Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 67, § 44

The Roman Catholic archbishop or bishop of the diocese in which a Roman Catholic church is erected or intended to be erected, the vicar-general of such diocese and the pastor of such church, for the time being, or a majority of them, may associate with themselves two laymen, communicants of said church, and may, with such laymen, sign a certificate in duplicate, showing the name or title by which they and their successors shall be known as a body corporate, which certificate shall be acknowledged in the same manner as conveyances of land. One copy of such certificate shall be filed in the office of the state secretary, and the other recorded in the registry of deeds in the county where such church is erected or intended to be erected; and thereupon such church shall be a body corporate by the name expressed in such certificate, and the persons so signing the same shall be the trustees thereof.