St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church | |
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Location | Fordham Road and University Avenue, Bronx, New York City |
Country | United States |
Denomination | Catholic Church |
Religious institute | Order of Saint Augustine |
History | |
Dedication | Nicholas of Tolentine |
Dedicated | September 15, 1907 |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Architect(s) | Delaney, O'Connor & Schultz (for 1927 church) [1] |
Style | Collegiate Gothic Gothic Revival |
Administration | |
Archdiocese | Archdiocese of New York |
Clergy | |
Archbishop | Timothy Cardinal Dolan |
Pastor(s) | Fr. Luis Vera, O.S.A. |
Laity | |
Organist(s) | Daniel Kirk-Foster |
St. Nicholas of Tolentine Catholic Church is a parish in the Archdiocese of New York, located at Fordham Road at University Avenue, in the Bronx, New York City. The substantial stone twin-towered church has been dubbed "The Cathedral of the Bronx." [2]
The parish was founded by the Augustinian friars on April 22, 1906, with the first Mass occurring in a small garage on North Street near Jerome Avenue. [3] Immediately from 1906 on, construction of a permanent church with parochial buildings on Andrews Avenue and Fordham Road commenced. [3] The complex would consist of a two-story "combination building," a parochial school-over-church building, along with a separate rectory. Monsignor J. F. Mooney, V.G. laid the cornerstone on July 15, 1906. [3] the church was dedicated by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Farley on September 15, 1907. [3] In 1914, the property was valued at $135,000. [3] By 1914, the University Avenue and Fordham Road property that the present church stands on was purchased and being prepared. [3] The present Collegiate Gothic church structure was built in 1927 to the designs of Delaney, O'Connor & Schultz. [1] The building has been incorrectly dated by other sources as being erected in the early 1900s, or sometime in the 1950s. [4] [2]
On March 5, 2010, a suspicious two-alarm blaze filled the sanctuary with flames and smoke. "The fire started in a former confessional-turned-storage room in the vestibule of the church, blocking the main entrance." [2] The Rev. Joseph Girone evacuated worshipers through the rectory after principal exits were blocked. [2] Some firemen were injured from a falling plaster ceiling. [2] FDNY Deputy Chief Kevin Scanlon called the fire "suspicious" that "accelerated rapidly [and] it was a heavy fire that didn't have the normal flow of a fire." [2] A string of arson attacks against Bronx churches had recently claimed the Glory of Christ Church in December 2009 in Parkchester. [2] Despite the fire, church services were resumed at the parish school's gym, adjacent to the church. [4]
The parish is still staffed by the Augustinian friars.
The parochial school, which opened in 1907, was run by the Augustinian Fathers and the Sisters of Charity. [3] In 1914, the school was run by 2 Sisters of Charity and 1 lay teacher. The school had 45 male and 45 female pupils. [3] The original school was over the church, and took over the whole building when the present church building was completed in 1927. [3] The school has around 376 students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. [5] The school closed June 2019. [6]
There was a St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School, which the parish operated from 1927 to 1991. [7]
It was famous for its high school basketball team. [7]
The teaching faculty were a mix of layperson educators, Augustinian priests, and Dominican nuns.