OLD ST. PATRICK’S

by Kevin Walsh

St. Patrick’s “old” Cathedral, 260-264 Mulberry Street between Price and East Houston, is called “old” to differentiate it from its “newer” cousin uptown, St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 5th Avenue and East 50th, designed by James Renwick Jr., opened 1878 and finished in 1888. Old St. Pat’s, NYC’s original Catholic cathedral, is quite a bit older, having started construction in 1809 and completed in 1815, making it one of the oldest buildings in Chinatown/Little Italy. In March 2010 Pope Benedict XVI announced that it would become Manhattan’s first basilica, a church that has been accorded certain specific and cereminial rites only the Pope can bestow.

The privileges attached to the status of basilica, which is conferred by papal brief, include a certain precedence before other churches, the right of the conopaeum (a baldachin [canopy] resembling an umbrella) and the bell (tintinnabulum), which are carried side by side in procession at the head of the clergy on state occasions, and thecappa magna which is worn by the canons or secular members of the collegiate chapter when assisting at the Divine Office. In the case of major basilicas these umbraculaeare made of cloth of gold and red velvet, while those of minor basilicas are made of yellow and red silk — the colors traditionally associated with both the Papal See and the city of Rome. wikipedia

The Cathedral was built at a time when Roman Catholics were under literal attack in NYC, as depicted in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. A brick and stone fence was built to surround the chuch and its accompanying churchyard because attempts were made to burn it down during the mid-1800s. Scorsese served as an altar boy in his youth here, and the church was used for several scenes in The Godfather and Gangs.

The soon to be Basilica was designed by architect Joseph François Mangin. It is 120 feet in length and 80 feet at its greatest height. Its organ is nearly a century and a half old, installed in 1852. A wealth of mortuary vaults lie beneath the church, and the churchyard’s most famed interment was Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853), a Haitian immigrant and former slave who became an abolitionist, philanthropist (he made his money as a hairdresser for NYC’s upper crust) and devoted himself to the ministrations of NYC’s poverty-stricken, opening shelters for orphans, a credit bureau, employment agency and refuges for priests during the turbulent period for Catholics mid-century. He was responsible for some of the funds that went to build the uptown St. Patrick’s Cathedral, in whose vaults he was reinterred 137 years after his death by John Cardinal O’Connor.

The Cathedral was one of the first buildings in NY to gain Landmarks designation in 1966. It was remodeled after a fire in 1868 with cast iron columns that support a timber roof.

In the Civil War the Irish-American brigade, the Fighting 69th Regiment, counted many of its members worshipers at St. Patrick’s; the regiment lost many men at the Battle of Bull Run in Virginia. Archbishop John McCloskey was made the first American cardinal by the decree of Pope Pius IX and he received the Cardinal’s red cap here on April 27, 1875.

The 201-year-old church in Little Italy was a spiritual home in the 19th Century for Irish immigrants seeking refuge against Protestant persecution. In recent decades, it has welcomed Dominican and Chinese immigrants. “This is not a museum. This is still a living, breathing, loving, embracing parish,” Archbishop Timothy Dolan told a standing-room-only crowd at a solemn vespers service in the old cathedral to celebrate its new status.
NY Daily News

Page completed December 9, 2010

 

12 comments

Sheila ryan May 4, 2015 - 3:43 pm

The original Old St Pats was where my great great grandfather married and had his little ones baptized. He was Owen Monaghan, a carter who owned and ran his business from 23 Prince St until his death in the 1870s. He arrived in 1825 via New Brunswick, Canada and the Miramichi port although the 1825 records from Miriamichi burned. He listed this aforementioned info’ in the NY Emigrants Savings Bank Records. I am 73 and one day would like to walk these streets as all my ancestors lived there and walked the same streets. Thank you for these lovely photos.

Sheila Mary

Reply
DAVID MADDEN December 6, 2018 - 11:28 am

Hi Sheila,

My great, great grandfather fought for the 69th Company B Regiment during the Civil war and was an Irish Immigrant came over in 1848 and was a member of this Church.

I belive he married in this church in the 1860s. Not sure how I could obtain validation from church records?

Reply
Angela Miano McKenna August 14, 2015 - 11:30 pm

I attended school at St. Patrick’s School for 6 years (1954 – 1960), prior to moving to Brooklyn. I received my “First Holy Communion” and Confirmation at the “Old” Cathedral. It remains one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. I carry many fine memories of the “Sisters” and “Fathers”, teachers and classmates, and of the incredible merchants of Little Italy which I visited during our lunch breaks.

Reply
anthonycarbonaro November 1, 2015 - 11:37 am

I WAS BORN AND RAISED AT 239 MULBERRY ST. AND WENT TO SCHOOL AT ST PATRICKS I’M 84 YEARS OLD AND HAVE MEMORYS OF THE CHURCH I ALSO SERVED AS A ALTER BOY AND WAS MARRIED THERE ALSO I WILL BE THERE WITH MY WIFE TO CELEBRATE THE 200THH ANNIVERSARY OF OLD ST PATS.

Reply
Ann Cosentino December 4, 2019 - 9:35 pm

Do you remember Father Tommaso?

Reply
J. Kennedy September 18, 2017 - 6:13 pm

Are there hours that people can visit this older St. Patrick’s?

Reply
Diantha Thorpe October 15, 2017 - 3:33 pm

In family records it is written that my paternal great great grandfather, Bernard Chrystal who died around 1838, is buried in the Old St. Patrick’s churchyard. If anyone has knowledge about this, please let me know.

Reply
Pat Donato December 5, 2017 - 1:41 pm

I will be visiting this beautiful church in the Spring of 2018. Will the doors be open or must we make an appointment?>

Reply
Nicole January 15, 2018 - 10:02 pm

I received my first holy communion here in 1990.
Attended the 3rd and 4th grade and I vividly remember Sister Patrick.
Greatest memories here.

Reply
Domenickpallotta March 18, 2018 - 2:09 pm

I went to the school and I was looking for class photo from 1980 or 1981

Reply
Joan Angiullo March 18, 2020 - 9:11 am

I attended St. Patrick’s grade school and graduated in 1959. Very fond memories of both school and church. My parents were also married there in 1945.
Joan Sellitti Angiullo

Reply
Bernadette McCartney October 2, 2022 - 2:25 pm

Does anyone know if Church records from the 1800’s are available? My 2x grandparents lived at 278 Mott St until my 2x grandmother passed away in 1881. Hoping to find records for them, Michael & Fanny McDonnell and their daughter my 1x grandmother Mary F McDonnell Costello

Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.