The Church of the Holy Family: Serving the UN Community

I’ve passed the Church of the Holy Family, located on 47th Street in Manhattan between First and Second Avenues before, but until recently I had never taken the time to check it out more closely. Last weekend, however, I was exploring the neighborhood, and the church caught my attention. The rather stark lines of the church, reflecting the design sense of the era in which it was constructed (the mid-century modern style popular in the 1960s), stood out in contrast to the glass buildings and bright blue sky above them.

As I researched the church, I discovered that it was designed by a New York architect named George J. Sole, who focused primarily on religious architectural design in his work. The church was dedicated in 1965, and it has served the United Nations community ever since. (UN headquarters are located nearby, on the other side of First Avenue.)

The interior of the church is modern, continuing the clean lines of the exterior but in warmer tones.  The church’s website provides this description of the main altar and figure of Jesus:

The art and design of the church reflect a spirit of ecumenism and multi-nationalism. As you enter, you are greeted by the loving, open arms of the Risen Christ above the altar. Like the figures on the two side altars, and the statue of the Virgin in St. Mary’s Garden, the sculpture is a product of the studio of Nagni and was cast in Pietrasanta, Italy. The altar is fashioned of Canadian black granite quarried near the Arctic Circle.

I found this altar in one corner of the sanctuary, which I learned from the church website is the altar of reservation. Like other parts of the church, this altar reflects the church’s inclusive theme, as above the Tabernacle is a large Byzantine icon of Our Lady of Peace.

Everywhere I look I see more religious art, once again with diverse meanings. The beautiful stained glass windows, with their pleated structure, portray “the various national and racial groups who were refugees as a result of World War II, and repeat the word “hope” in all the refugees’ languages, as well as in Latin.” Artist Jordi Bonet designed the windows and other ceramic art throughout the space. (The large ceramic sculptures portray the Holy Family as refugees as well, fleeing to Egypt after Jesus’s birth.)

Emerging back into the sunlight, I noticed this small garden next to the church, labeled “St. Mary’s Garden.” It’s a quiet respite from the busy city, with its lovely statue of Mary.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Although St. Patrick’s Cathedral is not one of the oldest churches in New York City, and certainly not nearly as old as the famous cathedrals in Europe, it is still an interesting example of neo-Gothic architecture. The original St. Patrick’s Cathedral was built in Lower Manhattan in the early nineteenth century, but in the 1850s the archbishop determined that the city should have a grander cathedral, one more in keeping with the growth of the Roman Catholic community in New York City. The cathedral’s architect was James Renwick, and it was constructed between 1858 and 1879. (The American Civil War greatly affected the cathedral’s financing and construction schedule.) Although the location chosen for this new cathedral was barely part of the city in the 1850s, today St. Patrick’s Cathedral is situated in one of the busiest areas of Manhattan, bordered by Fifth Avenue on the West and Madison Avenue on the East, 50th Street to the South and 51st to the North.

The Cathedral’s bronze front doors are large and imposing, with intricate details of religious figures.

At the top of the door are Jesus and the Apostles.

The door panels include the following people:

1. Top left: Saint Joseph, Patron of the Church;
2. Top right: St. Patrick, Patron of the Church (and the Cathedral’s namesake);
3. Middle left: Father Isaac Jogues, a Catholic martyr and saint who was the first priest to come to Manhattan Island in the seventeenth century (when New York was still a Dutch colony and Manhattan was known as New Amsterdam);
4. Middle right: Saint Francis X. Cabrini, founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and known for her ministry to Italian immigrants to the United States;
5. Bottom left: Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, known as the Lily of the Mohawks, the first Native American woman to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church; and
6. Bottom right: Mother Elizabeth Seton, founder of the Sisters of Charity and first native-born U.S. citizen to be canonized (and referred to on the door panel as the “Daughter of New York.”

Here are close-up views of a couple of those panels, the ones for St. Patrick (with a little bit of Saint Francis X. Cabrini) and Mother Elizabeth Seton.

Inside the Cathedral, there is much to see. The white marble is striking, and the numerous stained glass windows allow in a lot of light.

 

There’s an imposing organ, which according to the tour has 7,855 pipes! (Not all are visible in this photo, obviously!)

There are numerous smaller altars along the sides of the Cathedral, dedicated to various saints.

There is this very different statue of Mother Elizabeth Seton. I found it interesting how it didn’t really fit with the other altars, but its simplicity was striking.

Even if you are not Roman Catholic (as I am not), a visit to St. Patrick’s Cathedral is interesting. The Cathedral also has a Tour app for Apple and Android devices – there are versions for adults or children, as well as a Spanish-language version. As a warning though, there may be times were a funeral or other religious service is going on, and the Cathedral may be closed to visitors during those times, especially if prominent people are attending and security is a concern. For other services, visitors are still allowed to come in but are directed to the aisles along the edges. I personally found it a bit disconcerting when I realized that a small funeral service was being held, and here I had been snapping photos across the nave! I was not alone though, as there were probably more than a hundred other visitors there at the time, doing the same thing. The funeral service let out not long after I arrived, thankfully, so I had not gone very far before I realized what was happening.

If you wish to visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral yourself, the closest subway stations are the Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station (E and M trains), and the 47-50th Streets/Rockefeller Center station (B, D, F, and M trains).