This is the first church named in honor of Saint Dorothy in the State of Massachusetts.
Solid historical fact is lacking but is compensated for by the beautiful and legendary "acts of St. Dorothy." Dorothy was a young gril who suffered a martyr's death for her love of our Lord. Her parents are belived to have been martyred before herin the Diocletian persecution.
She
was from Cappodiocia, an important city in Asia Minor (now Turkey.) Fabritius,
govenor of Caesarena, sent her to her death. Roman soldiers took her, after
her mother and father were martyred, and treated her cruelly in an effort to
break her faith. She was put to death in mid-winter, on Febuary 6, 311 A.D.
in the City of Caesarea, now Cappadocia, during the persecution of Christians
by the Roman Emperor Diocletion.
Young Dorothy had refused to marry or to worship idols and was, therefore, sentenced to death. According to legend, Dorothy suffered in mid-winter, and on the road to her execution, a young Roman lawyer, Theophilus, jeered at her and taunted her for her piety. According to legend, he called out, "Send me some of the fruits and flowers from that garden you speak of, where you are going to your bridegroom." She responded, " Thy request is granted." As she knelt at the executioner's block, she prayed for Theophilus' wish to happen. When she died, an angel appeared before her with a basket of three apples and three roses. After she died, the basket was delivered to Theophilus by an angel child. Theophilus recognized that the fruit (apples) and flowers (roses) were not native to the arid steppes of Turkey.
St. Dorothy, which means "Gift of God," is the patron saint of brides, florists and gardeners. In some places, trees are blessed on her feast-day, February 6th. In many famous paintings, she holds a child--possibly the Christ Child--by the hand. The shrine of St. Dorothy is in Rome, in the church dedicated to her in Trastevere (i.e. the "other side of the Tiber").