A History
of St. Brigid's Church
The rich history of St. Brigid's begins in the
1840s, with the increased influx of Irish
immigrants escaping the Great Famine. Many
settled in the area then known as the Dry Dock
District (stretching east-west from the East
River to Avenue B and north-south from Houston to
12th Street), and found employment as laborers at
the East River Shipyards. When a temporary chapel
at East 4th Street soon proved inadequate, plans
were made to build a new church on the corner of
8th Street and Avenue B, dedicated to "the
Mary of Gael," St. Brigid, and designed to
serve the burgeoning Irish-American community.
The choice of architect for St. Brigid's was
Patrick Keely, an up-and-coming Catholic Church
architect. Born in County Tipperary in 1816,
Keely emigrated to the U.S. at age 25 and settled
in the Williamsburgh section of Brooklyn, where
he worked as a carpenter. Because Keely's formal
training in architecture is undocumented, it is
believed he learned design and construction from
his father, a builder. After completing an altar
and reredos (altar screen) for St. James
Pro-Cathedral and going on to build St. Peter and
Paul's Church in Brooklyn in 1846,
Keely's services became highly sought after,
ushering in a "new era in Catholic
building," to serve growing immigrant
communities. At his death in 1896, Keely was said
to have built over 600 churches and religious
edifices, stretching north to Canada, south to
South Carolina and west to Iowa. Locally, one can
see examples of Keely's work at St. Francis
Xavier on 16th Street and Mary, Star of the Sea
on Court Street in Brooklyn, among others; major
works elsewhere include Holy Cross Cathedral in
Boston and the Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception in Albany.
St. Brigid's may in fact be the oldest Keely
church still standing. Its corner stone was laid
on September 10th, 1848, and construction was
completed in a somewhat astonishing fifteen
months. Designed in the Carpenter's Gothic style,
the building is without transepts or apse (that
is to say, it is rectilinear rather than
crossshaped), and features a nave (center seating
area) flanked by a north and south aisle, each
with a second-story seating gallery fronted by
elaborate wainscoting. The vaulted ceiling above
the nave is said to have been fashioned by
shipbuilders as an upside-down boat; and indeed,
one student of architecture sees this theory
borne out in the "extraordinary flattening
of the nave vaulting," which resembles the
hull of a ship. Sculpted faces that abut the
corbels supporting the roof are said to honor the
shipwrights who built the church.
The stations of the cross were purchased in Paris
in the 1870s, and one source lists them as the
work of Théophile-Narcisse Chauvel, a French
painter and printmaker active during that time.
The statue of St. Brigid was made by an unnamed
Munich artist and installed in 1884. Also during
that decade, a new floor of Georgia pine was
laid; the church's ceilings and walls were
"frescoed in light colors by A. Ertle
[sometimes seen as "E. Ertle"], the
church decorator"; carved ash pews from the
G. Faulhaber factory in Cleveland were put in;
and the aisles raised five inches for better
sight-lines.
The stained glass windows, imported from Bavaria,
were also installed at that time, and a carved
marble and Caen stone altar built by Theiss &
Janssen was made to replace the wooden altar; an
original wooden altar holding the blessed
sacrament is still to be seen at the east end of
the north aisle. The stations were restored at
that time, and new chandeliers added. Throughout
the church interior are numerous reminders of the
church's Irish immigrant roots, with windows and
plaques dedicated in memory of its 19th century
parishioners and rectors. Also in the church is a
magnificent organ, with the original Keely organ
case and intricately stenciled organ pipes, and
the towering five-pinnacle reredos, which was
carved by Keely himself.
The exterior of St. Brigid's, though adapted over
time, still bears much of its original
architectural integrity. Its two steeples were
removed after 1962 due to maintenance and safety
concerns, and the building was stuccoed perhaps
around that time. The original Gothic-revival
fence is intact.
The fortunes of St. Brigid's have risen and
fallen over the years. In its most robust days
the parish ranked as high as third in the diocese
in providing funds toward the building of St.
Patrick's Cathedral. As the Irish population on
the east side declined, St. Brigid's served newer
immigrant populations, such as Slavs and
especially Italians during the late 19th century
and, mid/late 20th century onward, the growing
Latino community.
During the Depression, Sunday mass attendance was
documented at a mere 350 people, and the total
revenue of the parish fell to about $60 a week.
The number of parishioners later increased under
the care of a new rector, and in 1951 there were
more baptisms at St. Brigid's than in any year
since 1890. Such vicissitudes may be important to
keep in mind when assessing the current state of
the parish - which, given the right care and
tending, could once again become a beacon for
those who keep the faith.
Sources: "The History of St. Brigid's Parish
in the City of New York under the Administration
of the Reverend Patrick J. McSweeny,
1877-1907," by Reverend Patrick D.
O'Flaherty, dissertation toward the Master of
Arts degree, Fordham University, May 15th, 1952;
St. Brigid article, by Father Barry Bossa, Keely
Society newsletter, no date; "Patrick Keely,
Architect," by Katharine Zeltner, Common
Bond, Volume 15, No. 3/Spring 2000; Keely Society
website, administered by Edward H. Furey;
Cathedral of the Holy Cross website, administered
by the Archdiocese of Boston. For more
information please contact Carolyn Ratcliffe at
212-674-4057; Patti Kelly at 917-582-2274; Peter
Cruz at 917-613-4954; Edwin Torres at 212-691-
4039.
Compiled for Save St. Brigid's by Mary (B.G.)
Firmani, who can be reached at 212-477-1075 or
bgfirmani@yahoo.com. |
