St. Mary's Church (Albany, New York) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St. Mary's Church
West elevation and south profile, 2009
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Leadership	Pastor: Rev. Rendell R. Torres Pastor Emeritus: Rev. John T. Provost Deacon: Walter Ayres Deacon: Aaron Tremblay
Year consecrated	1870
Status	Active
Location
Location	10 Lodge Street Albany, NY, USA
Architecture
Architect(s)	Charles C. Nichols, Frederick Brown
Architectural style	Italian Romanesque Revival (exterior); Mannerist/French Gothic Revival (interior)
Groundbreaking	1867
Completed	1867
Construction cost	$100,000
Specifications
Direction of façade	west
Height (max)	175 feet (53 m)
Spire(s)	1
Materials	brick and stone
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Added to NRHP	July 14, 1977
NRHP Reference no.	77000933
Website
Historic St. Mary's Church

St. Mary's Church is a Catholic church in downtown Albany, New York. It is a brick building with an Italian Romanesque Revival style on the outside. Built in the 1860s, it is the third church for the oldest Catholic community in upstate New York. In 1977, St. Mary's Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is also part of the Downtown Albany Historic District.

The church community started in the late 1700s. The first church was built on this spot in the early 1800s. The city gave the land, which is believed to be where St. Isaac Jogues hid after escaping in the 1600s. The current building was designed by local architects Nichols & Brown. Its tall tower was added in 1895. The inside and outside of the church were updated in the late 1900s.

Some important people in the American Catholic Church have visited or were connected to St. Mary's. John McCloskey, the first Bishop of Albany and later the first American-born cardinal, used St. Mary's as his main church for a short time. John Neumann, who later became a saint, celebrated a Mass here as a new priest. Clarence A. Walworth, a priest who helped make Kateri Tekakwitha a saint, was the pastor of St. Mary's for much of the late 1800s. He helped shape how the church looks today.

The inside of the church mixes Mannerist and French Gothic styles. This is different from its outside look. When the tower was finished in 1894, the church got electric lights. This made it the first church in Albany to have electricity. In 1912, the old stained glass windows were replaced. Since then, the building has not changed much.

About the Church Building

The church and the rectory (where the priests live) are on a city block in downtown Albany. This area is busy with government, business, and other important buildings. The land gently slopes up to the west.

A parking lot is across the street from the church. Next to it is the New York Court of Appeals Building, which is New York State's highest court. Albany City Hall is also nearby. Other historic buildings are close by, including the old YMCA building and St. Peter's Episcopal Church. The New York State Capitol building is also very close.

Outside the Church

The church is a brick building with marble decorations. It has a stone base. The front of the church has a tall, 175-foot (53 m) bell tower. The main part of the church has a steep, pointed roof. A rounded section called an apse is at the back.

The first floor has three entrances with rounded arches. These arches are set back and have stone columns. The heavy wooden doors have decorative windows above them. On the second floor, there are large, rounded stained glass windows.

The sides of the church have stone columns that form arches around most of the windows. These windows are narrow and have four panes of stained glass. A small entrance connects the church to the rectory on the north side.

The Bell Tower

The tower has four main sections. The first section has the main entrance, which is set deep into the wall. Stone crosses are set into the brick above the side windows.

The next section has a large, two-part arch on both sides. The third section has a four-part window with a small rose-shaped window above it. This is all under a stone arch.

The top section has open arches where the bells are. These arches are supported by stone columns. At the very top, brick decorations support the wide, overhanging roof. This roof is covered in green tiles and shaped like a pyramid. An Angel of Judgment statue blowing a trumpet sits at the very top.

Inside the Church

Church interior

In the church's entrance area, there is a baptismal font. It is made of white marble with a metal cover. Inside, a balcony runs along the sides and back of the church. It is supported by columns in a French Gothic style. This balcony makes it look like there are extra arms on the sides of the church near the altar. Closer to the altar, the arches look like the Italian Renaissance style.

The church pews are made of pine wood and painted to look like oak. They have black walnut tops. The communion rail is made of black walnut with oak spindles. The Stations of the Cross around the church are carved and painted pictures set in wooden frames. Small metal plaques describe each station in English.

There are four separate altars in the church. Most are white with gold decorations. On one altar, there are carved wooden statues of four saints: Isaac Jogues, Elizabeth Ann Seton, John Neumann, and Kateri Tekakwitha. All of them had some connection to the church during their lives.

Above the balcony, there are statues and paintings that look like more parts of the building. These create the illusion of a clerestory (an upper part of a wall with windows). The ceiling also has a trompe-l'œil painting, which means it looks three-dimensional.

History of St. Mary's

St. Mary's Church has a long history, going back to the first Catholic missionary work in the New World. After officially becoming a church in the late 1700s, it had two buildings in the 1800s. These were needed because more people joined the church due to immigration. The current building is the third one.

Early Days: 1643–1797

In 1643, Albany was a small Dutch settlement called Fort Orange. That year, Mohawks brought a French captive, a Jesuit priest named Isaac Jogues. He had been a missionary to them earlier. A man named Arent van Curler helped Jogues escape, hiding him in his barn. Jogues later returned to the Mohawk Valley and was killed by the Mohawks in 1646. He and two other missionaries were later made saints, known as the North American Martyrs. This event is the first time the Catholic Church was recorded in Albany.

Later, Fort Orange became the English city of Albany. Most citizens were Protestant, but a small group of Catholics lived there. By 1794, there were enough Catholics to ask the Vatican for permission to buy land for a church. In 1796, the community officially formed, becoming the second Catholic church in New York State.

The church members had been holding Mass in the homes of wealthy members. The new church's leaders first wanted to find land and build a church. In 1797, the city gave the church the land where Jogues had hidden. The church has been there ever since. The first stone of the church was laid soon after.

The First Church: 1798–1828

The first St. Mary's Church building opened in late 1798. It was a simple brick building, 50 feet square, with no belfry and a pyramid-shaped roof. Inside, it had two balconies. One of them held what is thought to be the first organ in an Albany church. It was the first church in New York State named after the Virgin Mary.

At that time, the church's parish covered almost all of upstate New York. Its second pastor, Matthew O'Brien, helped the church become well-known in Albany. His sermons were so good that Protestant leaders came to hear them.

St. Mary's was part of the Diocese of Baltimore for only three years. Pope Pius VII created the Diocese of New York in 1801. The church community slowly grew, reaching 300 people by 1820. New churches were started in other cities, making St. Mary's parish smaller.

In 1825, the church took part in ceremonies for the opening of the Erie Canal. This canal brought many Catholic immigrants, especially from Ireland, to Albany. St. Mary's was enough for them at first. But in other cities, they started their own churches, which further reduced St. Mary's parish area.

In 1828, the church started its first Sunday school. Later that year, the church asked for nuns to help run the school and care for orphans. The Sisters of Charity came and soon ran the Sunday school, an orphanage, and a separate parochial school.

The Second Church: 1829–1866

The church needed more space, so plans were made to replace the 1798 building. Philip Hooker designed a new building in the Federal style. It had brick walls covered in stucco and a three-part bell tower.

Many people helped pay for the new church, including important figures like Stephen Van Rensselaer III and Martin Van Buren, who later became President of the United States. Services were held at a nearby school while the new church was built. To support the larger building, they had to cut into the hillside.

The new church was finished within a year. A few years later, the church got its first bell for the tower. In 1836, the new church helped the city during a cholera outbreak. The pastor, Father Charles Smith, worked hard to help the sick. The nuns also opened a separate orphanage for children whose parents died from the disease.

Later in 1836, important Catholic figures visited the church. A new priest, John Neumann, celebrated Mass at St. Mary's. He later became a saint. Bishop John Dubois also visited to confirm 150 people.

More immigrants, including Germans, came to Albany. In 1837, the city's second Catholic church, St. John's, was founded. St. Mary's parish was divided to create new communities. By 1843, St. Mary's parish was limited to just one neighborhood in Albany.

The new bishop, John Hughes, had problems with the financial management of St. Mary's and other churches. He wanted the churches to be directly controlled by the diocese. The leaders of St. Mary's at first resisted, but in 1845, they agreed to step down. Two years later, the Pope divided the upstate diocese into new dioceses for Albany and Buffalo.

John McCloskey became the first bishop of the new Albany diocese. He used St. Mary's as his main church for a while. However, he felt it was too small and began raising money for a proper cathedral. In 1848, construction began on the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. McCloskey moved his seat to the new cathedral when it was finished in 1852. Since then, St. Mary's has been important for its history, but not as the main church.

The years around 1850 were challenging for Albany. A fire destroyed many buildings in 1848, and more cholera outbreaks happened. An assistant priest at St. Mary's started a local group to help fire victims. The church also faced threats from anti-Catholic groups.

In 1859, another new parish, St. Patrick's, was created from St. Mary's territory. During the Civil War in the early 1860s, the church building started to show problems. Clarence A. Walworth, a priest who became St. Mary's pastor after the war, made building a new church his main goal.

The Third Church and Walworth: 1867–1900

New York changed its laws for non-profit groups during the Civil War. Walworth used this to reorganize the church in a way that fit Catholic rules better. The new board of trustees included the bishop and two church members. The first stone of the new church was laid in 1867. A fair was held in the old church to raise money.

Money came from many sources, including important politicians. The architects, Nichols & Brown, were local. They designed the church in the Romanesque Revival style, focusing on the Italian version. This style was popular because of the many Italian immigrants coming to Albany. It looks like churches in Central Italy.

The new church was finished in 1869, costing $100,000. Walworth himself designed the original altar and the baptismal font. The Stations of the Cross had been bought from a church in Germany five years earlier. Bishop John J. Conroy led the church's dedication that year. A year later, a new marble altar was dedicated.

In 1872, Bishop Edgar Wadhams was made the first bishop of the new Diocese of Ogdensburg at St. Mary's. Three years later, the church celebrated when John McCloskey became a cardinal, the first American-born priest to reach that rank.

Ten years later, the church celebrated again when Daniel Manning, who had been an altar boy there, became the Secretary of the Treasury. Walworth also worked to make Kateri Tekakwitha a saint. She was later made a saint by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, becoming the first Native American to be honored this way.

In 1886, Walworth helped with Albany's 200th birthday celebration. Plaques were placed on the church and other buildings. Walworth spoke about the church's history from Isaac Jogues' escape to the present. In 1892, Walworth's health declined, and his assistant, John Dillon, took over many duties.

Walworth had wanted two towers for the church, but they were not built at first due to lack of money. On a trip to Germany, Walworth saw a church with a single tower topped by an angel. He thought it would be perfect for St. Mary's and paid for a design. A renovation project in 1891 led to the new 175-foot (53 m) tower being built in 1895.

Walworth paid for the statue of the angel Gabriel on top of the tower himself. Electricity was also installed, making St. Mary's the first church in Albany with electric lights. The new bishop, Thomas Burke, led the reopening service. An Italian painter was hired to create the ceiling and wall art, which could now be seen better with the new lights.

Burke returned two years later for the church's 100th anniversary in 1897. He was joined by Archbishop Sebastiano Martinelli, the Pope's ambassador to the United States. They celebrated a special Mass. A parade and fireworks followed. It was called "the greatest religious demonstration held thus far in Albany's history."

20th Century: 1900–Present

Walworth died in 1900. In 1912, the church's original stained glass windows were removed and stored.

Pope Benedict XV appointed Edmund Gibbons as bishop of Albany in 1919. The St. Mary's community was proud because Gibbons had been an altar boy and confirmed at the church. He chose St. Mary's for his first confirmation Mass as bishop. In 1924, the church celebrated The Rev. John Dillon's 50 years of service.

In 1929, Dillon started a mission church called St. Philip the Apostle. Two years later, he opened a school nearby for the African American community. It was run by the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate.

Dillon died in 1934 and was replaced by Thomas Loughlin. In 1937, a new rectory was built north of the church. A garage was added later. Both buildings were made of brick to match the church.

In 1955, Pope Pius XII named Loughlin a "monsignor"; he was the first pastor of St. Mary's to receive this title. Four years later, the first annual Red Mass for lawyers and judges was held at St. Mary's. This was because it was close to the government buildings in downtown Albany.

By the early 1960s, the number of people in the parish had gone down. St. Philip's school and St. Mary's School closed in 1962 due to low enrollment. The St. Mary's school building was sold in 1964.

The later years of the 1900s were spent updating the church. In 1978, a new altar was added. The church's bells were turned on again in 1980. In 1982, the paintings inside were restored. Outdoor spotlights were installed in 1983 to light up the tower and the angel statue. The pews and communion rails were restored seven years later. For the church's 200th anniversary in 1997, an electronic organ was installed. The inside walls were repainted, and the columns and altar were regilded with gold.

Church Services

Mass is held daily at 12:05 PM. On weekends, Mass is at 4:00 PM on Saturday, and at 8:00 AM and 10:30 AM on Sunday.

Confessions are heard on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:30 AM to 11:50 AM. On Saturdays, confessions are from 3:15 PM to 3:45 PM.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York