St. Patrick's Old Cathedral

{{Short description|Catholic parish church in Manhattan, New York}}

{{About|the former cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York|the current cathedral|St. Patrick's Cathedral (New York City)|other uses|St. Patrick's Cathedral (disambiguation){{!}}St. Patrick's Cathedral}}

{{Infobox church

| denomination = Catholic Church

| name = St. Patrick's Old Cathedral

| img = Saint Pats Old Cathedral Manh jeh.JPG

| caption = Mulberry Street facade

| coordinates = {{Coord|40|43|25|N|73|59|43|W|region:US-NY_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| country = United States

| location = Mulberry Street, Manhattan, New York City

| tradition = Latin Church

| website = {{URL|http://oldcathedral.org/|St. Patrick's Old Cathedral}}

| dedication = May 14, 1815

| status = Minor basilica, former cathedral

| architect = Joseph-François Mangin

| style = Gothic Revival

| groundbreaking = {{start date|1809}}

| completed date = {{end date|1815}}

| deanery = South Manhattan

| archdiocese = Archdiocese of New York

| embedded = {{Infobox NRHP

|embed = yes

|nrhp_type2 = cp

|name = Old St. Patrick's Cathedral Complex

|added = August 29, 1977

|area = {{cvt|1.8|acre}}

|refnum = 77000964{{NRISref|2009a}}

|nocat = yes

|partof = Chinatown and Little Italy Historic District

|partof_refnum = 10000012

|designated_nrhp_type2 = February 12, 2010

|designated_other1 = New York State Register of Historic Places

|designated_other1_abbr = NYSRHP

|designated_other1_date = June 23, 1980{{cite web |title=Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS) |publisher=New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation |date=November 7, 2014 |url=https://cris.parks.ny.gov/ |access-date=July 20, 2023 |archive-date=April 4, 2019 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20190404141934/https://cris.parks.ny.gov/ |url-status=live }}

|designated_other1_number = 06101.000076

|designated_other1_num_position = bottom

|designated_other2 = New York City Landmark

|designated_other2_date = June 21, 1966

|designated_other2_abbr = NYCL

|designated_other2_number = 0187

|designated_other2_num_position = bottom

}}

The Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral, sometimes shortened to St. Patrick's Old Cathedral or simply Old St. Patrick's, is a Catholic parish church, a basilica, and the former cathedral of the Archdiocese of New York, located in the Nolita neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Built between 1809 and 1815 and designed by Joseph-François Mangin in the Gothic Revival style,{{cite fromatoz}}, p. 236 it was the seat of the archdiocese until the current St. Patrick's Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan opened in 1879.{{cite web |url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=5376 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Old St. Patrick's Cathedral Complex |date=March 1977 |access-date=October 31, 2009 |author=Betty J. Ezequelle |publisher=New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009101756/http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=5376 |archive-date=October 9, 2012}} See also: {{cite web |url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=5375 |title=Accompanying 11 photos |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009101807/http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=5375 |archive-date=October 9, 2012}}Remigius Lafort, S.T.D., Censor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KL4YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA303 The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X. Volume 3: The Province of Baltimore and the Province of New York, Section 1: Comprising the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn, Buffalo and Ogdensburg Together with some Supplementary Articles on Religious Communities of Women.] New York City: The Catholic Editing Company, 1914, pp. 303–307. Currently, liturgies are celebrated in English, Italian, Spanish, and Chinese. The church is at 260–264 Mulberry Street between Prince and Houston streets, with the primary entrance on Mott Street. Old St. Patrick parish merged with Most Precious Blood parish, and the two churches share priests and administrative staff.{{cite web |url=https://oldcathedral.org/shrine-church-of-the-most-precious-blood |title=Shrine Church of the Most Precious Blood |publisher=BASILICA OF ST. PATRICK'S OLD CATHEDRAL |access-date=February 2, 2022 |archive-date=May 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200530230547/https://oldcathedral.org/shrine-church-of-the-most-precious-blood |url-status=live }}

The Old St. Patrick's church building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, and the cathedral complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It was declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI on Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, 2010.

History

File:Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mott Street, NYC 1831.jpg

The first Catholic parish church in New York City was St. Peter's on Barclay Street, the cornerstone of which was laid in 1785.Brown, Mary Elizabeth and Osborne, Ernest L. "St. Peter's Church [Roman Catholic]" in {{cite enc-nyc2}}, p. 1142 By the early 19th century, Anthony Kohlmann, the Jesuit rector of that church, realized that the city's growing Catholic population needed both a second sanctuary and a cathedral for the first bishop, since the city had been made a see in 1808.Burrows & Wallace, pp. 480–481 The site he selected for the new church was being used as a cemetery for St. Peter's, and was well outside the settled area of the city, surrounded by farmland and the country houses of the rich. The architect chosen was Joseph-Francois Mangin, who had co-designed New York's City Hall with John McComb Jr.,NYCLPC, p. 28 construction on which was ongoing when the cornerstone of St. Patrick's was laid on June 8, 1809. Construction took just under six years, with the sanctuary being dedicated on May 14, 1815. In that same year, John Connolly, an Irish Dominican friar, arrived to take office as the city's first resident bishop. When complete, the church was the largest in the city. Its outer dimensions are 120 by 80 feet, and the inner vault is 85 feet high (37m x 24m x 26m).

Until 1830 the cathedral was the ending place of New York's annual St. Patrick's Day parade. After that, it ended further south along Mott Street at the Church of the Transfiguration, whose pastor, Felix Varela, was a Spanish political refugee from Cuba. In New York, he served as the chaplain off the Hibernian Universal Benevolent Society.Burrows & Wallace, pp. 543–546 Eventually, the parade moved uptown to pass in front of the new St. Patrick's Cathedral (1879).{{cn|date=March 2023}}

In 1836, the original cathedral was the subject of an attempted sack after tensions between Irish Catholics and anti-catholic Know-Nothing nativists led to a number of riots and other physical confrontations. The situation worsened when a brain-injured young woman, Maria Monk, wrote a book telling her "true" story – a Protestant girl who converted to Catholicism, and was then allegedly forced by nuns to have sex with priests, with the resulting children being baptized then killed horribly. Despite the book being debunked by a mildly anti-Catholic magazine editor, nativist anger at the story resulted in a decision to attack the cathedral. Loopholes were cut in the church's outer walls, which had just recently been built in 1834, and the building was defended from the rioters with muskets. Afterwards, the Ancient Order of Hibernians established its headquarters across the street from the church.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

In 1838, the cathedral was the location for the funeral of Lorenzo da Ponte, Mozart's primary librettist, who had fled to America in 1805 fearing bankruptcy. He became a professor at Columbia University and started what eventually became the Metropolitan Opera. The funeral was attended by an enormous number of people.{{Cite web |title=Lorenzo da Ponte: the scandalous life of the man who wrote Mozart's words |url=https://www.classicfm.com/composers/mozart/guides/da-ponte-facts-gallery/ |access-date=June 24, 2021 |website=Classic FM |language=en |archive-date=December 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220142232/https://www.classicfm.com/composers/mozart/guides/da-ponte-facts-gallery/ |url-status=live }}

On October 13, 1859, the cathedral was the venue for the lavish wedding of the 55-year-old Don Esteban Santa Cruz de Oviedo, an immensely wealthy Cuban landowner and slave-owner, to the 18-year-old socialite, Frances Amelia Bartlett, daughter of Washington Allon Bartlett, the family of whom was residing on 14th Street. The marriage was heralded by the press as "The Diamond Wedding," after the luxurious preparations were revealed, including opulent gifts of jewelry by the groom. It also sparked public debate and mockery over the issue of May–December unions.{{cite news | title=City Intelligence: The Famous Marriage | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E07E0D61F31EE34BC4B52DFB6678382649FDE | work=The New York Times | date=October 13, 1859 | page=5 | access-date=May 7, 2010}}{{cite news | first=Washington A. |last=Bartlett | title=To the Editor of The New York Times: The Oviedo Wedding and the Press | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C04E7DF1630EE34BC4052DFB6678382649FDE | work=The New York Times | date=October 18, 1859 | access-date=May 7, 2010}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57633084/satirical-poem/ |title=Satirical Poem |newspaper=The Buffalo Daily Republic |page=2 |date=October 26, 1859 |access-date=August 19, 2020 |via=Newspapers.com}}

On October 7, 1866, the cathedral was gutted by a fire that spread from a nearby shop.{{Cite news |date=October 8, 1866 |title=The Great Fire; Destruction of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1866/10/08/archives/the-great-fire-destruction-of-st-patricks-roman-catholic-cathedral.html |access-date=June 24, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625041124/https://www.nytimes.com/1866/10/08/archives/the-great-fire-destruction-of-st-patricks-roman-catholic-cathedral.html |url-status=live }} Even though the new St. Patrick's was already under construction, the old cathedral was restored under the direction of architect Henry Engelbert. The first Mass was celebrated in the rebuilt cathedral on April 1, 1867.{{Cite news |date=April 1, 1867 |title=Local Intelligence.; Religious Services. Sermon by Rev. Frederick Brown, at the Forsyth-street Methodist Episcopal Church |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1867/04/01/archives/local-intelligence-religious-services-sermon-by-rev-frederick-brown.html |access-date=June 24, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625010236/https://www.nytimes.com/1867/04/01/archives/local-intelligence-religious-services-sermon-by-rev-frederick-brown.html |url-status=live }} The new Old Cathedral was reopened in 1868.{{cite web |url=https://oldcathedral.org/history |title=History |first1=Joyce |last1=Mendelsohn |first2=James E. |last2=Garrity |publisher=Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral |access-date=December 4, 2019 |archive-date=November 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191130174657/https://oldcathedral.org/history |url-status=live }}

Since the current St. Patrick's Cathedral opened in 1879, St. Patrick's Old Cathedral has been a parish church, the pastor residing in the old Bishop's House at 263 Mulberry Street. Today's multi-ethnic parish includes the territory of the former Most Holy Crucifix Parish, whose church for a time was the nearby Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz and housed the Filipino Catholic Apostolate for the Archdiocese of New York.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

Cathedral complex

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral School at 32 Prince Street, across from the cathedral, predates the church itself. It was built in 1825–1826 as the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, operated by the Sisters of Charity. In 1851, the asylum became for girls only, and in 1886 became St. Patrick's Convent and Girls School, before turning co-educational again. The Federal-style building is a New York City landmark, designated in 1966.NYCLPC, p. 42 The school finally closed in 2010 as enrollment dwindled, and the building was converted into residential and office space.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/realestate/luxury-condos-in-a-former-nolitaorphanage.html |title=Luxury Condos in a Former NoLIta Orphanage |first=Ronda |last=Kaysennov |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 8, 2015 |access-date=November 25, 2019 |archive-date=August 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814231021/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/realestate/luxury-condos-in-a-former-nolitaorphanage.html |url-status=live }}

In 1859, a "Gingerbread Gothic" Chancery Office Building was built at 266 Mulberry Street, just north of the sanctuary, designed by James Renwick Jr. and William Rodrigue, who would go on to design the new cathedral.NYCLPC, p. 43 The building would later become St. Michael's Chapel and, from 1936 until 2019, St. Michael's Russian Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite.{{Cite web |url=http://stmichaelruscath.org/ |title=Stmichaelruscath.org |access-date=March 1, 2011 |archive-date=May 4, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504204812/http://stmichaelruscath.org/ |url-status=live }} St. Michael's is the last Russian Catholic church in New York City, and was one of only four remaining such sanctuaries in the United States.{{Cite web |url=http://stmichaelruscath.org/outbound/parishes/usa.php |title=Stmichaelruscath.org |access-date=March 1, 2011 |archive-date=July 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728061852/http://stmichaelruscath.org/outbound/parishes/usa.php |url-status=live }} Those services are now held at the Church of St. Catherine of Siena, 411 East 68th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.{{cite web |url=http://www.saintmichaels.nyc/2019/02/08/new-location-february-9 |title=New Location February 9 – Community of Saint Michael |date=February 8, 2019 |access-date=November 5, 2021 |archive-date=November 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107210258/http://www.saintmichaels.nyc/2019/02/08/new-location-february-9/ |url-status=live }}

File:EckertCrypt.jpg

Underneath the basilica are catacombs which currently consist of 35 family crypts and 5 clerical vaults, and which have reopened to new interments. The basilica has also opened the catacombs to walking tours.{{Cite news |last=Stapinski |first=Helene |date=April 18, 2019 |title=The Secrets of a Sacred Underground |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/arts/st-patricks-old-cathedral-catacombs-tour.html |access-date=June 24, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105232142/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/arts/st-patricks-old-cathedral-catacombs-tour.html |url-status=live }} Among the notable interments are the first resident Bishop of New York John Connolly, General Thomas Eckert, several members of the Delmonico restaurant family, Countess Annie Leary, the prominent wine merchant Dominick Lynch,{{cite web |url=https://romesentinel.com/stories/dominick-lynch-gave-rome-streets-parks-and-building-sites,54657 |title=Dominick Lynch gave Rome streets, parks, and building sites |access-date=October 24, 2022 |archive-date=October 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023234236/https://romesentinel.com/stories/dominick-lynch-gave-rome-streets-parks-and-building-sites,54657 |url-status=live }} and Congressman John Kelly.{{Cite web |last=Plitt |first=Amy |date=August 22, 2016 |title=A rare crypt beneath Soho's St. Patrick's Old Cathedral asks $7 million |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2016/8/22/12583592/soho-st-patricks-old-cathedral-crypt-for-sale |access-date=June 24, 2021 |website=Curbed NY |language=en |archive-date=August 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816060700/https://ny.curbed.com/2016/8/22/12583592/soho-st-patricks-old-cathedral-crypt-for-sale |url-status=live }} In addition, two New Yorkers who are currently on the road to sainthood, Pierre Toussaint and Father Isaac Hecker, were originally interred there before being moved; Toussaint to the new St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Hecker to St. Paul the Apostle Church. The founding mother superior of New York's first Sisters of Mercy convent, Mary Agnes O'Connor, is also buried there.{{Cite web |url=https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a6603 |title=O'Connor, Mary |last=Lunney |first=Sheila |date=2009 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography – Cambridge University Press |access-date=March 29, 2020 |archive-date=September 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904044954/https://www.dib.ie/ |url-status=live }}

File:OldStPatricksOrgan.jpg

Old St. Patrick's Cathedral gallery holds a large pipe organ that was built in 1868 by Henry Erben, originally operated without any use of electricity. After the new cathedral opened uptown in 1879, the Erben organ was left downtown with minimal alterations. In 2004, the Organ Historical Society designated it as an instrument of "exceptional historical merit, worthy of preservation", the organ equivalent of national landmark status. The instrument remains in use for Sunday services while awaiting further restoration.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/26/arts/arts-briefly-organ-donors-sought.html |title=Arts, Briefly: Organ Donors Sought |first=Craig R. |last=Whitney |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 26, 2004 |access-date=November 24, 2019 |archive-date=September 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904044951/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/26/arts/arts-briefly-organ-donors-sought.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/StPatrickOldCath.html |title=Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral |publisher=American Guild of Organists |access-date=November 24, 2019 |archive-date=November 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106172308/http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/StPatrickOldCath.html |url-status=live }}

Gallery

File:St. Patrick's Old Cathedral Mulberry Street entrance.jpg|Mulberry Street entrance

File:Old St Pats Mott St East door jeh.jpg|Mott Street entrance

File:Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral - Interior 01.jpg|Interior

File:OldStPatricksAltar.jpg|Altar

File:St. Michael's Russian Catholic Church.jpg|Former Chancery

File:Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral 06.jpg|Cemetery

File:CemeteryOldStPatricks.jpg|alt=Grave plots in the cemetery at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral.|Alternate view of cemetery

File:PierreToussaintGrave.jpg|Grave of Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853)

File:St. Patrick's Convent and Girls' School.jpg|Former School

References

Bibliography

{{cite gotham}}
Feighery, Kate. " 'Everything Depends on the First Year': Archbishop John Hughes and his Fundraising Plan for St. Patrick's Cathedral." American Journal of Irish Studies 12 (2015): 57–76. {{jstor|43657250}} (online}
{{cite nycland}}