St. John the Baptist Church (Manhattan)

Edit links
Coordinates: 40°44′56″N 73°59′35″W / 40.748885°N 73.992953°W / 40.748885; -73.992953
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Church of St. John the Baptist
Napoleon Le Brun (for 1871–1872 church)[1][2]
Website
christinthecity.nyc

The Church of St. John the Baptist is a

West 31st Street across from New York Penn Station and Madison Square Garden
.

In 2015, the parish of St. John the Baptist Church merged with the parish of Holy Cross Church on West 42nd Street.[4]

History

The parish was established in 1840 as the second parish to serve German Catholics in New York City, after

St. Nicholas' Church, on East 2nd Street, which was established in 1833.[3][5] A historian noted: "Both German parishes had lay trustees that were so overbearing that they drove out several pastors."[1]

The first church erected was a small timber structure.

Church of St. Francis of Assisi.[3] The problems were so great with the board of trustees that, following the resignation of Kunze, the parish of St. John the Baptist was under interdict until 1845 when the Rev. J. A. Jakob became its second pastor. More disagreements ensued and the church was again closed in June 1846. It variously reopened with different pastors, but burned down on January 10, 1847.[1][3]

Archbishop

John Hughes laid the cornerstone for a new brick church on the site on March 14, 1847. Until 1851, pastorship of the parish was assumed by the Church of the Nativity until the Rev. Joseph Lutz was appointed pastor. Four months later, the parish was again under interdiction. Lutz explained: "On account of the obstinacy of the parishioners this church was closed and the administration of the Sacraments prohibited by order of His Grace, November 24, 1851." The Rev. P. J. Matschejewski arrived as pastor on March 7, 1852 but remained only two weeks. Father Augustine Danter, O.M.Cap., was appointed as pastor in 1852 and remained until 1869, when he was obliged to retire, after which the church remained closed for some months.[3]

In response to the many disputes,

Minister Provincial of the Capuchins friars in the United States, and moved to their headquarters in Calvary, Wisconsin.[3] He returned from 1888 to 1891 to prepare the parish for its Golden Jubilee.[3] In 1914 the membership of the parish was 1,500.[3]

In the early 20th century one of the parish's priests was the (now) Blessed Solanus Casey.

Buildings

The present French Gothic-style stone church was built between 1871 and 1872 to the designs of the prolific ecclesiastical architect Napoleon LeBrun,[1] architect of several New York Catholic churches as well as the cathedral in Philadelphia.[2] The cornerstone was laid by Fr. Frey on Pentecost Sunday, June 4[1] or June 11[3] of 1871. The church is 165 feet long and 67 feet wide, originally accommodating 1,200 people, and costing $175,000 to construct.[1]

View from the northeast, c. 1911, depicting the church (at left) in relation to the then new Penn Station
The Capuchin Convent of St. John the Baptist on 31st Street, facing Madison Square Garden

Fr. Frey returned to the parish in 1888 and built the central bell tower in preparation for the church's

St. Louis, Missouri.[1] The peal still rings each day. The church was dedicated on June 23, 1872, by Archbishop John Cardinal McClosky, the first American cardinal.[1]

In preparation for the church's 125th anniversary, it underwent a complete renovation, which lasted several years. The church was re-dedicated on June 24, 1996, the

Archbishop of New York. The church's organ and choir gallery, as well as a number of statues and stained-glass windows, were destroyed in a fire on January 10, 1997.[6] The damage was eventually repaired and the organ was replaced with an electronic one.[1]

According to bronze memorial plaques affixed to the wall of the narthex, for the 160th anniversary of the parish and the Great Jubilee Year of 2000, the bell tower was restored by funds provided by Antonio D'Urso and his wife Giovanna Parpo in 2000. The rededication of the St. Joseph, Ave Maria, St. Clare, St. Fidelis Bells were the gift of Kevin Ward, blessed November 30, 1890 by Archbishop McClosky and rededicated November 7, 1998, by Father Bernard Smith, O.F.M, Cap., the Provincial of the Capuchins.

The

Trinity. The interior of white, radiates light. Worth a special visit."[2] In January 2020, an expansion of New York Penn Station, to be called Penn South, was proposed..[7] The proposal would require demolition of the entire block between Eighth and Seventh Avenues, West 31st to 30th Streets.[8]

The brown brick Capuchin Monastery of St. John the Baptist was built in 1974[9] in the Brutalist style. It was sold to a retail property developer in 2016.[10]

School

Fr. Frey had opened a school in a hotel on Sixth Avenue with 50 children during the winter of 1870–1871.

Collegiate Gothic monastery block of four bays wide and two bays deep was built behind the church, opening April 19, 1872.[3] The school for young men was opened April 7, 1893.[3] In 1914, the school had 160 boys 200 girls, in the charge of four Marist Brothers and six Dominican Sisters, respectively.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "St. John the Baptist's Church" on the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists website (Accessed February 4, 2011)
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-538386-7
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Lafort, Remigius, S.T.D., Censor, 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), p.338.
  4. ^ "About Us". Parish of Holy Cross–St. John the Baptist. christinthecity.nyc. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  5. ^ Dunlap, David W., From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.) p. 215-216.
  6. ^ Gonzalez, David (January 22, 1997). "Church Fire leaves Faith Unscathed". The New York Times. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
  7. ^ Siff, Andrew (January 6, 2020). "Cuomo: 8 New Tracks to Be Added to NY Penn Station". NBC New York. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  8. ^ "Expand, overhaul, and unify the Penn Station Complex". The Fourth Regional Plan. Regional Planning Association.org. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  9. ^ New York City Geographic Information System map
  10. ^ Schultz, Dana (November 9, 2016). "Historic church near Penn Station to be converted to modern retail space". 6sqft.com. Retrieved June 25, 2020.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. John the Baptist Church (Manhattan).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=St._John_the_Baptist_Church_(Manhattan)&oldid=1214248080"