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1887
A group of
six Catholic families rent Walter Johnson’s blacksmith shop
(located on Centre Avenue north of Jamaica Avenue [now called
Merrick Road]) where Mass is celebrated. (The anvil from Mr.
Johnson's shop used as an altar is on display on the front lawn
of the Cathedral.) Father E. J. Connell of Rockaway Beach was
assigned by the first Bishop of Brooklyn, Rt. Rev. John Loughlin,
to visit Rockville Centre on Sundays and offer Mass although he
could perform this duty only occasionally. From the summer of
1888 until his return to New York in the fall of 1889, Father
Thomas Robinson, a Paulist visiting Rockville Centre on sick
leave, zealously ministered to the little congregation. |
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1890
Too large
to now fit in the blacksmith’s shop, this growing group of
Catholics rent Gildersleeve's Hall in the Institute Building
(located on the southern corner of Observer Street [now called
Sunrise Highway] and Village Avenue). Gildersleeve's Hall was
well suited to serve the Catholic faithful having been used by
an Episcopal Congregation from 1885 until 1889. The rented hall
was furnished with an altar and organ. The Episcopal
Congregation would go on to form the Church of the Ascension and
build their parish church across the street from what would
eventually become St. Agnes Convent. Father Peter McGuire came
from Hewlett every Sunday to celebrate Mass.
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1891
Father Patrick McKenna, who
succeeded Fr. McGuire as Pastor of the Church in Hewlett
purchases 3 adjoining plots of land at public auction. On one of
these plots stands a school building which has now become too
small to be used as a school. This is the property on which the
present Cathedral and the parish’s buildings now stand. The
former public school is turned into the first Church. |
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1894
Bishop Charles E. McDonnell, Bishop
of Brooklyn, establishes the Parish of St. Agnes. The parish’s
first pastor, Father Thomas C. Carroll, is appointed. Beside
the little frame church Fr. Carroll builds a modest rectory. |
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1897
The second Pastor, Father
Patrick M. Fitzgerald, is appointed following the appointment of
Fr. Carroll to rectorship at St. Brigid's in Ridgewood. |
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1902
The third Pastor, Father James J.
Flood, is appointed. Another parcel of land adjoining the
parish’s present holdings is purchased and plans are made to
build a Church. In 1903 Fr. Flood cleared the parish debt of
$2,000 and started a fund for a new church building. |
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1904
The cornerstone for a marble
church is laid. (This is on the same spot where the present
Cathedral stands. This cornerstone can be found today on the
southwest corner of the Cathedral.) |
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1905
The marble Church is completed and
dedicated on June 11, 1905. Fr. Flood was so successful in
parish administration that Bishop McDonnell selects him to found
St. Saviour's Parish in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. On
December 19, 1905 St. Agnes’ welcomes her fourth Pastor, Father
Peter Quealy, of St. Agnes Church in Greenport. Fr. Quealy goes
on to lead the parish as pastor and then as Cathedral
administrator for over 50 years. |
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Sources:
- "From a Blacksmith Shop To A Majestic Gothic Edifice", 1935
- Leonard, CSJ, Sr. Joan de Lourdes, "Richly Blessed, The
Diocese of Rockville Centre 1957-1990", (Walsworth Publishing,
1991)
- O'Neill, James "To Believe In A Vision" (Delmar, 1983)
- "Rededication Journal", 1982 |
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