Basilica of Regina Pacis
1230 65th Street | Dyker Heights | built 1931
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1942
Pastor Angelo Cioffi asks parishioners to vow a shrine to Mary for the soldiers' safe return
At a Sunday Mass in May 1942, in the middle of World War II, Father Angelo R. Cioffi asked his parishioners to put up a shrine to Mary as Queen of Peace. It was meant to bring the men of the parish home safely and to secure a lasting peace. The parishioners agreed, and a building fund was set up that also covered a new convent and a bigger parish school.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1951
The marble Regina Pacis shrine is dedicated, with a 60-by-27-foot ceiling mural
Ground was broken on October 3, 1948, and the church was finished in 1950 in an Italianate Renaissance Revival style, using marble from various parts of Italy. Ignacio LaRussa painted the 52-foot-high ceiling mural of Mary's coronation over three years in Rome and New York. Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy dedicated the shrine on August 15, 1951.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1952
Two diamond-studded crowns, made from parishioners' donated jewelry, are placed on the image of Mary
After the 1949 cornerstone blessing, Cioffi asked parishioners to give their jewelry in thanks for the war's end, and wedding rings and other pieces poured in. The jeweler DeNatale Brothers of Manhattan spent three years making two crowns, which Pope Pius XII blessed in Rome. They were added to the image on May 24, 1952. Eight days after that ceremony the crowns were found stolen, and they came back through the mail a week later, which the parish has always held to be a miracle.
“Just eight days after the coronation of the image, the crowns were found to have been stolen. ... The crowns were returned a week later through the postal system.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1973
The Madonna's crowns are stolen a second time and found in an airline terminal locker
The crowns were taken again on January 10, 1973. Twelve days later they turned up in a locker at the East Side Airlines Terminal, after the FBI received a tip by telephone. The 1952 theft had ended with the crowns coming back through the mail, a return that was allegedly arranged by the local organized crime figure Joseph Profaci.
“The crowns were stolen again on January 10, 1973. They were recovered 12 days later from a locker in the East Side Airlines Terminal…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2012
The Vatican raises Regina Pacis to a minor basilica
In 2011 Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio asked the Vatican to honor the church with the title of basilica. The Holy See approved in November 2012, as the region was recovering from Hurricane Sandy, and a Mass for the honor was celebrated on December 8, 2012. The diocese closed the Church of St. Rosalia in June 2017 and made the basilica the parish church.
“In November 2012, while the New York City region was recovering from the effects of Hurricane Sandy, the bishop received notice that the Holy See had approved this request.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Basilica of Regina PacisWikipedia
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