Church of St. Anthony of Padua
155 Sullivan Street | SoHo | built 1888
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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.
- 1859
An Italian parish forms and begins in the basement of a former Methodist church on Sullivan Street
St. Anthony of Padua Parish was established in 1859 for Italian immigrants, who found it hard to fit into established parishes that were then mostly Irish Catholic. The Italian congregation began in the basement of a former Methodist church on Sullivan Street, and Irish Catholics worshiped in English in the sanctuary above.
- 1866
Cardinal McCloskey urges the Italian Franciscans to found an Italian national parish
By 1865, concern over the plight of Italian immigrants in Manhattan led Archbishop John McCloskey to urge the Italian Franciscans to establish an Italian parish. In 1866 the Shrine Church of St. Anthony of Padua Parish was established as both a territorial and a national parish. The Landmarks Commission calls it the first Italian parish in New York State, the second founded in the United States, and the oldest one still existing.
“…the first Italian parish in New York State, the second Italian parish founded in the United States, and the oldest extant Italian parish in the United States…”
- 1882
A blizzard leaves one bidder at the auction of the brewery land St. Anthony's parish needs
The Italian parish needed the former brewery lot beside its church to expand, and the lot went to auction on January 31, 1882. A major blizzard struck the city that day, and Father Anacletus DeAngelis was the only bidder who got through the storm to the sale. Six years later the parish dedicated its new granite church on Sullivan Street.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1888
Architect Arthur Crooks gives the Italian parish a granite Romanesque church
The church was dedicated on June 10, 1888, measuring 150 feet deep and 75 feet wide, with its highest point 100 feet up. Arthur Crooks, an English-born architect, designed it in granite to recall the churches the immigrants remembered from Italy, with a 26-foot rose window over the main facade and 33 stained glass windows. Church and monastery together cost $200,000, and the building is described as the first church put up by an Italian community in the United States.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1905
The Feast of St. Anthony turns the streets around the church into a neighborhood holiday
By 1905 the parish's Feast of St. Anthony drew visitors from across the city and state. The New York Times reported that work stopped, families dressed up and everyone kept open house, while pushcarts sold tomatoes and cucumbers and goat-milk cheeses, and an organ grinder worked the crowd with his pet monkey. The feast is still held each year, and a scene in The Godfather commemorates it.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1914
Gold trinkets mailed by two St. Louis women snowball into a jeweled reliquary
In April 1914 two young women in St. Louis mailed a small box of gold trinkets to the church, hoping they would honor St. Anthony. The gift was announced from the pulpit the next Sunday, and parishioners began handing over rings and other jewelry. Father Silvione counted 200 gifts within two weeks and 500 donors a month later, and by June he had a gem-studded gold reliquary made from them, shown at that month's feast.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1938
Friar Richard Fagan dies after going back into a burning friary to save two priests
On the night of November 4, 1938, fire broke out in the friary behind the church. Richard Fagan, a young friar, escaped, then went back twice to bring out Fathers Louis Vitale and Bonaventure Pons. He returned a third time and was trapped and badly burned, getting out through a window onto a neighboring roof. Fagan died of his injuries at 27, and in 1941 the city named a small park at Sixth Avenue and Prince Street for him.
“A small park at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Prince Streets was named in his honor by the City of New York in 1941.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
Nearby
- St. Anthony of Padua Friary151 Thompson Street | 5 entries
- 147 Thompson Street2 entries
- St. Anthony's Memorial Hall145 Thompson Street | 1 entry
- 149 Sullivan Street3 entries
- 147 Sullivan Street2 entries
- 145 Sullivan Street2 entries