|
To understand the history of Saint Anthony of Padua Shrine Church, you have
to go back to 1205. That’s when Francesco Bernardone, a citizen of the little town of Assisi, had returned from
going to war with neighboring Perugia. He had been taken captive and held in prison, and, being released due to severe
illness, returned to his home town. He was wandering through the outskirts of the town, and came upon a wayside Chapel,
called, San Damiano. There, praying before a crucifix, the Lord Jesus spoke to him.
Jesus said, “Francis, rebuild my church, for it is falling apart.” Francesco took
these words literally, and began rebuilding some abandoned churches in the Assisi area. Eventually, he understood that
this call was not the rebuild with brick and mortar, but a spiritual rebuilding.
In 1209, Francesco, or Saint Francis of Assisi, received approval for his way of life and the
Franciscan Order was born. Francis was a fundamentalist in his interpretation of the Gospels, and believed that the
Gospel of Jesus Christ could be lived literally, without gloss or interpretation. He began to send his friars out in
groups to preach the Gospel.
In
1219, five Franciscans, Saint Berard of Carbo and his companions, went into Morocco to preach to the Saracens (Muslims).
On their way to Morocco they passed through the University city of Coimbra, in Portugal, where they were introduced to a young
Augustinian monk named Fernando. He was very impressed with this new order, and expressed an interest in them.
They went on to Morocco, where they were martyred, decapitated, and they became the first martyrs of the Franciscan
Order. As their bodies were being brought back to Italy, they once again passed through Coimbra, and Fernando decided
to leave the Augustinians and present himself to the Franciscans. In 1220. He was clothed with the Franciscan
habit, and took a new name, symbolizing the change of his life. He took the name Anthony. Of course, the rest
is history, and he became the great- probably one of the most popular saints in the history of the church, Saint Anthony of
Padua.
It is no secret that Italians
have long been involved in the establishment of the New World. We know that many of the first explorers, from Christopher
Columbus, who discovered America in 1492, to John and Sebastian Cabot (who also hailed from Genoa), the Jesuit Missionary
Father Eusebio Kino (Segno, Italy), Amerigo Vespucci (for whom America is named), and Giovanni Verrazano, who explored the
New York harbor, all left their imprint on the New World.
Intimately linked to these Italian explorers were also the members of the Franciscan Order (established
in Assisi, Italy, by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1209), who were the first religious to come to the New World (having sailed
with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage) and, by the mid 1500’s, had already established foundations in what
is now the state of New Mexico, as well as Mexico and Central and South America. They also established the first public
school in America in 1524 and the first college in 1536.
Before 1850, most Italians migrated to South America. The Spanish language and the local weather was
more akin to their native land and tongue. These Italians were, by and large, from northern Italy. They were not
as attached to the land as the agricultural southern Italians, and were more financially independent. In the mid-1850’s,
the political climate in South America began to change, bringing about many civil wars and revolutions. The Italians
began coming to the United States, and more and more these were southern Italians who came to work in the factories and industrial
centers of our large cities.
In 1851 there
were only 74 Italians in New York, one of whom was the great Italian liberator, Giuseppe Garibaldi, who ran a candle factory
in Staten Island. He had fled his native land but would return soon afterward to unite Italy into one nation.
In 1859, there were enough Italians in New York for
Archbishop Hughes to become concerned about their spiritual welfare. He appointed an Italian priest to this ministry,
who opened a small chapel on Canal Street, dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua. This chapel did not last long, and the
Italians in New York either went to the local Irish parish such as Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral on Mott Street, Saint
Joseph’s Church here in the Village, or turned to other religions.
The Franciscans had made an establishment in western New York in 1855 when Bishop Timon, the Bishop
of Buffalo, went to Rome for the official Proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. While in Rome, he approached
the Minister General of the Franciscan Order, and asked him to send some missionaries to the Buffalo area to work with the
Irish immigrants who were building the Erie Canal, which connects the Hudson River with the Great Lakes. The Minister
General sent Bishop Timon to the Collegio San Isidoro, which is the Franciscan House for the Province of Ireland. There
he met one of the professors, an Italian named Father Panfilo, who was on the faculty there. Father Panfilo was from
the town of Magliano, in the Abruzzi region. He spoke English fluently and wanted to be a missionary. He was convinced
to come to the Buffalo diocese to minister to English speaking workers. In June of 1855, four Franciscans arrived in New York
and made their way to Buffalo, where they established parishes and schools and grew in great numbers. One of those is
Saint Bonaventure University in Olean, New York. They also established a seminary for Franciscan and diocesan priests.
By 1865, there was
alarm at the plight of the Italians in New York City and Cardinal John McCloskey, Archbishop of New York, asked the Franciscans,
who were laboring in upstate New York to establish an Italian parish in Manhattan. Father Pamphilus asked some Italian
Franciscans to be willing to begin an apostolate to the Italian immigrants who had begun to come to the large cities of the
Northeast.
He
sent Father Leo Pacillo, a Neapolitan-born friar, to establish an Italian parish in the South Greenwich Village section of
Manhattan, where many northern Italians began to settle. Since there was concern about the ability of the local Italian
population to sustain such a parish, St. Anthony of Padua Parish was established as both a territorial parish (with set boundaries
and encompassing the local Catholic population), and as an Italian national parish in 1866. Thus, any Italian
in the city could claim St. Anthony’s as their parish, as well as many of the Irish Catholics, who lived in the South
Village. The first official act of the newly-established parish took place on March 23, 1866, when the first baptism
(Elizabeth Kelly) was recorded in the baptism register. The church was officially incorporated on April 10, 1866.
|
Saint Anthony’s was the second parish established in the United States
for Italian immigrants (the first being in Philadelphia, but that parish was suppressed in 2000). It was the first Italian
church in New York and now is the oldest existing Italian church in the United States.
The first St. Anthony’s
Church was a former Methodist church on Sullivan Street and West Houston. The Italian community grew rapidly and the
church purchased an old factory on MacDougal Street and renovated it as the new St. Anthony School, which began on September
5, 1872, headed by a staff of four sisters from the Franciscan Sisters of Allegan, also founded by Father Pamphilus.
The enrollment soon passed 500 students of Italian and Irish background. When the land adjacent to the old church became
available, the Franciscans sought to purchase this property. On January 31, 1882, the property was put up for bid, and
a terrible snowstorm hit New York. Only one person made it through the snow to the bidding- Father Anacletus DeAngelis,
the pastor of St. Anthony’s, who bid $53,000 and acquired the property. This was called the “Miracle of St.
Anthony’s.” This land had originally been surveyed by Aaron Burr, who served as a U.S. Senator and
Vice President, and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Ground was broken on June 14, 1885. Arthur Crooks, one
of the foremost architects of the City, was hired as architect and gave the Italians of New York a church that was culturally
significant for them. It was built on a modified Romanesque style that is still popular in Italy, from Rome to the smallest
town of Abruzzi. The new church, completed in 1888, was the first church constructed by an Italian community in the
United States. Also constructed, attached to the church facing Thompson Street, was a beautiful friary which would serve
as the headquarters for the Franciscan Province of the Immaculate Conception, as well as the rectory for Saint Anthony’s
for many years.
Today the Shrine Church of Saint Anthony of Padua on West Houston and Sullivan Streets
stands proudly as the first Italian parish in New York State, the second Italian parish founded in the United States, the
oldest existing Italian Parish in the U.S. and the first parish church building built by the Italian immigrants in the United
States.
Some History:
The parish grew in enormous numbers as the waves of immigration increased in
the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Eventually, the friars from Saint Anthony’s took over the Church
of the Most Precious Blood on Mulberry Street to minister to the Southern Italians who began migrating to New York and settling
east of the Village, in what became known as Little Italy.
When the church was completed in 1888, the Italian
immigrants who built this church wanted a beautiful structure, one that compared with Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral,
which they looked upon as the “Irish” church. I think you would agree that Saint Anthony’s is one
of the most beautiful churches in the area.
If you walk south on MacDougal Street, you will come to a park called Father
Fagan Park. This park is named after Father Richard Fagan, a Franciscan priest and associate pastor of Saint Anthony’s
who, in 1938, at the tender age of 27, died as a result of injuries sustained in the friary behind the church on Thompson
Street.
The rectory caught fire in the early morning of November 4, 1938. Father Fagan escaped and then twice
reentered the burning building—first to rescue Father Louis Vitale, and again to save Father Bonaventure Pons. Trapped
in the rectory and badly burned, Father Fagan leaped through a window to the roof of the Settlement House a floor below, which
is now our gymnasium. He was found and brought to Columbus Hospital, where he died five days later. To describe
Father Fagan’s heroic life and heroic death, members of our church quote the Book of John: "There is no greater
love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15: 13).
Saint Anthony’s
has stood here ministering to the Italians for 142 years, as well as the many other communities who made the Village their
home- the jazz musicians, the beatniks, artists, actors, and now, the rich and famous who live in our area. We
have had the famous and infamous as members of our parish, including some who alternated between working at the Saint Anthony
Feast, which existed for many years in early June, and making license plates at the state penitentiary. Our neighborhood
here still attracts the famous, and we have had as members of our parish people who you'd recognize immediately. A stroll
through the South Village, or SoHo, as some call this area now- you may bump into any number of famous people and celebrities
who live in our neighborhood. We've even had saints- St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (Mother Cabrini) once taught in
our religious education program.
Saint Anthony’s Today
Today we find Saint Anthony’s
still strong after 142 years of ministry and service. You will also find the Franciscan presence strong. Between
the church and the Franciscans, we have seven buildings and two parking lots in our immediate vicinity. Our beautiful
church and hall in this building, the parish rectory, with three friars staffing the parish living there, as well as our parish
offices, our school on MacDougal Street, now being used by the Cooke Academy for Learning and Development, the largest private
provider of school based special education services in the city; our convent on Prince and Sullivan, housing fifteen religious
sisters from the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany and other orders; and on Thompson Street, right behind the church, the
Padua Friary, a residence for senior and special ministry friars, with 10 friars in residence; our former provincial headquarters
at 147 Thompson Street, now being leased to the Jesuits, Saint Anthony Gym, and the Provincial House of the Franciscans
of the Immaculate Conception Province at 125 Thompson Street (on the corner of Sullivan and Prince), where our Provincial,
Vice Provincial, and Province Secretary reside, and where we have the offices for our Province.
Saint Anthony’s
is also home to several AA groups, including the SoHo Group, which is one of the largest in the city.
|
