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The Salesians and New York City’s Italian Immigrants, 1914

The Salesians and New York City’s Italian Immigrants, 1914

Last updated on: March 19, 2011 at 7:41 am by Pat McNamara

The Salesians and New York City’s Italian Immigrants, 1914 2011-03-19T07:41:00-06:00 Pat McNamara

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St. John Bosco (1815-1888), founder of the Salesians

SALESIANS OF DON BOSCO
Introduced into the United States in 1898

On January 31, 1888, Italy was mourning over the death of Don Giovanni Bosco, the great philanthropist and apostle of charity, sometimes called “the Nineteenth Century Guardian Angel of Youth.” Born at Castelnuovo d’Asti in August, 1815, he became a priest, directing his best efforts to good works for young people. He founded, in rapid succession, churches, hospices, oratories, as well as day and night schools. As his fame spread abroad, he received calls from France, Spain, Switzerland, from England, and even from America, to assist in the direction of young persons. He died at the age of seventy-three, after having founded more than 130 institutions of education, and having gathered into his various homes about 150,000 young people.

A Salesian School in Italy, as seen in the 1890’s.

We cannot attempt here to review all the work accomplished by the Salesians (so called from the name of the first chapel opened by them, under the patronage of St. Francis de Sales), but must content ourselves with speaking of the good they have done in this country. Foreign missions, particularly those to America, had been the strongest inspiration to Don Bosco’s great soul. One of the first cities in the United States where Italians settled in large numbers was San Francisco; as early as 1860 many of them were established there. The first Italian church in San Francisco was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. In 1896, after many urgent requests from Archbishop Patrick Riordan, the Salesians assumed control of the parish, and took charge of all Italian Catholics in San Francisco.

SS. Peter and Paul Church, San Francisco, known as “the Italian Cathedral of the West.”

In 1882 Cardinal McCloskey, archbishop of New York, asked the Salesians to take charge of the Italian emigrants in his archdiocese. But owing to lack of priests, Don Bosco could not grant the request. Not until 1898, under Archbishop Corrigan did the Salesian Fathers began their noble work in New York City. The Salesians in New York were under the leadership of the Rev. Ernesto Coppo, now rector of the church of the Transfiguration. They reached this city on November 26, 1898, and on December 25th of the same year began a splendid work in the church of St. Brigid, 8th Street and Avenue B. They rented a house at 315 East 12th Street, where they lived until May 1, 1902 when, the archbishop having given them charge of the parish of the Transfiguration, they moved to the rectory at 29 Mott Street.

Michael Augustine Corrigan (1839-1902) was Archbishop of New York from 1885 to 1902. He studied for the priesthood in Rome and was fluent in Italian. Expanding the outreach to New York’s Italian immigrants was one of his priorities as Archbishop.

This parish has had an important place in the history of the Catholic church in New York, as it was the fourth to be founded, the others being St. Peter s in Barclay Street (1786), St. Patrick s in Mott Street (1809), and St. Mary’s in Grand Street (1827). The original building was an old Protestant church, the congregation was ministered to by the holy Cuban priest, Father Felix Varela; it was dedicated on July 15, 1827. Parochial schools for boys and girls were opened in 1852, and in 1856 important additions were made to the church itself; completed in 1868.

Near the end of the nineteenth century the English-speaking portion of the parish was becoming less, while the Italians were rapidly increasing in number, finally taking complete possession of Mulberry Street and its vicinity. For this reason it became necessary to send for priests who could speak the language of their people, and, during several years, Italian services were held in the basement of the church; but in 1901 a terrible fire in the basement sadly interrupted this work. However, in May, 1902, services for the Italian congregation were resumed, the priests being the Salesians of Don Bosco.

Transfiguration Church, in Manhattan’s “Little Italy” section, as seen around the year 1914.

While working among the Italians in the lower part, the Salesians had not neglected the work begun among the Italians belonging to the parishes of St. Brigid and St. Ann, as well as in other districts in the central and upper parts of the city. A secular priest was placed there to care for the sick and look after urgent needs during the week; but every Sunday the Salesians attended to the spiritual comfort of these people. A home for the fathers near the church of St. Brigid became a very urgent necessity; one was first rented at 299 East 8th Street, but on June 15, 1906, the Salesians bought a house at 431 East 12th Street, and on September 17th Mgr. J. Edwards blessed their new chapel, giving it the name of Mary Help of Christians.

Few persons can conceive what a great social as well as religious work has been accomplished by the Salesians in so brief a time and with the scant means at their disposal. They have not only been spiritual guides to their parishioners, but they have educated them; organized them into societies for the old as well as the young. To them is due the issue of a Catholic weekly paper, the Italiano in America, largely read in the Italian colony. Besides this they have opened an excellent Italian free library, and an office where the poor can be provided for; they have initiated and developed a Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which visits and cares for, when necessary, poor Italian emigrant families.

Born in Italy, Father Ernesto Coppo (1870-1948) was ordained a Salesian priest in 1892. He became Transfiguration’s first Italian pastor. In 1922, he was named a Bishop in Australia.

It is well known that Don Bosco attached great importance to the teaching of Catechism, and this spirit has been inherited by all his priests throughout the world. Nor has this been neglected in the parish of the Transfiguration, New York, where, every Sunday, almost 2000 children receive instruction, according to the Salesian system. It is also worthy of note that the confraternity of Christian doctrine has been canonically erected in Transfiguration parish, with a teaching staff of sixty, thus perpetuating the traditional spirit of the Salesian Society.

The Catholic Church in the United States of America (1914)
(Please Note: The above text has been edited in the interests of blogging brevity.)

A group of Salesians working in America with a visiting Italian bishop, around the year 1914.

NOTE

In 1851, there were only 74 Italians in the entire city. Fifty years later, it was estimated that New York had a larger Italian population then Venice, Genoa and Florence combined. Under Archbishop Corrigan, new parishes were founded for Italians throughout the city, and several Italian-based religious communities came to minister to the immigrants. Besides the Salesians, these included the Scalabrinians, founded in in Italy in 1887 to minister specifically to Italian immigrants around the world. A year before Corrigan took control of the Archdiocese the Pallottines, founded in early 1800’s Italy, founded Our Lady of Mount Carmel on 115th Street in East Harlem.

In 1889, St. Frances X. Cabrini arrived in New York with her Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Archdiocesan historian Monsignor Thomas J. Shelley writes: “They were active in the Italian community as teachers, nurses, social workers and counselors even ministering to prisoners on death row in the prisons.” In 1946, Mother Cabrini was canonized, the first American citizen to receive this honor. (In 1975, Elizabeth Ann Seton became the first American-born saint.)

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