Our Lady of Pompeii Church, or more formally, the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Pompeii,
is a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
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, ...
located in the
South Village
The South Village is a largely residential area that is part of the larger Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City, directly below Washington Square Park. Known for its immigrant heritage and bohemian history, the architecture of the ...
neighborhood 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 ...
, in the United States. The church is staffed by
Scalabrini Fathers, while the Our Lady of Pompeii School is staffed by
Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is located across from
Father Demo Square, which is named for the church's third pastor,
Antonio Demo.
The church was founded in 1892 as a
national parish
National parish is a type of Catholic parish distinguished by liturgical rites or nationality of the congregation; it is found within a diocese or particular Church, which includes other types of parishes in the same geographical area, each parish ...
to serve
Italian-American immigrants who settled in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
, eventually becoming the American counterpart to the
Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei in Italy and a
shrine
A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...
in its own right. The church has resided at its present location since 1926, when construction on its current edifice began. While it has remained a largely Italian American parish, the church has come to incorporate many other immigrant groups.
History
Origins
The parish of Our Lady of Pompeii was founded in 1892. The origins of the parish lie in the arrival of Father
Pietro Bandini, an Italian
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
priest,
in New York City in 1890. His purpose was to establish a chapter of the Saint Raphael Society for the Protection of
Italian Immigrants
, image = Map of the Italian Diaspora in the World.svg
, image_caption = Map of the Italian diaspora in the world
, population = worldwide
, popplace = Brazil, Argentina, United States, France, Colombia, Canada, P ...
, an organization that sought to defend Italian immigrants from
usury
Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...
and labor exploitation. Bandini purchased a building at 113
Waverly Place
Waverly Place is a narrow street in the Greenwich Village section of the New York City borough of Manhattan, that runs from Bank Street to Broadway. Waverly changes direction roughly at its midpoint at Christopher Street, turning about 120 deg ...
to use its first-floor
storefront as 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 ...
for the Society.
He named it the Our Lady of Pompeii chapel, in honor of the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
under her title of
Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii
Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is a Titles of Mary, Marian title.
The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October in ...
.
The first Mass was said in the chapel on May 8, 1892.
In addition to his spiritual ministry, Bandini assisted new immigrants with legal matters,
assimilating to the United States, and finding work.
The chapel was established within the territorial parish boundaries of
St. Joseph's Church, whose pastor was Fr. Denis O'Flynn. He vehemently protested the establishment of another church near his, several having already been erected, that might draw parishioners away from his congregation. However, he also refused to allow Italians admittance to his church, which was mostly
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
in composition. To allay O'Flynn's fears of poaching parishioners, Bandini posted a notice on the entrance to his chapel that it was to serve only Italian Catholics. O'Flynn, nonetheless, accused Bandini of stealing parishioners before the archdiocese's
chancery office within three months of the chapel's establishment.
Many immigrants who arrived from the northwestern Italian town of
Chiavari
Chiavari (; lij, Ciävai ) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in Italy. It has about 28,000 inhabitants. It is situated near the river Entella.
History
Pre-Roman and Roman Era
A pre-Roman necropolis, which dates f ...
to settle in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
attended Our Lady of Pompeii chapel. Bandini requested that the community be elevated to the status of a
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
in the
Archdiocese of New York
The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroug ...
. The location of the church changed in 1895 when Bandini began renting a building at 214
Sullivan Street
Sullivan Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, which previously ran north from Duarte Square at Canal Street, but since around 2012 begins at Broome Street, to Washington Square South, through the neighborhoods of Hudson Square, SoHo, the So ...
. It had originally been built in 1810 for an African American
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
church and had more recently housed the Bethel Methodist Colored Church. Archbishop
Michael Corrigan
Michael Augustine Corrigan (August 13, 1839May 5, 1902) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the third archbishop of New York from 1885 to 1902.
Early life
Michael Augustine Corrigan was born August 13, 1839, in Ne ...
officially declared the community a parish in 1895.
Rather than a territorial parish, Our Lady of Pompeii was a
national parish
National parish is a type of Catholic parish distinguished by liturgical rites or nationality of the congregation; it is found within a diocese or particular Church, which includes other types of parishes in the same geographical area, each parish ...
, which served an ethnicity, namely Italians, rather than a geographic population. In this capacity, it became the second national parish in New York City for Italians, following
St. Anthony of Padua Church.
In 1896, Bandini left the church for
Sunnyside Plantation
The Sunnyside Plantation was a former cotton plantation and is a historic site, located near Lake Village in Chicot County, Arkansas, in the Arkansas Delta region.
Built as a cotton plantation in the Antebellum South, it was farmed using the f ...
in
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
to minister to the Italian workers there, and went on with the workers to found the city of
Tontitown.
Upon his departure, several unidentified priests impressed upon Archbishop Corrigan that he should close down the parish, but he decided against it.
Bandini was succeeded as
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 ...
of the church by Father Francesco Zaboglio in 1896, who held the role for only a year. In 1897, he was badly injured in a
gas explosion
A gas explosion is an explosion resulting from mixing a gas, typically from a gas leak, with air in the presence of an ignition source. In household accidents, the principal explosive gases are those used for heating or cooking purposes such as nat ...
in the church basement, which killed two other men employed by the parish and damaged the church building. With Zaboglio's retirement and return to Italy,
Father
Antonio Demo, a man prominent in the
Italian-American
Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...
community became the next pastor; he would serve in this position until 1935.
While at the time of its founding, more than 80 percent of the church's parishioners hailed from
Northern Italy
Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...
, many of whom came specifically from the region of
Liguria
Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
, by 1898
Southern Italians constituted a plurality of the congregation.
On March 7, 1898, the parish of Our Lady of Pompeii was legally
incorporated.
The church on Sullivan Street was subsequently destroyed by fire, and the congregation relocated to a
Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
building at 210
Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street is an east–west street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was ...
on May 8, 1898.
The building had been originally commissioned in 1836 by a
Unitarian Universalist
Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to:
Christian and Christian-derived theologies
A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism:
* Unitarianism (1565–present) ...
church. Since 1883 it had been occupied by
St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church whose African American parish was moving north in Manhattan.
Around this time, the parish received permission from
Bartolo Longo
Bartolo Longo (February 10, 1841 – October 5, 1926) was an Italian lawyer who has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church. He was a former Satanic priest who returned to the Catholic faith and became a third order Dominican, dedicating h ...
, the founder of the
Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pomepi in Italy, to promote itself as the American
shrine to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii.
There is some indication that by around 1899 tension had begun to build between Our Lady of Pompeii and St. Anthony of Padua Church. While the latter was the older of the two Italian national parishes in the area, the Italians took a liking to the Scalabrians over the
Franciscans
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
(who ran St. Anthony's). For this reason, Our Lady of Pompeii's membership equaled that of St. Anthony of Padua within ten years of the former's founding.
The parish was impacted by the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on Saturday, March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The ...
in 1911, which took place nearby. Father Demo was active in consoling the mourning families.
By 1917, the number of parishioners had grown to more than 20,000.
For a time,
Mother Cabrini taught at Our Lady of Pompeii.
Present church
In 1923, the City of New York decided to extend
Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
southward through the area occupied by the church and several dozen other buildings. Using
eminent domain
Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
, the city seized, condemned, and eventually demolished the structures. Before demolition, Demo formed committees of parishioners to organize moving the parish to a new location. The pastor and the committees began purchasing land on the corner of Bleecker Street, eventually acquiring house numbers 17 through 25. There, they built a new church building, a
rectory
A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage.
Function
A clergy house is typically ow ...
that opened in 1928, a
parochial school
A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...
that opened in 1930 staffed by the
Missionary Zelatrices of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (ASCJ), previously known as the Missionary Zelatrices of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is an international congregation of religious women, founded in Viareggio, Italy, in 1894, by the Bl ...
,
and a
convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
that opened in the 1950s.
Father Demo personally selected
Matthew W. Del Gaudio to be the architect of the church.
The existing buildings on the land were cleared, and ground was broken for the new church in 1926. On
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
1928, during construction, a 3-year-old girl named Zita Triglia was killed when a 10-foot-long beam fell from the belfry scaffolding, knocking her from her father's arms. The church was completed in September of that year. It was
dedicated on October 7, 1928,
the
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
of Our Lady of the Rosary, in a
solemn mass
Solemn Mass ( la, missa solemnis) is the full ceremonial form of a Mass, predominantly associated with the Tridentine Mass where it is celebrated by a priest with a deacon and a subdeacon,"The essence of high Mass is not the music but the deacon ...
said by Cardinal
Patrick Hayes with more than 2,000 worshipers in attendance.
Father Demo was recalled to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in 1933 and died three years later; in his stead, John Marchegiani served as acting pastor and then pastor, and eventually as
procurator
Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to:
* Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency
* ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title o ...
. In 1933 American-born Italians represented a majority of the parish for the first time.
When Marchegiani was recalled to Rome in 1937, he was succeeded by Ugo Cavicchi. He advanced the school, decorated the interior of the church, and welcomed the
Society of Saint Vincent de Paul
The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor.
Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...
, which assisted the poor and taught hundreds of Italian immigrants to take the
American citizenship exam. During Father Mario Albanesi's pastorship from 1952 to 1964, the church property expanded with the purchase of houses on Carmine and Leroy Streets.
Today, the church stands at 25 Carmine Street,
at the northern corner of the intersection with Bleecker Street.
It is directly across from
Father Demo Square, which is located on the eastern corner of Carmine and Bleecker Streets.
The church is staffed by priests who are
Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (Scalabrini Fathers) and the school is staffed by sisters of the
Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
While the church was founded for Italian immigrants and remained a parish primarily for Italian Americans for most of its history, in recent times its parishioners have included a range of immigrant groups. This is reflected by the fact that Mass is offered in English,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
,
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, and
Tagalog.
Since its second expansion in 2010, Our Lady of Pompeii Church has been located within the Greenwich Village Historic District.
Architecture
Del Gaudio's façade facing Carmine Street is built of
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
, while beige brick faces Bleecker Street. In total, the edifice cost over $1 million to construct,
equivalent to $ in . On the exterior of 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 ...
church,
the building is accented by large
Corinthian columns
The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order w ...
supporting a closed pediment over the entrance and a
balustrade
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...
along the roofline. The façade is topped with an asymmetrically placed,
three-story
campanile
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
enclosed by a copper
dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
and a
finial
A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature.
In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...
cross.
Inside this campanile, a new
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
was installed in 1988.
It was Del Gaudio's intention to draw from the
Romanesque style common to parishioners' homes and churches in Italy. For this reason he included shallow front steps, a flat façade that was close to the street, the domed
sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...
,
and a
campanile
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
on the church,
modeled after that of the
Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei.
On the roofline is a
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
topped by an
acroterion
An acroterion, acroterium, or akroteria is an architectural ornament placed on a flat pedestal called the ''acroter'' or plinth, and mounted at the apex or corner of the pediment of a building in the classical style. An acroterion placed at ...
statue of
St. Charles Borromeo
Charles Borromeo ( it, Carlo Borromeo; la, Carolus Borromeus; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was the Archdiocese of Milan, Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584 and a Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was a lead ...
.
Interior furnishings
The interior of the church was decorated 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,
between 1934 and 1937, by Antonio D'Ambrosio, the founder of D'Ambrosio Ecclesiastical Art Studios.
The
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
is lined with polished marble Corinthian columns,
above which is a
frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
bearing a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
inscription of the
Hail Mary
The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...
in golden letters. Above the frieze, within the
barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
of the ceiling,
are painted depictions of the
Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary on the right side of the nave, and depictions of the
Sorrowful Mysteries
The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...
on the left side. On the ceiling are depictions of the
Glorious Mysteries.
The marble
reredos
A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images.
The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...
contains a painting that is an exact replica of one in the Shrine of Our Lady in Pompei. It was given to the church in 1895 as a gift by
Annie Leary.
The painting is situated within a Romanesque arch and depicts the Virgin Mary holding the child
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
who is handing a
rosary
The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...
to
St. Dominic
Saint Dominic ( es, Santo Domingo; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilian Catholic priest, mystic, the founder of the Dominican Order and is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientis ...
, while his mother hands a rosary to
St. Catherine of Siena
Catherine of Siena (Italian: ''Caterina da Siena''; 25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, was a mystic, activist, and author who had a great influence on Italian literature and on the Catholic Church. ...
. This painting originally adorned the church's 210 Bleecker Street building and was cut and moved to its present location with the construction of the church.
It was before this painting that many Italian emigrant parishioners would
pray
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified an ...
for safe travels before voyaging back to Naples or pray in thanksgiving upon returning to America.
To the left of the mural in the
apsidal
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
dome is a depiction of the
Church Penitent
In some strains of Christian theology, the Christian Church may be divided into:
*the Church Militant (), also called the Church Pilgrim which consists of Christians on earth who struggle as soldiers of Christ against sin, the devil, and "the ...
, represented by souls in
purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
awaiting salvation. To the right is a depiction of the
Church Triumphant
In some strains of Christian theology, the Christian Church may be divided into:
*the Church Militant (), also called the Church Pilgrim which consists of Christians on earth who struggle as soldiers of Christ against sin, the devil, and "the ...
, specifically the saints in
heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
.
Beneath the mural in the apse is another frieze that bears the Latin inscription:
The largest painted accent in the interior is the
mural
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
in the
semi-dome
In architecture, a semi-dome (or half-dome) is a half dome that covers a semi-circular area in a building.
Architecture
Semi-domes are a common feature of apses in Ancient Roman and traditional church architecture, and in mosques and iwans in Isla ...
above the altar, which was created in 1937 and illustrates the
Church Militant
In some strains of Christian theology, the Christian Church may be divided into:
*the Church Militant (), also called the Church Pilgrim which consists of Christians on earth who struggle as Miles Christianus, soldiers of Christ against Christia ...
. The mural depicts the Virgin Mary and Jesus as a child in her lap, as she stands on a cloud, in front of the Sun. Mary is presenting St. Dominic, who is holding and contemplating the
cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
, with a rosary. St. Catherine of Siena looks on from the distance, as
angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
s fly about them. The lower right corner of the mural, against a background of sky and sea, depicts a
galleon
Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...
in the naval
Battle of Lepanto
The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states (comprising Spain and its Italian territories, several independent Italian states, and the Soverei ...
on October 7, 1571. The miraculous Spanish victory was attributed to divine intercession in response to prayer to Our Lady of the Rosary. One of the angels is handing a rosary to a soldier, which is depicted as the decisive weapon in the battle. Imagery of the Shrine of Our lady of the Rosary in
Pompei, Italy is present above the battle, including the shrine's campanile. The
religious
Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...
are tending to poor immigrants, and a woman receives a rosary from a
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...
friar, symbolizing that the Franciscans from
St. Anthony of Padua Church were the first ministers to the Italian immigrants in New York. The mural also depicts St. Charles Borromeo in red, who is the patron saint of the Scalabrinians, and Blessed
Giovanni Battista Scalabrini
Giovanni Battista Scalabrini (8 July 1839 – 1 June 1905) was an Italians, Italian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic saint, as of 2022, who served as Roman Catholic Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio, Bishop of Piacenza from 1876 until his death. He was ...
, their founder, as a bishop in white, their founder. Also visible is
St. Martin de Porres
Martín de Porres Velázquez (9 December 1579 – 3 November 1639) was a Peruvian lay brother of the Dominican Order who was beatified in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI and canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. He is the patron saint of mixed-r ...
holding a basket of roses, acknowledging the African American community that worshiped at Our Lady of Pompeii's previous church. This mural was removed in the 1970s, and replaced with less dramatic imagery consistent with the persuasion of the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
.
It was later recreated by Antonio D'Ambrosio's son, Anthony D'Ambrosio, based on his father's original drawings.
Work on the
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
windows that enclose either
aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...
began in 1928 and continued into the 1940s.
They show scenes from the lives of the saints, the
catechism
A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...
, and the
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
; in particular, the saints are shown in such a way that illustrates each of the Beatitudes with which they are associated. Individuals depicted in the windows include:
St. Stephen
Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...
, St. Catherine of Siena, John the Baptist, St. John the Baptist, Saint Peter, St. Peter, Paul the Apostle, St. Paul, the Four Evangelists, and Pope Leo XIII with
Mother Cabrini. Additional stained glass windows were added over the narthex in 1986. They depict the The Exodus, Exodus from Egypt, the Holy Family,
Christopher Columbus giving thanks for reaching America, and Ellis Island, symbolizing the parish's immigrant and Italian heritage.
In addition to architectural furnishings, the interior also contains a significant amount of statuary. To one side of the entrance is a shrine to Mother Cabrini, the patron saint of immigrants, and a statue of Jesus Nazareno, which is revered by Filipinos, Filipino pilgrims to the Pompei shrine in Italy. Additionally, there is a statue of Saint Cajetan, San Gaetano that was gifted by devotees, a statue of Saint Jude that was bequeathed in 1955, a bust of Giovanni Scalabrini from 1955, and statues of Rose of Lima, St. Rose of Lima, Saint Lucy, St. Lucy, and Padre Pio. There is also a statue of St. Gerard that had resided in the maternity ward of Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center, St. Vincent's Hospital and was given as a gift by the Sisters of Charity of New York, Sisters of Charity upon the hospital's closing. The oldest statues in the church are those of the Blessed Mother and John the Evangelist, St. John the Evangelist, which date to the 1880s. The statues of Saint Joseph, St. Joseph and the Sacred Heart date to at least as early as 1909.
The pipe organ at the rear of the church, designed by George Kilgen and Son, George Kilgen & Son, was installed at the time the church was built, incorporating many old pipes that may have been taken from the 1918 organ of the previous church at 214 Bleecker Street. It was expanded over the years, at one point incorporating pipes from a 1928 organ in the Immaculate Conception Church in Trenton, New Jersey.
Pastors
The following Priesthood in the Catholic Church, priests, in chronological order, served as
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 ...
of the church:
*
Pietro Bandini, Society of Jesus, S.J. (1892–1896)
*Francesco Zaboglio (1896–1897)
*
Antonio Demo, Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo, C.S. (1897–1935)
*John Marchegiani (1935–1937)
*Ugo Cavicchi (1937–1946)
*Joseph Bernardi (1946–1952)
*Mario Albanesi (1952–1964)
*Anthony Del Bacon (1964–1967)
*Guido Caverzan (1967–1970)
*James Abbarno (1970–1975)
*Edward Marino (1975–1980)
*Charles Zanoni (1980–1989)
*Tarcisius Bagatin (1989–1993)
*Ralph Bove, C.S. (1993–''unknown'')
*John Massari, C.S. (''unknown''–2013)
*Walter Tonelotto, C.S. (–present)
See also
* Anti-Italianism
* Catholic Church in the United States
*History of New York City (1898–1945)
* Italian Americans in New York City
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
External links
*
Our Lady of Pompeii School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Our Lady of Pompeii Church
1892 establishments in New York (state)
20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States
Italian-American culture in New York City
Italian-American Roman Catholic national parishes in the United States
Limestone churches in the United States
Religious organizations established in 1892
Romanesque Revival church buildings in New York City
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1928
Roman Catholic churches in Manhattan
Roman Catholic shrines in the United States
Scalabrinians
Shrines to the Virgin Mary
West Village