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Our Parish History - Part 2 - 1917
- 1951 |
1917
Father Quealy acquired more property and graced
it with an ornate parochial school, English Gothic in style, containing a
spacious auditorium. His next step was the erection of a suitable rectory
between the church and school. The old rectory was moved to the
south side of College Place to serve as a convent for the Dominican
Sisters who were selected as teachers. Five Dominican Sisters move into the convent and
begin teaching in the newly built school. The school opened with an
enrollment of ninety students with Mother Petra, O.P. as principal.
The registration of pupils increased so rapidly that a proportionate
increase of teachers was demanded. To provide adequate living accommodations
for them the Campbell property on the west side of the school was
purchased and in 1920 the convent was moved and annexed to the Campbell
house.
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1921
The Heilman property on the south side of
College Place along Clinton Avenue to Front Street was purchased for the
sum of $20,000 with a view to building a high school to supply the needs
of the neighboring parishes. (This property later becomes the present day
parking lot across Quealy Place in front of the cathedral.)
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1924
A two story high school for girls (the middle section of what
will be later known as the Msgr. Williams Building) is completed at the rear of
the elementary school. The High School Department of the parochial
school is chartered by the University of the State of New York and moves
into the commodious building.
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1926
Bishop Molloy sends the first curate to St.
Agnes in the person of Father Joseph Egan who faithfully assists Father
Quealy for four years. Following his elevation to Domestic Prelate,
Monsignor Quealy, begins plans for a new convent that would harmonize with
the other parish buildings.
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1928
The present Convent building is completed and
by Christmas the Sisters move into their beautiful new home. The new
convent with its devotional and richly artistic chapel is Gothic in
design. (As part of the major parish property renovation announced in 2000 the
first two floors of the convent are converted to office space for various
parish ministries and organizations. The third floor is eventual
converted into the Diocesan Bishop's residence. The Sisters serving the parish,
no longer in need of a convent, have acquired residences elsewhere that
better suit their needs.)
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| 1933
After the convent is completed, Msgr. Quealy
turns his attention to the inadequacy of the marble church to accommodate
the increased Catholic population. The school was in no small measure
responsible for this marvelous increase. The white marble church,
partly concealed be graceful maples, had to make way for a more spacious
and majestic edifice. On October 23, after the last Mass had been
offered for the deceased parishioners, the demolition was begun. A new Church,
to be built in a fifteenth
century Norman Gothic style and designed by architect Gustave E. Steinbeck, will soon rise. |
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1935
The new St. Agnes Church is completed by builder
Salvatore Milone, who had been baptized by Msgr. Quealy, was an alumnus of
St Agnes School and later becomes the first parishioner to be married
in the new Church. Bishop Thomas E. Molloy, Bishop of Brooklyn, dedicates the Church
which will one day become a Cathedral. |
1938
Msgr. Quealy continues the expansion of the
parish buildings by having a third story added to the high school building
to handle the expanding enrollment.
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1942
Father Frank Williams is assigned as curate to St. Agnes, a
parish of 1,500 families. Fr. Williams will eventually go on to succeed
Msgr. Quealy as cathedral administrator of St. Agnes. |
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1951
The high school building is extended east and west, more
classrooms are added and a gym and lower hall built. (The 2000 parish property
renovation plans call for the eventual demolition of the high school
building behind the gym to make way for a new Parish Activity Center.) |
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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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