The Church of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was a former Roman Catholic

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, primarily serving Italian-Americans, that has been demolished. The church was located on 309-315 East 33rd Street, in the

Kips Bay Kips Bay, or Kip's Bay, is a neighborhood on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by East 34th Street to the north, the East River to the east, East 27th and/or 23rd Streets to the south, and Third Aven ...

area of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It has since been replaced by a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

under the same name.

History

Parish church

The parish was established in 1914, to serve an estimated population of 10,000 Italian Americans living in the area. A brick church was built in 1916 for $35,000 to designs by

Nicholas Serracino Nicholas Serracino (1877–1934), AIA, was an American architect active in late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century New York City. He was principally noted for his designs of churches and parish schools for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of ...

of 1170 Broadway. The first

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

was Joseph M. Congedo. The parish was established in 1914 and construction of the church was begun the following year with the laying of the cornerstone on October 4 by

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

John M. Farley, the

Archbishop of New York The Archbishop of New York is the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, who is responsible for looking after its spiritual and administrative needs. As the archdiocese is the metropolitan bishop, metropolitan see of the ecclesiastic ...

. The completed church was dedicated on October 1, 1916, by

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Giovanni Bonzano Giovanni Vincenzo Cardinal Bonzano PIME (27 September 1867 – 26 November 1927) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Nunciature of the Holy See in Washington DC, Apostolic Delegate to Uni ...

, P.I.M.E.,

Apostolic Delegate An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international o ...

to the United States at the time. There were a few little changes later with the replacement of the original oak doors with cruciform windows with black metal doors with square windows. The parish operated a school with the same name from 1925 through 1937. The parish also operated Immaculata High School, which was run by the

Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (I.H.M.) is a Catholic religious institute of sisters, founded by Fr Louis Florent Gillet, CSsR, and a co-founder of the Oblate Sister of Providence, Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin, in 1845. ...

. The high school was closed in the 1970s. The parish was closed in January 2007, one of several closed that year by the then-archbishop, Cardinal

Edward Egan Edward Michael Egan (April 2, 1932 – March 5, 2015) was an American Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Diocese of Bridgeport in Connecticut from 19 ...

. It was then merged with the Church of Our Lady of the Scapular–St. Stephen and the church and school were demolished. In November 2014, it was announced by the archdiocese that the existing parish was to be merged into Our Saviour Parish as of the following year.

Chapel

After the demolition of the parish church, a small

and residence for the clergy, also dedicated to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was built on the site, 325 East 33rd Street, with "A.D. 2009" prominently carved into the cornerstone of the building. The first

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

was celebrated on May 18, 2009. It served as the residence of the same Cardinal Egan who ordered the closing of the parish, after his retirement as archbishop, until his death in 2015. He himself dedicated the chapel in May 2010.

Clergy

These include Former

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

s: *Right Rev.

Msgr. Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

Joseph Congedo (1914-1954) *Rev. John McEvoy (1954-1962) *Right Rev. Msgr. Thomas A. Dunn (1962-1971) *Rev. Msgr. William Rinschler (1971-1985) *Rev. Msgr. Albert DeLuca (1985-2006) *Rev. Msgr. Donald Sakano (2006-2007) *Rev. Msgr. Lawrence Connaughton (2007-2009) Administrators of the chapel: *Rev. Msgr. Lawrence Connaughton (2009–2012) *Rev. Robert J. Robbins (2012-2021) *Msgr. Kevin Sullivan (since September 2019)

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sacred Hearts Of Mary And Jesus Church (New York City) Roman Catholic churches in Manhattan Neoclassical architecture in New York City Greek Revival architecture in New York City Greek Revival church buildings in New York City Closed churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Closed churches in New York City Demolished churches in New York City Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Italian-American culture in New York City Roman Catholic churches completed in 1916 Kips Bay, Manhattan 1914 establishments in New York City 2009 establishments in New York City 2007 disestablishments in New York (state) Buildings and structures demolished in 2008 21st-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Roman Catholic churches completed in 2009 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Neoclassical church buildings in the United States