Church of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Manhattan)

Not to be confused with Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (New York City) or Church of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Brooklyn, New York).

Church of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Facade of the former church
Location	309-315 East 33rd Street, Manhattan, New York,
Country	United States
Denomination	Roman Catholic
History
Status	Demolished
Founded	1914
Founder(s)	Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph Congedo
Dedication	Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Dedicated	October 1, 1916
Associated people	Nazzareno Formosa
Architecture
Architect(s)	Nicholas Serracino
Style	Greek Revival
Years built	1915
Groundbreaking	October 3, 1915
Completed	December 1915
Construction cost	$35,000
Closed	January 2007
Demolished	2007-2008
Specifications
Capacity	700 [1]
Administration
Archdiocese	New York

Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Sacred Hearts Chapel (2011)
Location	325 East 33rd Street, Manhattan, New York,
Country	United States
Denomination	Roman Catholic
History
Status	Active
Founded	2007
Founder(s)	Cardinal Edward Egan
Dedication	Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Dedicated	May 2010
Architecture
Functional status	Mission church
Architectural type	Chapel
Years built	2008-2009
Completed	2009
Specifications
Capacity	150 [2]
Administration
Parish	Our Saviour

The Church of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was a former Roman Catholic parish church, primarily serving Italian-Americans, that has been demolished. The church was located on 309-315 East 33rd Street, in the Kips Bay area of Manhattan, New York City. It has since been replaced by a chapel under the same name.

History

Parish church

The parish was established in 1914, to serve an estimated population of 10,000 Italian Americans living in the area. The first rector was Joseph M. Congedo, an Italian-born priest that came to the United States in 1905 before he was ordained as a priest at the St. Joseph's Seminary in 1907. Congedo was first assigned to St. Philip Neri's Church in the Bronx and was transferred in 1913 to St. Gabriel Church on East 37th Street in Manhattan to establish a new church in the area. ^{[3] [4]} Services for the new parish were initially held in the basement of St. Gabriel's. ^{[5] [6]}

A plot of land at 309-315 East 33rd Street with a frontage of 64 feet (20 m) and a depth of 98.9 feet (30.1 m) was acquired for the new church in May 1915 and demolition of the four dwellings that had occupied the site began in the following month. ^{[7] [8]} In June 1915, architect Nicholas Serracino completed preliminary plans for a stone and brick church with an estimated cost of $35,000. ^{[9] [10] [11]} The adjacent lot at 317 East 33rd Street was also acquired in the same month, which would serve as the church's first rectory. ^{[12] [13]}

The cornerstone for the church was laid on October 3, 1915, by Cardinal John M. Farley, the Archbishop of New York; the event was attended by more than five thousand Italian Catholics. ^{[3] [14]} The structure was completed in December 1915 and the first mass was held in the new church on January 30, 1916. ^{[1] [15]} The church was dedicated on October 1, 1916, by Archbishop Giovanni Bonzano, P.I.M.E., Apostolic Delegate to the United States at the time. ^{[3] [15]} There were a few little changes later with the replacement of the original oak doors with cruciform windows with black metal doors with square windows. ^[16]

In 1939 St. Gabriel Church was closed to make way for the Queens–Midtown Tunnel and part of the congregation was directed to Sacred Hearts. ^{[17] [18]}

A four-story school building designed by architect Matthew Del Gaudio was constructed at 317-323 East 33rd Street in 1925. ^{[19] [20]} The parish operated the School of the Sacred Hearts from 1925 through 1937. The parish also operated Immaculata High School, which was run by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. ^[3] The high school was closed in June 1989. ^{[21] [22]} After the closure of Immaculata High School, the building served as the temporary home of St. Agnes Boys High School from 1989 to 1992 and later housed The Child Grade School and Legacy High School until 2003. ^{[19] [23]}

The parish was closed in January 2007, one of several closed that year by the then-archbishop, Cardinal Edward Egan. It was then merged with the Church of Our Lady of the Scapular–St. Stephen ^[24] and the church and school were demolished. ^[25] In November 2014, it was announced by the archdiocese that the existing parish was to be merged into Our Saviour Parish as of the following year. ^[26]

The former sites of the church, school and rectory were sold to a private developer, who erected a 12-story condominium building in 2009. ^{[2] [27] [28]}

Chapel

After the demolition of the parish church, a small chapel and residence for the clergy, also dedicated to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was built on the former site of the parish convent, 325 East 33rd Street, with "A.D. 2009" prominently carved into the cornerstone of the building. ^[2] The first Mass was celebrated on May 18, 2009. It served as the residence of the same Cardinal Egan who ordered the closing of the parish, after his retirement as archbishop, until his death in 2015. ^[29] He himself dedicated the chapel in May 2010. The organ in the chapel is from St. Stephen's; it was refurbished in 2012. "The Chapel serves a home for the Immaculata High School Alumni as well as a meditation place for the local medical facilities of NYU Langone Health, Bellevue Hospital, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, and the VA Hospital." ^[3]

In May 2015, the segment of East 33rd Street adjacent to the chapel was co-named "Father Damien Way" in honor of Father Damien, a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium who dedicated his life to helping people with leprosy (Hansen's disease) that were forced to live in exile on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. A ceremony celebrating the co-naming of the street was attended by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Minister-President of Flanders Geert Bourgeois. A prayer service was held at the chapel following the ceremony, which was led by Cardinal Dolan and attended by Bernardito Auza, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United Nations. The chapel shares the name of Father Damien's religious order—the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary—and is also located near the New York Regional Hansen's Disease Center at Bellevue Hospital, which at the time was the location of the only treatment center for Hansen's disease in the New York City area. ^{[30] [31]}

Clergy

These include

Former pastors:

• Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph Congedo (1914–1954) ^[4]
• Rev. John McEvoy (1954–1962) ^[32]
• Right Rev. Msgr. Thomas A. Dunn (1962–1971)
• Rev. Msgr. William Rinschler (1971–1985)
• Rev. Msgr. Albert DeLuca (1985–2006)
• Rev. Msgr. Donald Sakano (2006–2007)
• Rev. Msgr. Lawrence Connaughton (2007–2009)

Administrators of the chapel:

• Rev. Msgr. Lawrence Connaughton (2009–2012)
• Rev. Robert J. Robbins (2012–2021)
• Msgr. Kevin Sullivan ^[33]

References

1. "First Mass in a New Church". The New York Times. January 30, 1916. p. 12. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
2. Bell, Charles W. (March 26, 2005). "Church's Truly Moving Story". Daily News. New York. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
3. "Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary". NYC Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
4. "Msgr. Congedo, 71, A Priest 47 Years". The New York Times. November 2, 1954. p. 27. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
5. "On Scale Of Splendor". The Catholic Telegraph. Vol. LXXXVI, no. 42. October 18, 1917. p. 4. Retrieved March 3, 2024– via The Catholic News Archive.
6. Inventory of the Church Archives in New York City: The Roman Catholic Church Archdiocese of New York. Vol. 2. New York City: United States Work Projects Administration Historical Records Survey. 1941. p. 121. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
7. "Real Estate Transfers". The New York Times. May 9, 1915. p. XX3. ProQuest   97788432.
8. "The Real Estate Field". The New York Times. June 10, 1915. p. 18. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
9. "Contemplated Construction" (PDF). Real Estate Record and Builders Guide. June 26, 1915. p. 1110. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
10. "Manhattan Database". Office for Metropolitan History. NB 212-1915. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
11. Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 252. ISBN   9780231125437.
12. "Real Estate Transfers". The New York Times. July 1, 1915. p. 20. ProQuest   97791119.
13. The Official Catholic Directory. New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons. 1916. p. 135. Retrieved March 3, 2024– via Google Books.
14. "Farley Lays Cornerstone". The Sun. New York. October 4, 1915. p. 7. Retrieved March 3, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
15. "Dedicated By Delegate". The New York Times. October 2, 1916. p. 11. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
16. "Our Church". Immaculata High School. Archived from the original on September 2, 2004.
17. "2,500 at Last Mass in St. Gabriel's: Formal Closing of 73-year-old Edifice Near Site of New Tunnel is Marked". The New York Times. January 16, 1939. p. 17. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
18. Inventory of the Church Archives in New York City: The Roman Catholic Church Archdiocese of New York. Vol. 2. New York City: United States Work Projects Administration Historical Records Survey. 1941. p. 65. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
19. "Second Avenue Subway Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation". March 2003. p. G.1-10. Retrieved March 5, 2024– via Google Books.
20. "Manhattan Database". Office for Metropolitan History. NB 630-1924. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
21. Young, Joyce (March 23, 1989). "A school seeks a savior". Daily News. New York. Retrieved March 2, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
22. Saunders, D.J. (September 7, 1989). "Two Catholic high schools shift sites". Daily News. New York. Retrieved March 2, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
23. "About IHS". Immaculata High School. Archived from the original on September 2, 2004.
24. "Our Lady of the Scapular–St. Stephen (Roman Catholic)". NYC Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Archived from the original on April 20, 2011.
25. "Advocacy for Threatened Sacred Sites". New York Landmarks Conservancy . Archived from the original on July 14, 2010.
26. "Parish Mergers, List One". Catholic New York. November 2, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
27. Vitello, Paul; Haughney, Christine (May 16, 2009). "Hopes and Habits Persevere at Churches Gone, but Not Destroyed". The New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
28. Horsley, Carter. "303 East 33rd Street: Review And Ratings". City Realty. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
29. Hu, Winnie (March 6, 2015). "Cardinal Egan Is Recalled Fondly at a Chapel He Called Home". The New York Times .
30. "New York City Street Co-Named for Remarkable Belgian Priest Father Damien Way". Archdiocese of New York. May 6, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
31. "Historic Day at Father Damien Way". Catholic New York. June 10, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
32. "Msgr. John M'Evoy Of Church Here, 61". The New York Times. March 15, 1962. p. 32. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
33. Church of Our Saviour/Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary

External links

• photo of Chapel

40°44′39″N73°58′32″W / 40.74405°N 73.97558°W / 40.74405; -73.97558