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Our Parish History - Part 1 -
1887 - 1905 |
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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. |
| 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 public school building.
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. |
| 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. |
| 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.) |
| 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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