Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral (Brooklyn) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
 Location in New York City
|
|
| 40°41′39.23″N 73°59′39.14″W / 40.6942306°N 73.9942056°W | |
| Location | 113 Remsen St. Brooklyn, New York |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Previous denomination | Congregational Christian Church |
| History | |
| Founded | February 17, 1903 |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Richard Upjohn |
| Style | Romanesque Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 1844 (Church of the Pilgrims) |
| Completed | 1846 (Church of the Pilgrims) |
| Construction cost | $65,000 |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn |
Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral is a special Maronite Catholic church in Brooklyn, New York. It's the main church for the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn, which is like a diocese for Maronite Catholics in the area. This beautiful church building is in Brooklyn Heights, a historic part of Brooklyn, right across the East River from Manhattan. Before it became a Maronite cathedral, it was known as the "Church of the Pilgrims" for a different Christian group.
Contents
The Cathedral's Journey
The Maronite Catholic community in New York started with St. Joseph's Church in Manhattan. Its first priest, Father Khairallah Stephen, came to New York in 1900. In 1902, Father Stephen bought a large brownstone building in Brooklyn. He used some of his own money and donations to buy it.
The church was officially named "The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Lebanon" on February 17, 1903. Services began the next year. The church was on the main floor, and the priest lived on the second floor. The basement and main floor were later combined, and the renovated church opened in January 1906.
Over the years, more people joined the church, and they needed a bigger space. Father Mansour Stephen, who was Father Khairallah Stephen's nephew, bought the old Congregational Church of the Pilgrims on December 8, 1943. This new church, Our Lady of Lebanon, was dedicated on Sunday, November 26, 1944. A house behind the church was also bought by a church member.
On June 27, 1977, the main office for the Eparchy of St. Maron-USA moved from Detroit to Brooklyn. On the same day, Our Lady of Lebanon was chosen to be the cathedral.
The Building's First Life
The church building itself is older than the Maronite community that uses it now. It was built as the Church of the Pilgrims for about $65,000. The architect, Richard Upjohn, designed it in the Romanesque Revival style. He was also famous for his Gothic Revival church designs.
The first stone was laid on December 22, 1844. The first service in the building happened on May 12, 1846. Some changes were made during construction. For example, a special bridge-like structure was added to support the roof. Extra seating areas, called side galleries, were also put in. In the 1850s, ten columns were added to help support the roof even more.
Later, in 1869, an addition was started by another architect, Leopold Eidlitz. This added 450 more seats, a large lecture room, and other rooms for classes and meetings. In the early 1900s, fewer people attended the Church of the Pilgrims. So, in 1934, it joined with another nearby church. They used the other church's building, leaving this one available.
Cool Features Inside and Out
The church has some really interesting features! For example, the exterior doors were once the dining hall doors of a fancy French luxury ship called the SS Normandie. These doors have ten round decorations, called medallions. Nine of them show cities in Normandy, France, and one shows the SS Ile de France, which was the Normandie's sister ship. The doors were changed to fit the church's entrances. Six medallions are on the main entrance on Henry Street, and four are on the Remsen Street doors.
Inside, in the entrance area called the narthex, there are beautiful mahogany doors and marble pilasters (flat columns). These came from the New York City mansion of a wealthy businessman named Charles M. Schwab.
The church's original stained glass windows were moved to another church when the two congregations merged. New windows were created for Our Lady of Lebanon by Swiss artist Jean Crotti in 1953. He used a special method called Gemmaux, where colored glass pieces are held together by clear enamel. Later, a Lebanese artist named Sabiha Douaihy made more windows and worked on the existing ones in the late 1950s.
Other cool things to see include the marble and onyx floor in the main worship area, called the sanctuary. This floor was originally in the French and Lebanese areas at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The solid bronze gates at the baptistery (where baptisms happen) were made in Europe in the 1600s. The Saint Rafqa Chapel has a bas relief (a type of sculpture that sticks out from a flat surface) of Our Lady in Chains from around 1526. Behind the altar, there's a large painting of Our Lady of Harissa. She is shown standing on top of Lebanese mountains, looking down at the sea. Lebanese artist Saliba Douaihy finished this painting in 1952.
The church also has a large pipe organ. It was first built in 1870 and then rebuilt in 1909. It has three keyboards, 25 different sounds (stops), and 1,525 pipes! When the Maronite church took over the building, the organ's control panel was moved to the back of the church. In 1987, someone tried to move it closer to the organ, but a main cable was cut, and it hasn't been fixed yet.
Gallery
-
Interior, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral
-
Stained Glass on the left side of the cathedral
-
Stained Glass on the right side of the cathedral
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
See also
In Spanish: Catedral de Nuestra Señora del Líbano (Brooklyn) para niños
