Bernandine Sisters from Reading, Pennsylvania. in charge. this action won warm and wide approval and precipitated an immediate and notable increase in the number of parishioners. Encouraged by his intial success, Father Wladasz decided that same year to launch a comprehensive building program, which would ultimate ly provide the parishioners with a new church, a new school, and a home for the nuns, who were to teach at the school. One of the three major projects contemplated by Father Wladasz was realized, when the home on the corner of Henry and South Streets was purchased and converted into a convent. Along with this home the adjoining land was also acquired with a view of building thereon the future church.

Work on the Church commenced April 5, 1925. On Sunday, August 23 of the same year, the cornerstone was blessed by Bishop Nilan. Approxiamtely two years later on Easter Sunday the entire exterior of the church was completed and the lower church was sufficiently completed to permit the parishioners to participate in the first Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to be celebrated in the new church.

The critical years that immediately followed the financial crash of 1929 found the building industry almost at a standstill. However, the Rev. Francis M. Wladasz, trusting in God and the undaunting spirit of his flock, resumed work on the upper portion of the interior of the Church.

The progress was slow, but steady. On December 25th, 1934 all was in readiness for the first celebration of the first Mass in the completed upper Church. On that Christmas Day the beautiful Romanesque structure seemed a silent manifestation to the Saviour, that if the parishioners had their way, He would have been born in this magnificent temple instead of a humble stable.

The striking and unusual splendor of the interior of the church has moved visitors time and again to remark that the Holy Name of Jesus is one of the most beautiful churches not only in the diocese, but in many other dioceses as well.