St. Patrick's Catholic Church (Washington, D.C.)

St. Patrick's Catholic Church was founded in 1794 to serve the Irish immigrants to the United States who worked as stonemasons during the construction of the White House and the U.S. Capitol.{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=https://saintpatrickdc.org/our-history |access-date=2022-09-13 |website=St. Patrick Parish |language=en}} Dominican priest Anthony Caffry O.P., recently arrived from County Mayo, Ireland, was charged by Bishop John Carroll with establishing the first Roman Catholic parish in the City of Washington. Caffry's decision to undertake the project was likely influenced by Irish architect James Hoban, one of the supervising architects on the Capitol building. Hoban asked Caffry to consider the Irish stone workers building the new federal capital. Caffrey first began celebrating Mass in rented spaces in the beginning of the year,{{Cite book |last=Warner |first=William W. |title=At Peace with All Their Neighbors: Catholics and Catholicism in the National Capital, 1787-1860 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-1589012431 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=25–26 |chapter=Part I: Georgetown and the Maryland Tradition |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=La5qFU947j4C&q=anthony+caffry+dominican&pg=PA25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916193021/https://books.google.com/books?id=La5qFU947j4C&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=anthony+caffry+dominican&source=bl&ots=XBOB9gMnhQ&sig=f3BPVQDIWzBktB69ySDiaH0HpVg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0pKKQocDdAhWMdd8KHXxnCVsQ6AEwAXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=anthony%20caffry%20dominican&f=false |archive-date=September 16, 2018 |url-status=live}} but later built a modest, one-and-a-half story wood-frame church with the meager funds the parish had.

Caffrey resigned in 1804 and was reassigned to New York. He was followed by William Matthews who oversaw construction of a new, larger church in 1809 on the site of the original building.{{Cite journal |last=Frye |first=Virginia King |date=1920 |title=St. Patrick's: First Catholic Church of the Federal City |journal=Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. |volume=23 |pages=26–51 |jstor=40067137 }} The brick, Gothic Revival church was completed in 1816.{{sfn|Warner|1994|p=102}} This new St. Patrick's was consecrated by Archbishop John Carroll, and the Mass was concelebrated by coadjutor Bishop Leonard Neale, Matthews' maternal uncle.

During the War of 1812, British troops invaded Washington, D.C., in 1814. As they advanced to within two blocks of St. Patrick's Church, fire from surrounding buildings spread to the roof of St. Patrick's. Matthews barricaded himself and others inside the sanctuary while most of the city's population fled. He went to the roof to put out the fire, then persuaded General Robert Ross not to destroy the church.{{Cite book |last=Durkin |first=Joseph Thomas |title=William Matthews: Priest and Citizen |date=1963 |publisher=Benziger Brothers |location=New York |pages=16–17}}

File:Old St Patrick's Church and Rectory Washington DC.jpg

In 1825, Matthews founded the St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum and brought the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul from Emmitsburg, Maryland, to run it. Mother Juliana, the local superior, was Matthews' niece.{{sfn|Durkin|1963|pp=119–122}} Matthews was pastor from 1804 until his death in 1854.{{Cite book |last=Curran, S.J. |first=Robert Emmett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wTnIE1HixpYC&pg=RA1-PR35 |title=The Bicentennial History of Georgetown University: From Academy to University (1789–1889) |date=1993 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |isbn=978-0-87840-485-8 |edition=First |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=62–63 |oclc=794228400 |access-date=15 March 2018 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite web |last=Liston |first=Paul |title=A Short History of St. Patrick Parish |url=http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ourhistory.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801064910/http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ourhistory.shtml |archive-date=August 1, 2017 |access-date=February 24, 2018 |website=St. Patrick Catholic Church}}

Rev. Timothy O'Toole, an Irish immigrant who had attended seminary of St Patrick's College, Maynooth in Ireland, was pastor from 1854 to 1860. During his tenure, he founded the Father Mathew Total Abstinence society, the parochial school, and St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum for Boys.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_KL4YAAAAYAAJ |title=The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X. |publisher=Catholic Editing Company |year=1914 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_KL4YAAAAYAAJ/page/n130 117] |oclc=976946591 |access-date=28 April 2018}} O'Toole was followed by Jacob Ambrose Walter, who, in November 1872, saw the cornerstone laid for the new church. The first mass was said in the new church on November 2, 1884. It was dedicated on December 28, 1884.{{Cite book |last=MacGregor, Morris J., 1931- |url=https://archive.org/details/parishforfederal0000macg/page/210 |title=A parish for the federal city : St. Patrick's in Washington, 1794-1994 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |year=1994 |isbn=0813208017 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/parishforfederal0000macg/page/210 210] |oclc=29636010}}

The church is a contributing property to the Downtown Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Radical renovations to the sanctuary in 1994 witnessed the removal and subsequent destruction of the church's original high altar, communion rail, consecration stones, and some artwork. The National Park Service, which oversees the NRHP, considered taking formal, perhaps legal, action over the unprecedented violation of regulation.[https://www.nps.gov/nr/regulations.htm National Register of Historic Places] National Register of Historic Places;09/24/2015 12:22 PM

Pope Francis visited Saint Patrick's Church on September 24, 2015, during his tour of the United States.[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pope-francis-skips-lunch-with-politicians-to-visit-homeless-in-washington-dc_5603f27de4b08820d91bb9c1 Pope Francis Skips Lunch With Politicians To Be With Homeless In Washington, D.C.] Huffington Post;09/24/2015 12:22 PM

File:Police Week Blue Mass 2013 (8739375062).jpg

The Blue Mass dates to September 29, 1934,{{Cite web |date=2014-10-24 |title=Blue Mass Honors Fallen Police and Firefighters |url=http://colton.citynewsgroup.com/articles/dee231827be1f6f54562bc50d8ed2cba |access-date=26 December 2014 |website=Colton City News |publisher=City News Group Inc.}} when Rev. Thomas Dade started the celebration as part of his duties with the Catholic Police and Fireman’s Society.{{Cite web |date=1994-11-17 |title=Msgr. Thomas B. Dade, was pastor in Riverdale |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1994/11/17/msgr-thomas-b-dade-was-pastor-in-riverdale/ |access-date=26 December 2014 |publisher=Baltimore Sun}}

Rev. Dade's brother was a policeman in Baltimore, which boasted a healthy Catholic Police and Fireman's Society. Rev. Dade noticed that there was no such fraternal association in Washington, DC, and lobbied the Washington, DC, commissioners to allow him to create one. The Washington, DC, branch of the CPFS was opened in 1934.{{Cite book |author=MacGregor, Morris J. |url=https://archive.org/details/parishforfederal0000macg/page/305 |title=A parish for the federal city : St. Patrick's in Washington, 1794-1994 |date=1994 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |isbn=978-0813208015 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/parishforfederal0000macg/page/305 305] |oclc=29636010}}

That first Mass has grown to a nationwide celebration.{{Cite web |date=2014-09-01 |title=LOCAL PARISH HAS "BLUE MASS" TO HONOR AND PRAY FOR FIRST RESPONDERS: POLICE, FIRE AND MEDICAL |url=http://www.stdavidofwales.com/pr---blue-mass.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226070654/http://www.stdavidofwales.com/pr---blue-mass.html |archive-date=26 December 2014 |access-date=26 December 2014 |publisher=Saint David of Wales Catholic parish}} The September 29 celebration was timed to coincide with Michaelmas, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, the patron military saint of police officers and military.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=MacGregor |first=Morris J. |url=https://archive.org/details/parishforfederal0000macg |title=A Parish for the Federal City: St. Patrick's in Washington, 1794–1994 |date=1994 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |isbn=0813208025 |url-access=registration}}

{{Commons category|St. Patrick's Catholic Church (Washington, D.C.)}}

• {{Cite web |title=St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Washington D.C. website |url=http://www.saintpatrickdc.org}}
• {{Cite web |title=St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 619 Tenth Street, NW, Washington, District of Columbia, DC", Historic Buildings Survey, Library of Congress, 30 November 2003 |website=Library of Congress|url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/dc1052}}

{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington|state=collapsed}}

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Category:Religious organizations established in 1794

Category:Roman Catholic churches completed in 1884

Category:Roman Catholic churches in Washington, D.C.

Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Washington, D.C.

Category:Downtown (Washington, D.C.)

Category:19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States