The formal history of the Catholic Church in Maine began in 1822. At that time there werefewer than 50 Catholics in Portland. They asked the Bishop of Boston, the Rt. Rev. John Cheverus, to send them a priest. He came himself in addition to a few other priests who would visit from time to time. The first resident priest was Fr. Charles French from Galway, Ireland, who had been in North America since 1812, serving in various parishes in Quebec, St. John (New Brunswick) and New York. He was accepted into the Boston Diocese and his first assignment was Maine. There were only 4 Catholic churches in the State at that time and none in Portland. Fr. French's first visit to Portland was with Bishop Benedict Joseph Fenwick (Boston's second Bishop) in 1827 when the Bishop celebrated Mass in a building in Monument Square which had been the site of lay services conducted according to guidelines set up by Bishop Cheverus.
The few Catholics in Portland at that time hoped that they would soon have a church of their own, but it was not to be until 1830 when the construction of St. Dominic's began. Prior to that, prejudice in the city had been strong enough to keep many property owners from selling to the Catholic Church. However, a prominent landowner, John Fox, sold land for St. Dominic's to Fr. French and made a substantial contribution to the building fund. This moderated the prejudices to some extent and the church was able to move forward. Masses started to be celebrated in 1830 before the church was completed, and on August 11, 1833, Bishop Fenwick dedicated St. Dominic's. Following the Mass, the Bishop, clergy and several distinguished converts to the Catholic Church were invited to dinner at the home of Judge William Pitt Preble, another prominent Portland resident. The support of John Fox and Judge Preble went a long way toward alleviating the prejudices against Catholics in the city.