[Updated] Inside the renovated St. Brigid's

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...and to see how far the church has come... Clayton Patterson shared these photos from a neglected church circa December 2005...

Updated 1-28

The New York Times has a piece on St. Brigid's in today's paper. The article goes into detail on the church's "daunting structural problems" and the challenges of the restoration.

A quick excerpt:

The pews were replaced and the exterior restored to resemble the original brownstone. Stained glass windows were brought from St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Harlem, which closed in 2003.

[Architect Michael F.] Doyle also restored an elaborate inscription along the top of the east wall that had been painted over in the 1960s, although there was not enough money to put the original bell back in the tower.

The parish has been merged with St. Emeric’s nearby, and the parish and the church are now known as St. Brigid and St. Emeric.

Read the whole article here.

From St. Emeric's to St. Brigid's

This afternoon, parishioners traveled from St. Emeric on East 13th Street between Avenue C and Avenue D ... to the newly reopened St. Brigid's on Avenue B and East Eighth Street...

As The Villager first reported in June, St. Emeric’s, built in 1950 at 740 E. 13th St., will close and merge with St. Brigid's.

Bobby Williams took the following photos...

St. Brigid's reopened today after more than 11 years ... in a special mass presided by Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan.

Here's the WABC report... with bonus Casey Anthony coverage tacked on...

St. Brigid's opening act

This afternoon... photo by EVG reader Jolene... More photos tonight...

St. Brigid's reopens: 'We are very blessed to have the church restored'

As you know, St. Brigid's reopens today at 5 with a special invite-only mass for parishioners presided by Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan. We asked Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, if he ever thought he'd see this day after the church on Avenue B and East Eighth Street closed in 2001:

I must admit there were times when I felt very low and discouraged. But this is the way the Lord works to test your faith. He will bring you almost to the edge and how one respond defines who you are. Although I was very discouraged, I never lost faith and I never got angry. A trap many fell into. The Lord put many people in my path. All served a purpose, different talents and skills came togather to achive this goal ... We are very blessed to have the church restored.

Previously on EV Grieve:
13 keys dates in the 165-year history of St. Brigid's, reopening on Sunday

13 keys dates in the 165-year history of St. Brigid's, reopening on Sunday

[May 2012]

As we first noted on Jan. 14, St. Brigid's will reopen with an invite-only mass Sunday at 5 presided over by Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan. Nearly 11 years have passed since the last mass in the main church (there were services in the school basement next door until 2004).

This piece in the Times from 2006 provides a quick summation of the drama involving the near-demolition of the historic church ... and the work of the parishioners and neighbors who never gave up hope that they could save the church. (The Villager thoroughly covered this story through the years. Check out the paper's archives. And we've noted even the most mundane construction detail through the years here.)

Here then are a few key dates in the church's history:

1848 — Workers place the church's cornerstone

1858 — St. Brigid's School opens on East Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C

1861 — Church holds a Requiem Mass for the men of the 69th New York State Militia who had been killed during the Civil War

[1869]

[1880s]

1889 — Church finally consecrated

1890 — the first Greek Catholic Mass in New York City was celebrated in the basement by Rev. Alexander Dzubay

[1928]

[1935]

1954 — New St. Brigid's School opens on Avenue B and East Seventh Street, where it remains today

1962 — Church spires removed because of safety concerns

1988 — Church allows homeless advocates and protesters of the police action to mobilize under its roof during the Tompkins Square Park Riots

[EVG, circa 2008]

1992 — East wall begins separating from the building

2001 — Cardinal Edward M. Egan closes the church

2006 — Demolition begins; parishioners file suit against the Archdiocese, temporarily halting work

2008 — Anonymous "angel" donates $20 million to restore church

2013 — Church reopens

Sources: Wikipedia and Dayton in Manhattan. Oh, and Wikipedia

Photos via the NYPL Digital Gallery.

For further reading:
Dry Dock, shipyards, and St. Brigid's (EV Transitions)

Here's to the next 165 years...

[This morning]

Bob Arihood and Crow's omen at St. Brigid's

No one has chronicled the neighborhood better than Bob Arihood. Here is a repost from Neither More Nor Less dated July 28, 2006 and titled Crow's omen.

As men washed themselves of the filth of a night and day of demolishing the interior of St. Brigid's , a crow sat cawing and harried by small but agitated and persistant birds atop the Gaelic cross at the peak of the facade of the 1848 landmark church of " Mary of Gael ", St. Brigid , the mother church of the Irish immigrants of the middle 19th century .

I am not a soothsayer and thus can not say what the presence of a crow cawing on a cross at a time like this does presage . Is there some dark fate and certain final loss with this church that we must without choice come to know and if so, should we not protest such fate extremely ? Shall this landmark and icon ,our connection with our past , just perish ? Today , the demolishers punched a hole in a stained glass window for fresh air as they demolished the precious interior and then punched a hole in the back wall of the church to defecate the brutally demolished interior of the church into the lot behind the church .Tommorow all will return to court to decide finally whether this demolishing shall stop .

The community wants this church to be saved ...preserved . But it seems there are now powerful forces dead set against saving this church ; powerful forces , the archdiocese , the bishops and the Cardinal , it seems , want St Brigids reduced to ruble . I do not truly understand why . Some say offers to purchase the church at a fair market price and then return St. Brigid's to the community have been made . It is said that the Cardinal has said no to such offers ,thus , can it be that there is more than just the money value of St. Brigid's demolished that is of concern to the archdiocese . The civil courts and the Landmarks Preservation Committee so far seem to be powerless to save this church . Finally ,why has some one not sought in canon law a path to the good grace and aid of His Holiness the Pope and the mother Church when the community now needs them most ?

Find more of Bob's St. Brigid's-related posts here.

Hawk's omen at St. Brigid's

Perhaps as a follow-up to the previous post, Crow's omen ... a shot of the St. Brigid's cross this week by Bobby Williams...

Conspiracy theories: Who was the anonymous donor behind St. Brigid's $20 million donation?

Headlines from May 22, 2008 ...


On this date (or, online the day before!), we learned that an anonymous donor came to the rescue of St. Brigid's, which reopens Sunday, saving the historic building's grounds on Avenue B and East Eighth Street from life as a condo or dorm. (There was also talk in 2003-2004 that the Cabrini Center would move here from down on East Fifth Street, as The Villager reported.)

Per the Times: "The gift includes $10 million to restore the building, at 119 Avenue B; $2 million to establish an endowment for the parish so that it might best meet the religious and spiritual needs of the people living in the community'; and $8 million to support the St. Brigid's School and other Catholic schools in need."

Great news. And fodder for conspiracy theorists. Matt Dillon! Bette Midler! The Villager mentioned Chuck Feeney, "an Irish-American philanthropist who has given about $400 million anonymously through The Atlantic Philanthropies, which he endowed."

And now, Dave on 7th shares his conspiracy theory:

Ever since St Brigid's was saved, I've wondered why, after going to literally the last hour in trying to demolish the church and sell off its incredibly valuable real estate, the Archdiocese would suddenly accept the offer of an anonymous donor and essentially rebuild the whole church from scratch.

My theory is that the "donor" is in fact the Archdiocese itself, and they needed to remain anonymous because they had just closed like four parishes in the neighborhood.

Interestingly, the parish that survived the cuts was St Emeric, which is housed in a nondescript church located on a dead-end street behind a power plant.

At some point a year or two ago, I saw flyers on Avenue C announcing that the Cardinal would be holding a mass at St Emeric. That's a BIG deal for a little church in a nondescript building behind a power plant.

Then came the announcement that St Emeric would "merge" with St Brigid's, and that the parish priest would come from St Emeric. That clinched it for me.

This was a deal between St Emeric and the Cardinal (who, by the way, is going to lead the first mass in the new church, again a very BIG deal) to rebuild the church and turn it over to whatever order St Emeric's is. And it all had to remain anonymous and unassociated with the Archdiocese or else the other parishes that were closed, in possession of perfectly good structures would be up in arms. This way it had nothing to do with them, they were at the mercy of a wealthy donor.

In the end, I'm just glad the building was saved, but that's how I think it all happened.

What do you think? I'm still going with Matt Dillon as the donor ... all those "Wild Things" residuals ...

[Updated] Behold the bell of St. Brigid's

Wow. EVG regular Salim just shared this... This morning, workers from a bell-restoration firm were putting a 3,000 pound, 150-year-old bell back in place at St Brigid's on Avenue B and East Eighth Street.

Wow.

Per Salim: "Everyone — cars, pedestrians, cyclists — was stopping to look at the bell. It was remarkably bright and beautiful, and the bell restorers had a lot of pride as they described it... forged in 1858, I think."

After a lengthy restoration, St. Brigid's is set to reopen on Sunday, as we first reported. And this might just do away with those fake "bells" that we've been hearing...

Updated 1-25

Salim and some other readers noted that the bell is actually on display now outside the church...

Hopefully people won't decide to do anything stupid here... it's pretty much right there in shenanigans way...

[Updated] St. Brigid's reopens on Jan. 27

[Photo from Jan. 6.]

An EVG reader passes along word that the first mass at the restored church on Avenue B and East Eighth Street will take place on Jan. 27 ... Nearly 11 years have passed since the last mass in the main church (there were services in the school basement next door until 2004).

The church was thisclose to being demolished ... thanks to a group of hearty volunteers and parishioners who never lost hope... they were able to save the church from an after-life as a dorm or condo.

In May 2008, news broke that an anonymous donor gave $20 million to help refurbish the church... Per The New York Times: "The gift includes $10 million to restore the building, at 119 Avenue B; $2 million to establish an endowment for the parish “so that it might best meet the religious and spiritual needs of the people living in the community”; and $8 million to support the St. Brigid’s School and other Catholic schools in need."

All this seems like a hundred years ago...


Much more on St. Brigid's in the coming days/weeks... there's a lot to discuss...

Previously.

Updated 1-14 9:30 a.m.
We had also asked Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, for more information. He confirmed the Jan. 27 date. The dedication mass is at 5 p.m. However, an important note: The mass, presided by Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan, is invitation-only for registered parishioners of St. Brigid's-St. Emeric's Church.

Reader mailbag: Are the new lights too bright at St. Brigid's?

A question from a reader:

Have the obnoxiously too bright lights at St. Brigid's on Avenue B bothered anyone else?

Well, yes — one reader mentioned the "the ludicrously bright lights and ugly fixtures" in this post about the bells of St. Brigid's.

Anyway, the reader understands the deterrent from possible vandalism (and perhaps warding off anyone from sleeping on the front steps) that the lights provide.

"But they are so freaking bright! I wonder if the fact that they're bothering me is my anal-retentiveness coming out ... or I’m guessing I can’t be the only one."

Anyone else with a comment on the lights?

[Updated] Flea market at St. Brigid School today

Entrance on East Seventh St. just east of Avenue B...

Updated 10 a.m.

Dave on 7th stopped in... we're on our way...

A look at 6 new or restored East Village buildings

Just a quick photo update on projects that we've been following... Photos by Bobby Williams.

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New second floor for the Iglesia Pentecostal Sarepta
701 E. Sixth St.
More details here.

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Jupiter 21
21 E. First St.
More details here.

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Supportive housing for homeless young adults and young adults aging out of the foster-care system.
710 E. Ninth St.
More details here.

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St. Brigid's
Avenue B and East Eighth St.
More details here.

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51 Astor Place
More details here.

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84 Third Ave.
More details here.

The bells of St. Brigid's [VIDEO]

I was hanging around in Tompkins Square Park this morning... and I finally heard the bells coming from St. Brigid's on Avenue B... excuse the rushed quality to the video... dropped everything (50 pounds of bread for the rats, etc.) to record this...



A commenter had this to say on our post the other day:

Well, all you tin-eared tintinabulists....These are not real church bells---rather a clever assemblage of recorded sounds run through well placed speakers...And they aren't coordinated with real time merely an approximation-Can't the priest check his cell-phone to at least be accurate?...The original bell was amazing and it was removed and not reinstalled for reasons that remain a troubling mystery. These recorded sounds are horrible and as fake as Hostess Twinkies. As a neighbor who lives quite close to the church I wish they would stop them completely.

Previously.

Silent night...

Keep getting my holidays mixed up... In any event, St. Brigid's tonight...