Saint Peter's Church, Our Lady of the Rosary | |
 (2012) | |
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| Location | 22 Barclay Street, Manhattan,New York City |
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| Coordinates | 40°42′45″N74°00′34″W / 40.712488°N 74.009501°W /40.712488; -74.009501 |
| Built | 1785 (original) 1836–1840 (current structure)[1] |
| Architect | John R. Haggerty andThomas Thomas |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| Website | St Peter's Church, Our Lady of the Rosary |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002721 |
| NYSRHP No. | 06101.000084 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | April 23, 1980 |
| Designated NYSRHP | June 23, 1980 |
| Designated NYCL | December 21, 1965 |
Saint Peter's Church/Our Lady of the Rosary is aCatholic church in theFinancial District ofManhattan,New York City. The current building was constructed from 1836 to 1840 and was designed by John R. Haggerty andThomas Thomas in theGreek Revival style, with sixIonic columns.[2] The church opened February 25, 1838 with ArchbishopJohn Hughes officiating.[3][4]
The parish, part of theArchdiocese of New York, is the oldest Catholic parish inNew York State, and the building replaced an earlier one built in 1785–86.[5] The original church was used for worship until 1834 when it was replaced by the present structure.
The church was designated aNew York City landmark in 1965[6] and was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1980. The present church has been declared a landmark by federal, state and city agencies.
Shortly before, and during the Revolution, FatherFerdinand Steinmeyer, a German Jesuit missionary from Philadelphia, would periodically visit the few scattered Catholics in New York City. Gathering them together, he said Mass in the house of a German fellow-countryman in Wall Street, in a loft in Water Street, and wherever else they could find accommodation.[7]
The merchant and recent New York arrivalDominick Lynch was one of the chief fundraisers for the new church, donating his own money as well as raising funds from his native Galway.[8] A gift of 1,000 silver pieces from KingCharles III of Spain through the prominent figures of the SpanishDiego de Gardoqui and D. Francisco de Murillo i Martinez, Count of El Ojuelo, topped off donations to start the construction of the church.[9] Catholics constructing the original church initially tried to locate it onBroad Street, then in the heart of New York City. Due toanti-Catholic sentiments, however, New York City officials implored them to change the location to a site at Barclay and Church Streets, then outside the city limits. The builders relented and accepted the present location. The cornerstone of the original church was laid in 1785 and the first Mass celebrated in 1786.
Mexican artist Jose Vallejo painted an icon of the Crucifixion[10] andNunez de Haro, archbishop ofMexico City, gave it to St. Peter parish in 1789; it hung above the main altar.[11] Father William O'Brien, the first pastor, is remembered for his tireless service to the citizens of New York during theyellow fever epidemics of 1795 and 1798. In 1800 the first free Catholic school in New York State was established at St. Peter's.[12] On March 14, 1805, at St. Peter's Church,Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton converted from theEpiscopal Church to Catholicism. Thereafter, she often prayed before the painting of the Crucifixion above the main altar. The Catholic Church latercanonized her, the first native-born United States citizen so honored.
On December 24, 1806, parishioners celebrated theChristmas Eve vigil inside the church building. This Catholic celebration still infuriated some Protestants who viewed it as an exercise in "popish superstition". Protesters tried to disrupt the Mass, and the ensuing melee injured dozens, with one policeman killed.[13]
In October 1836, the cornerstone for a larger St. Peter's Church was laid, and by February 1838 the current structure was built. In addition toRoman Catholic services, from 1899 to 1916 St. Peter's also hosted services in the lower church for Byzantine-rite Syrian and Lebanese Catholics, who during that period did not have their own church.[12] St. Peter's Church is the first placeFr. Edward Frederick Sorin, founder of theUniversity of Notre Dame, celebrated Mass upon his arrival in America in 1842.
On September 10, 2001, FatherMychal Judge OFM, chaplain for theNew York City Fire Department, gave the following sermon at a Mass for New York City firefighters at Engine 73, Ladder 42, inthe Bronx:
You do what God has called you to do. You get on that rig, you go out and do the job. No matter how big the call, no matter how small, you have no idea of what God is calling you to do, but God needs you. He needs me. He needs all of us. God needs us to keep supporting each other, to be kind to each other, to love each other... We love this job, we all do. What a blessing it is! It is a difficult, difficult job, but God calls you to do it, and indeed, He gives you a love for it so that a difficult job will be well done. Isn't God wonderful?! Isn't He good to you, to each one of you, and to me? Turn to God each day—put your faith, your trust, your hope and your life in His hands. He'll take care of you, and you'll have a good life. And this firehouse will be a great blessing to his neighborhood and to this city. Amen.[14]
The next day, a portion of an airplane's landing gear struck and damaged the roof of the St. Peter's Church building during theSeptember 11 attacks.[15][16] When debris from the towers killed Fr. Mychal (the first publicly identified casualty of the attacks), surviving firemen brought him from the towers site to St. Peter's and laid his body before the altar.[16] The parish also served as a staging ground for rescue and recovery operations. "We were the first place they were bringing all the emergency equipment. Everything was in disarray," pastor Father Kevin Madigan stated. "Stuff was piled six feet high all over the pews—-bandages, gas masks, boots, hoses and cans of food for the workers and the volunteers, many of whom were sleeping in the church on bedrolls."[16] The same also occurred in the downstairs church.[16]
Authorities also blocked public access to the parish. The church celebrated Masses occasionally only for the rescue workers and those with credentials to enter. On October 28, 2001, authorities liftedmartial law in the area. "That was when we officially celebrated our first Mass after September 11," says Father Madigan. The parish quickly cut the number of Masses from that before the attacks "because the number of people coming was way down. Many who had been coming to mass at St. Peter's orSt. Joseph's from theWorld Trade Center, of course, were not around anymore."[16]
TheWorld Trade Center cross temporarily sat on the Church Street side of St. Peter's until it was moved to theWorld Trade Center Memorial.[17][18] A new custom cross was commissioned to stand in place, installed on August 11, 2011.[19]
In August 2015 the St. Peter's parish merged withOur Lady of the Rosary on State Street. St. Peter's is the designated parish church, although Mass and the Sacraments will continue to be celebrated at Our Lady of the Rosary.[20]
St. Peter's houses a pipe organ built in 1927 by the George Kilgen & Sons company of St. Louis, Missouri. The instrument was enlarged from 37 to 41 ranks of pipes in 1931 by the Kilgen Company. In 2011, Meloni & Farrier Organbuilders completed a restoration, installing solid state combination action and relocating the console to its present location in the rear balcony.[21] As of January 2018, the Director of Music and Organist at Saint Peter's is Marcus Perry Bundy III.
Notes
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See also:National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan (Islands,Below 14th St.,14th–59th Sts.,59th–110th Sts.,Above 110th St.) andList of National Historic Landmarks in New York City Note: National Historic Landmarks are not listed separately. | |||||||||||||||
Authority control databases: Geographic |
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