BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 1868 100th Anniversary 1968 SUNDAY, DECEMBER I, 1968 Program t 3 :45 PROCESSION TO THE CHURCH 4 p.m. CONCELEBRA TED MASS Most Reverend Francis J. Mugavero, D.D. Principal Celebrant SERMON. Reverend Edward Lodge Curran, Ph.D. Pastor, St. Sebastian Church 5 p.m. RECEPTION: For BISHOP MUGA VERO BY ST. JOHN'S PARISHIONERS IN DE GRAY AUDITORIUM * * * * * DINNER FOR CLERGY his excellency IN THE the most R€V€R€nb fRanc1s John muqaveRo, b.b. VINCENTIAN FATHERS RESIDENCE CiCth Bishop oC BROoklyn the first time in the new edifice, - long, low, wide frame structure. This was to serve as an adequate church for the congregation for the next twenty-five years. 1868-1968 The Rev. John Quigley, C.M., succeeded Father Smith as pastor of the parish in 1868, but Father Smith returned in 1870, In I 865 the Rt. Rev. John Loughlin, the first Bishop of resumed the pastorate and continued in the capacity until 1874. Fol­ Brooklyn, invited the priests of the Congregation of the Mission lowing Father Smith, Father Landry became pastor of the church to come to the diocese of Brooklyn and establish a parish in what and served until 1 8 7 5. was then known as the Stuyvesant Heights section. In 1867 the pro­ In September, 1875, Rev. James A. Moloney, C.M. was ap­ vincial of the Vincentian Fathers, as the priests of the Congregation pointed pastor. He served until 18 77. His successor was the Rev. are known, the Very Rev. Stephen Vincent Ryan, C.M., afterward Aloysius J. Meyer, C.M., who continued as pastor until 1882 bishop of Buffalo, accepted the invitation. The selection of a suit­ when he was appointed bishop of Galveston, Texas. able site was left to the discretion of Mr. Cornelius Dover, an out­ The Rev. Jeremiah A. Hartnett, C.M., became pastor of St. standing Catholic citizen of Brooklyn prominent in real estate John's in 1882. By this time the parish had outgrown the frame matters. He decided on a block of land between Lewis and Stuy­ church, and though many improvements had been made since vesant Avenues, and Willoughby Avenue and Hart Street. He Father Quigley' s time, the old church could no longer accommodate purchased the desired land for thirty-five thousand, eight hundred the ever-increasing congregation. dollars from Thomas Palmer and Sarah and Issac Quackenboss, the deeds being dated November I 4, I 867. 1888 - 1963 - ST. JOHN'S CHURCH In the spring of I 868 the Rev. Edward M. Smith, C.M., was sent by Father Ryan to Brooklyn to establish the first house of the The old church had served its purpose well and, in 1894, gave Community in this city. The advent of the Vincentians marked place to the new St. John's Church which was the result of the the coming of the first congregation of priests to the diocese of tireless energies of Father Hartnett and his faithful assistants. The Brooklyn. cornerstone was laid with appropriate ceremonies on June 24, 1888, by Bishop Loughlin. It was at this time that the name of the parish On the property acquired for Father Ryan, there was a small was changed from St. Mary, Queen of the Isle to that of St. John frame cottage. In the house there was a front and back room with the Baptist. The work of building such an immense structure was an attic overhead. The back room served as kitchen and dining room. necessarily slow and tedious and it was not until 1894 that the The attic, which was reached by means of a ladder, was utilized as a new church was solemnly blessed and dedicated. Bishop Loughlin bedroom. In the downstairs front room, which measured about J who had earnestly desired the construction of the church had passed fifteen square feet, Father Smith offered the Holy Sacrifice of the to his reward. The new bishop of Brooklyn, the Rt. Rev. Charles Mass. On July 12, 1868, the first Mass in the new parish was McDonnell dedicated the present church on Trinity Sunday, May celebrated before a congregation of not more than a dozen persons. 20, 1894. On that same day the cornestone of what even to this day It is interesting to note that in the December 24, 1893 Brook­ is known as the old wooden church, was laid by Bishop Loughlin. lyn Eagle, there was an article concerning the almost completed church. It was dedicated to Our Blessed Lady under the title of St. Mary, The article says, ''Father Hartnett, with his usual good judgment, Queen of the Isle. On Christmas Day, 1869, Mass was offered for would not allow the ground to be broken or a foundation stone until every penny necessary to construct the building had been paid in. The granite walls of the edifice were constructed six and one-half What he understood and accomplished can better be understood feet thick to weather the ages. The vaulted ceiling soaring eighty­ when one can realize that the church costs upward of half a million four feet from the floor. gained support from wall reinforcements, dollars. which in turn. transferred the thrust to unseen girders. Below the gallery. running eighty-four feet in length, marble columns, four On the dedication day, gracing the occasion with his exalted feet thick. rose upon granite and concrete bases able to secure ten presence, and delivering the initial sermon was James Cardinal times the weight. Vast tunneling had been undertaken in the early Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore and Catholic Primate of Ameri­ stages of construction to insure excellent ventilation and heating ca; two archbishops, four bishops. the heads of many educational facilities. Fifteen hundred lights and spotlights were skillfully institutions, the pastors of nearly every Church in the diocese, and arranged to highlight various parts! of the church. For the final nearly one hundred seminarians sat within the sanctuary to parti­ interior masonery work. one hundred and fifty men applied tons people thronged to the Church and police cordons held back the of plaster to the walls, alcoves and arches in fashioning decorous cipate in the beautiful dedicatory services. Over three thousand ornamentation. According to final plan, the church structure ever-thickening crowds along the street to make a passageway formed a large cross - 205 feet long and I 06 feet wide in the for the opening procession. The Sacred Pontifical Mass which body. and 163 feet wide in the transept. followed the procession was celebrated by William Henry Elder. D.D., the venerable Archbishop of Cincinnati. Cardinal Gibbons Upon structural completion in 1894, the Church of St. John occupied the throne on the gospel side of the altar and Bishop the Baptist was immediately "declared without exception, archi­ McDonnell the one on the epistle side, with Bishops.Ryan and Hen­ nessey to his right. tecturally and otherwise, the most beautiful Catholic Church in Brooklyn." Designed by Patrick C. Keely. a distinguished New At the conclusion of the Mass. the cardinal announced Pope York architect who had executed some of the most elaborate church Leo XIII' s blessings upon the throng and bestowed the Papal Bene­ edificies in the United States. including cathedrals in more than diction. The participants dispersed but many returned that same fifteen See cities, the finished church was built of New Jersey evening for Pontifical Vespers celebrated by Bishop Hennessey of granite and executed in Romanesque style both inside and out. Kansas with an appropriate sermon delivered by Archbishop Elder. Mr. Keely originally proposed spires for .the Church. but this plan On July 19, 1894, preparations were ready for the last never materialized. Yet, the edifice in its completed stage proved Mass in the old frame church which still lay in the shadow of the a most notable achievement in its distinct style. Accentuating the massive basilica. Around the old church there clustered so many costly marble altar and rising majestically above it, the baldachino pleasant memories that the Vincentian priests felt they could not cast its shadow on the uniquely beautiful communion rail of Sienna have it razed to the ground until the pastor of the church and its marble and Mexican onyx. With their rich hues and flowing lines, parishioners of a quarter of a century could offer a final prayer of thanks­ the paintings of the distinguished American artist. Leon Dabo, protege giving. The day was a glorious, nostalgic one; Father Moloney, an of the Frenchman Pavis de Chavannes. adorned the walls and early pastor, celebrated Mass and Father Patrick O'Regan. former ceilings. president of St. John's College returned to address the congregation. Thus, St. John's had erected a fitting temple to the Most The five large statues lining the chancel above the al tar repre­ High God. Six years had intervened between the laying of the sent Our Saviour. Our Lady of Victory, St. John the Baptist, St. cornerstone and the final dedicatory services; during that time Vincent de Paul and St. Joseph. The magnificent organ. built the building construction had progressed in large-scale proportion. in Salem, Ohio. was regarded at the time as the finest instrument of its kind in New York State. The renowned Otto Heinigke created the radiant and imposing stained glass windows. The full interior decor was completed almost twenty years later, but the church was never su.bstantially to change from the first day that Father Hartnett and his loyal parishioners proudly viewed their work of glory. During the eighty years since the laying of the cornerstone, St. John the Baptist Church pas been the center of worship for thou­ sands of parishioners, the Ihany students of the Preparatory School and College, and the seminarians of the Diocese of Brooklyn.