Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral is a

Maronite Catholic The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic '' sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The current head of the ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

located in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, United States. It is the seat of the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn. It is located in the neighborhood of

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, an ...

in the oldest northwest section of the borough, across the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Queens ...

from

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 ...

. The church building originally housed the "Church of the Pilgrims" of the old

Congregational Christian Church The Congregational Christian Churches were a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the U.S. from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most of its churches joined the Evangelical and Reformed Church in a merger to become the United ...

, (merged 1957 into the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...

History

The Maronite Catholic community was established in New York when St. Joseph's Church was founded in

. Father Khairallah Stephen, its first priest, arrived in New York in 1900. Father Stephen purchased a large brownstone at 295–297 Hicks Street in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in 1902 using $2000 of his money and $600 in donations. The church was incorporated as “The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Lebanon” on February 17, 1903. Services began the following year. The church was on the main floor of the building and the rectory on the second floor. The basement and the main floor were combined and the renovated church was dedicated in January 1906. The congregation grew over the next several decades necessitating a larger church. Father Mansour Stephen, Father Khairallah Stephen's nephew, purchased the former Congregational Church of the Pilgrims on December 8, 1943, for $70,000. The new church of Our Lady of Lebanon was dedicated on Sunday, November 26, 1944. The

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

residence behind the church was purchased on December 30, 1944, by a parishioner, George Jebaily. On June 27, 1977, the

See city See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...

for the Eparchy of St. Maron-USA was transferred from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

to Brooklyn. Our Lady of Lebanon was designated the cathedral on the same day.

Church of the Pilgrims

The church building predates the congregation that worships there. It was built as the Church of the Pilgrims for $65,000. It was designed in the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

style by

Richard Upjohn Richard Upjohn (22 January 1802 – 16 August 1878) was a British-born American architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to su ...

, who was known for his

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

church buildings for the Episcopal Church. The

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over time ...

was laid on December 22, 1844, and the first service was held in the building on May 12, 1846. A couple of changes were made during construction. A truss bridge had to be added when the timbers that supported the roof were found to be inadequate. Side galleries, which increased seating capacity, were also added. Ten columns were added in the 1850s to provide further support for the roof. An addition designed by

Leopold Eidlitz Leopold Eidlitz (March 10, 1823, Prague, Bohemia – March 22, 1908, New York City) was a prominent New York architect best known for his work on the New York State Capitol (Albany, New York, 1876–1881), as well as " Iranistan" (1848), P. T. B ...

was begun in 1869. It added 450 seats to the church, a large lecture room, and other rooms for classes and meetings. Membership at the Church of the Pilgrims and the nearby Plymouth Church declined in the early Twentieth Century due to changes in the population of Brooklyn Heights. In 1934 they merged to form Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims and utilized the Plymouth Church facilities.

Architecture

The church's exterior doors had originally been used as the dining hall doors of the French luxury liner, the ''

SS Normandie The SS ''Normandie'' was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line ''Compagnie Générale Transatlantique'' (CGT). She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat, transatlantic crossi ...

''. They feature ten

medallions Medallion or Medallions may refer to: * Medal (shortening of "medallion"), a carved or engraved circular piece of metal issued as a souvenir, award, work of art or fashion accessory * Medallion (architecture), a large round or oval ornament on a bu ...

showing nine cities in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

and one that features the Normandie's sister ship, the ''

SS Ile de France SS is an abbreviation for ''Schutzstaffel'', a paramilitary organisation in Nazi Germany. SS, Ss, or similar may also refer to: Places *Guangdong Experimental High School (''Sheng Shi'' or ''Saang Sat''), China *Province of Sassari, Italy (vehi ...

''. The doors were altered to fit the church's entrances. Six medallions are on the main entrance on Henry Street and four medallions are on the Remsen Street doors. There is also a set of

mahogany Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...

doors and marble

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

in the

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

that came from Charles M. Schwab's New York City mansion. The church's original stained glass windows were relocated to Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims when the two congregations merged. Swiss artist

Jean Crotti Jean Crotti (24 April 1878 – 30 January 1958) was a French painter. Crotti was born in Bulle, Fribourg, Switzerland. He first studied in Munich, Germany at the School of Decorative Arts, then at age 23 moved to Paris to study art at the ...

created new windows for Our Lady of Lebanon using the Gemmaux method by which pieces of colored glass are held together by colorless enamel. The ten windows were created for the church in Crotti's workshop in France during 1953. Problems developed in the windows created by Crotti, and so in the late 1950s Lebanese artist Sabiha Douaihy made additional windows and worked on the existing windows for the church. Other furnishings of note include the marble and onyx flooring in the sanctuary, which was originally in the French and Lebanese Pavilions at the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...

. The solid bronze

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

gates were created in the region of Northern Italy and Southern Germany in the 17th century. The Saint Rafqa Chapel features a

bas relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

of Our Lady in Chains circa 1526. Behind the altar is a mural of Our Lady of Harissa who is depicted standing on the top of the Lebanese mountains looking down upon the sea coast. It was completed by Lebanese artist Saliba Douaihy in 1952. The

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

was originally built as E. & G.G. Hook, opus 519 in 1870, and extensively rebuilt as the

Austin Organ Company Austin Organs, Inc., is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent ...

, opus 259 in 1909. It features three manuals, 25 stops, 23 ranks and 1,525 pipes. After the church was transferred to the Maronite congregation the Austin console near the front of the church, where the pipes are located, was replaced with a new

Tellers Organ Company Tellers Organ Company was a manufacturer of pipe organs in Erie, Pennsylvania. From 1906 to 1973, the company produced over 1,100 organs throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. History The company was founded by two brothers, Henry an ...

console in the rear gallery. In 1987 an attempt was made to relocate the console closer to the organ. The main cable was severed during the project and has yet to be repaired.

Gallery

File:Interior, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral (Brooklyn, New York).jpg, Interior, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral File:Stained Glass left, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral (Brooklyn New York).jpg, Stained Glass on the left side of the cathedral File:Stained Glass right, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral (Brooklyn, New York).jpg, Stained Glass on the right side of the cathedral

References

External links