St. Augustine Catholic Church, also called Olde St. Augustine's, is a historic

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 ...

church in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Consecrated in 1848, the

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

-style church was designed by

Napoleon LeBrun Napoleon Eugene Charles Henry LeBrun (January 2, 1821 – July 9, 1901) was an American architect. He began his career in Philadelphia designing churches and theatres including St. Augustine's Church, the Cathedral-Basilica of Sts. Peter and Pa ...

. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. The church was built to replace the Old St. Augustine Church which was completed in 1801. The first Order of Hermits of St. Augustine church founded in the United States, the original St Augustine housed the Liberty Bell's "Sister Bell". The church was burned down in the

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

Philadelphia Nativist Riots on May 8, 1844. The church sued the city of Philadelphia for not providing it with adequate protection. The money awarded to the church went to rebuilding the current church, which broke ground on May 27, 1847. Organizations founded by the church led to the creation of both

Villanova University Villanova University is a private Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1842 and named after Saint Thomas of Villanova. The university is the oldest Catholic university in Penns ...

and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

History

Old church

Fathers Matthew Carr and John Rosseter were sent to

by the

Roman Catholic Church 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 ...

to buy land to build a church in the city. St. Augustine's Church began construction in 1796 to a design by Philadelphia architect Nicholas FitzMaurice Fagan (d. 1810) and was the first Order of Hermits of St. Augustine church founded in the United States. After delays as a result of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

outbreaks among the workers and funding issues, the church was completed in 1801. Contributors for construction of St. Augustine's included President

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, John Barry, Stephen Girard, and

Thomas Fitzsimons Thomas Fitzsimons (October 1741August 26, 1811) was an Irish-born American Founding Father, merchant, banker, and politician. A resident of Philadelphia, Fitzsimons represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress, was a delegate to Consti ...

; the largest individual donation was $200 from merchant John Leamy. In 1811 the St. Augustine Academy, a boys' school, was founded; the school included the largest theological library in the city. The origins of

are traced back to St. Augustine Academy. The church became a center of musical activity in the city. In 1820 a musical celebration to raise funds for the church attracted attention and musicians around the United States. On May 27, 1821

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Henry Conwell Henry Conwell ( – April 22, 1842) was an Irish-born Catholic bishop in the United States. He became a priest in 1776 and served in that capacity in Ireland for more than four decades. After the Pope declined to appoint him Archbishop of Arm ...

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

William Hogan at the church. A

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

and tower were added to the church in 1829. Loaned to the church in the late 1820s by

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers. The structure forms the centerpi ...

, the "Sister Bell", a bell that had been cast to replace the cracked Liberty Bell, was placed in St. Augustine's tower. By the 1840s Philadelphia's

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Briti ...

population was growing rapidly due to immigrants settling in the city. In 1838, half the church's parishioners were Irish-born and only one-sixth of St. Augustine's parishioners were born in the United States. The rising immigrant and Catholic population was fueling nativist and

groups in Philadelphia. Tensions spread by rumors that Catholics were trying to ban the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

from public schools led to the Nativist Riots of 1844. Violence beginning on May 6 in the Kensington District led to a mob gathering in front of St Augustine's Church on May 8. The city troops had stationed themselves near the church and Mayor John Morin Scott pleaded with the rioters for calm. Despite Mayor Scott's pleas, he was pelted with rocks and the church was set afire. The church was destroyed, the crowd cheering when the cupola fell. The St. Augustine Academy, including many of its rare books, was also destroyed.

Current church

During the three months after the church was destroyed, St. Augustine's congregation was allowed to use Old St. Joseph's Church. Three months after the riot, a new temporary church, the chapel of Our Lady of Consolation, was built and dedicated on October 27, 1844. This chapel fronted on Crown St. (now N. Lawrence St.) and adjoined St. Augustine's when the church was later rebuilt. Our Lady of Consolation was torn down in 1871 to make way for parish schools on Crown St. The

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

s of St. Augustine sued the city of Philadelphia for not providing the church enough protection during the riots, claiming US$80,000 in damages. The city argued that the friars could not claim their civil rights were violated as the

Order of St. Augustine The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...

was a foreign organization under the authority of the Pope. The city also argued that the friars took a vow of poverty and could not be property owners. The Augustinians ended up proving the Order St. Augustine was incorporated in the US in 1804 and was awarded US$45,000. The cornerstone of the new church was laid on May 27, 1847, and the church was completed in December 1848. The church was consecrated by Bishop

Francis Kenrick Francis Patrick Kenrick (December 3, 1796 or 1797 – July 8, 1863) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the third Bishop of the Diocese of Philadelphia (1842–1851) and the sixth Archbishop of the Archdiocese o ...

and Archbishop John Hughes presided over High Mass on November 5, 1848. The church continued to be a center of musical activity. A music director at St. Augustine founded the Choral Society of Philadelphia, which, along with musicians at the church, were involved in the organization of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1900. Philadelphia's first performance of George Frideric Handel's ''Messiah'' was held at the church. On June 15, 1976, St. Augustine's Church was listed on the

. By 1988 the congregation of St. Augustine had shrunk to fewer than a dozen. The 1990s saw the congregation grow with

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

Catholics from Philadelphia and the city's suburbs. In December 1992 an exact replica of

Santo Niño de Cebú The Santo Niño de Cebú is a Roman Catholic title of the Child Jesus associated with a religious image of the Christ Child widely venerated as miraculous by Filipino Catholics. It is the oldest Christian artifact in the Philippines, original ...

was dedicated, and Filipinos have held a special mass and festivals for Santo Niño. Also in December 1992, a severe storm severely damaged the church's

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

. Debris from the steeple fell onto the

Benjamin Franklin Bridge The Benjamin Franklin Bridge, originally named the Delaware River Bridge and known locally as the Ben Franklin Bridge, is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. Owned and ...

, which had to be closed for three days. The damage was severe enough that the steeple had to be disassembled and removed. From a damaged roof, the church and art inside suffered water damage. A new steeple was erected on October 18, 1995. The steeple restoration was documented by Brawer & Hauptman, Architects and was fabricated by Campbellsville Industries, "The Steeple People", located in Campbellsville, Kentucky. St. Augustine's was featured in the 1999 thriller ''

The Sixth Sense ''The Sixth Sense'' is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient ( Haley Joel Osment) claims he can see and talk to the dead. Released ...

'', and the 2007 action movie ''

Shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

''. In 2019, St. Augustine was featured in the film 21 Bridges.

Architecture

The Old St. Augustine Church was designed by Nicholas FitzMaurice Fagan, whose father-in-law,

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

merchant John Walsh, provided most of the lumber for the church. The church, designed in Roman Style, was twenty-five feet long and sixty-two feet wide. Its interior included a life-sized statue of the Crucifixion (1810) by sculptor William Rush. The tower and cupola added in 1829 was designed by William Strickland, who also designed the Merchant's Exchange and the

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January 1836.. The Bank's formal name, ...

. The current church was designed by architect

, who also designed the Academy of Music. The church is an example of Palladian architecture. The main arched altar consists of white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

with shafts of

Mexican onyx Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, based on scratc ...

that border the

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

. Framing the altar is an archway supported by

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 ...

. Above the altar sits a domed skylight. Stained-glass windows, each dedicated to a saint, allow in light throughout the church. File:Nave, St. Augustine's, Philadelphia.jpg, Interior, in 2014 File:Ceiling, St. Augustine's, Philadelphia.jpg, Ceiling mural, in 2014 File:427 Vine Street St. Augustine's Academy.jpg, St. Augustine's Academy (1870), 427 Vine Street, in 2013

Education

St. Mary Interparochial Grade School is the designated grade school of St. Augustine. - Also in th
page current as of 2020/04/22
the address "5th and Locust Sts. 19106" is given for the school, which matche
the address on the official website
/ref>

References

;Notes

External links

*
St. Mary Interparochial Grade SchoolListing and photograph
at the

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

Listing
at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Augustine Church Philadelphia Roman Catholic churches in Philadelphia Old City, Philadelphia Irish-American culture in Philadelphia Roman Catholic churches completed in 1847 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania state historical marker significations 1840s in Pennsylvania Romanesque Revival architecture in Pennsylvania