St. Mary's Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic parish in the

Boyle Heights Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...

neighborhood of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It was founded on November 20, 1896. The church building was dedicated on November 14, 1897, by Bishop Gregory Montgomery. St. Mary's Church is the fifth oldest parish in Los Angeles, and was the first parish church founded to serve the neighborhood of Boyle Heights. St. Mary's boundaries once included Sacred Heart parish to the north and Our Lady Queen of the Angels Church, as well as the former

Cathedral of Saint Vibiana The Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, often called St. Vibiana's, is a Catholic former cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Located in Downtown Los Angeles, the building opened in 1876 as the cathedral for what was then known as the Dio ...

to the west. St. Mary’s extended eastward to the

Puente Hills The Puente Hills are a chain of hills, one of the lower Transverse Ranges, in an unincorporated area in eastern Los Angeles County, California, in the United States. The western end of the range is often referred to locally as the Whittier Hills. ...

and southward to the limits of the Wilmington parish. It has been administered since the 1960s by the

Salesians of Don Bosco The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in the late 19th century by Italian priest Saint John Bosco to help poor children du ...

. In the mid-1990s, the

Daughters of Mary Help of Christians , image = Maria Dominika Mazzarello jpg..jpg , image_size = 175px , caption = Maria Mazzarello: Founder , abbreviation = FMA , founder = Saint Sr. Maria Domenica Mazzarello, , type ...

(also known as the Salesian Sisters) began administering St. Mary's Catholic School, it was the third

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 ...

established in the Diocese of Los Angeles in 1907.

Church art & architecture

1897 church

The first church building was built in 1897 on the corner of Fourth and Chicago Streets in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights. The building seated 400. The architect R.B Young built the church in a

Romanesque style Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this later ...

. John Hanlon constructed the building and donated the white and gold high altar and side altars.

1926 church

In 1923, the original church was demolished to accommodate growing membership, and a new facility was built in 1926. It was dedicated by Bishop John Joseph Cantwell. The prominent Los Angeles architect Thomas Franklin Power designed the church in a North Italian-Byzantine architectural style: "It seemed to me that the North Italian-Byzantine afforded the best medium of architectural expression; and the style developed has marked beauty." The church's interior and exterior columns feature architectural elements borrowed from prominent

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and Romanesque architectural buildings. Power describes the interior design, saying: "Other motifs taken from the Sta. Sofia at Constantinople, from the Cathedral and St. Apollinaris at Ravenna and from St. Mark's at Venice furnished bits of detail for capitals and panels of various portions." The statue of

St. Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...

in the sanctuary is one of the few elements of the original church building that is still in use today.

Church bell and bell tower

The original bell from St. Mary's 1896 church building is still in use. The bell tower at St. Mary's was originally 136 feet tall and included a steeple and roman cross. During renovations, the steeple was removed. The tower received damage following the

1994 Northridge Earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The quake had a duration of approximately ...

, resulting in repairs and the closure of the sidewalk.

Church embellishments

The 1926 St. Mary's Church building was embellished by noted Eastside artist Candelario Rivas. Many of the embellishments have been painted over during renovations and post-Vatican II changes to the sanctuary. Sanctuary Mural2

Annunciation sanctuary mural

The mural depicting the

Annunciation of Mary The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...

in the church sanctuary was commissioned and painted by

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