The Churches of New York XLI: From Havana to Hong Kong

The Church of the Transfiguration

25 Mott Street

If you pay a visit to Chinatown you will come upon an ancient Catholic church on Mott Street at the corner of a curious one block street, Mosco (up till 1982 Park, and originally Cross Street). You realize it is very, very old from the neoclassical exterior composed of dressed gray stone with brownstone details; the windows have Gothic arches and tracery. Indeed. Transfiguration parish (for such it is) is old – but the building before you, originally built as a Protestant church, is even older. Erected in 1801, rebuilt in 1818 after a disastrous fire, the church of Transfiguration parish can claim to be the oldest building used for Catholic worship in New York. 1)

The story of this church goes back to the early days of Catholicism in New York and to that intrepid founder and leader Fr. Felix Francisco Varela y Morales. A priest of the Havana diocese, a scholar , a philosopher and a political  figure, he had to leave Cuba for political reasons and found himself in New York by 1824. Here he devoted his manifold talents and vast energy to the building up of the Catholic Church in the city and the state of New York under the early bishops. In addition to numerous other activities and literary efforts, he was the vicar general of the New York diocese and advised on the first edition of the Baltimore catechism.

In 1825 Fr. Varela was entrusted with a new parish on the east side of Broadway. In 1827 he purchased the building of Christ Church from the Episcopalians and established in that year a Catholic parish of the same name. When that church became structurally unstable, the diocese acquired land in James Street and commenced the construction of the present St. James church (of Fr. Varela is revered as the founder) for the congregation of Christ Church. But to the parishioners this seemed at that time a little out of the way; only part of the congregation wanted to move to the new site (The present St. James church was finished in 1836). Fr. Varela thus looked for a site further downtown and established a second parish on Chambers Street in 1836. (Mr. John Delmonico of restaurant fame purchased the property and was one of the original trustees) This was Transfiguration parish.

Fr. Varela presided for some 14 years over Transfiguration, leading it through the stresses of financial problems, incompetent management by trustees, cholera epidemics and ever growing waves of Irish immigration. Throughout his ministry at Transfiguration, as at Christ Church, he was assisted by an international team of priests – there were as yet few native clergy. It is claimed that Fr. Varela’s language ability stood him in good stead, as he was able to master and communicate in the Irish language. Worn out, Fr. Varela had to retire to St Augustine for the sake of his health. He died there in 1853, allegedly neglected by the diocese of New York. He has been talked about for sainthood…2)

The saintly Fr. Varela: “social reformer”….

The parish was soon bursting at the seams. In 1853 after Fr. Varela’s death, the former Zion Episcopal church on Mott Street was purchased. This has remained the home of Transfiguration parish until the present day. With the acquisition of the Mott street church, and the establishment of order in the diocese – then archdiocese – under Archbishop Hughes,  the “heroic age” of Transfiguration parish ended. It now followed the normal course of dramatic expansion typical of the New York City parishes in the second half of the 19th century. By 1878 there were thirteen thousand parishioners – mostly Irish. But our trusted guide Mr. Shea sounded a cautionary note that year:

“But (this Catholic population) is not now increasing, many Chinese, with all their pagan ideas, having settled in the parish, with some from Catholic countries of Europe, indeed, bur who seem to lose all faith and religion here, and seldom cross the threshold of the church.” (the latter reprobates are presumably the Italians.) 3)

But the Italian immigration continued its explosive growth. In 1902 the parish was handed over to the Salesians – Transfiguration was now virtually an Italian national parish. In 1914 the Catholic population was 10,000 – presumably mostly Italian. Yet even in that year services were already being held in the lower chapel for the Chinese…. 4)

In subsequent years the Chinese population only increased. Now Transfiguration became a first in New York: a Chinese national parish. By the 1940’s care of the parish was accordingly handed over to the missionary Maryknoll order. 5) Since that time the Chinese population of the vicinity has steadily increased and prospered a trend that has only accelerated in the last few decades. Transfiguration may be the only honest-to-God middle and working class ethnic parish left on the island of Manhattan. In contrast to its gentrified (and/or depopulated) sister parishes, Transfiguration is still very much what it has always been: a “Church of the Immigrants.”

Transfiguration occupies a nice corner site. The rough stone façade testifies to its great age. In the 1868 the quaint but impressive tower was added by the ubiquitous architect Henry Engelbert. Regrettably, the church is often closed. But once inside, the visitor encounters the pristine architecture of the original meetinghouse – a plain hall with galleries. Yet this space is light appears spacious, despite the rather small dimensions.

Subsequent Catholic improvements have survived here in greater quantity than at the similar St. Teresa church. From the “age of the Irish” we notice some (apparently) archaic stained glass windows of the 1860’s. The ceiling was decorated, also in the 1860’s, with paintings by “Brandenberg.” 6) Finally, rising up before us is the grand apse painting of the Transfiguration (echoing Raphael).

The Italians have left a variety of statues and cults like St Rocco “di Ruoti. “ Some of this work is of outstanding quality indeed: a beautiful statue of the Virgin and child; a magnificent reliquary. The more recent parishioners have contributed a Chinese Virgin and Child.

The council has also left its traces in the form of a gutted sanctuary. A tabernacle seems to have been assembled out of the earlier Victorian–era architectural elements. It is a sad anticlimax to what is otherwise an impressive architectural achievement.

(Above and below) ancient stained glass – from the 1860’s(?).

A beautiful Italian crowned Madonna.

This reliquary holds relics of, among others, St. Rita of Cascia, St John Bosco, St Anthony of Padua, St Theresa of Lisieux, St Frances Xavier Cabrini…..

Since 1832 Transfiguration has also had a school – also founded by Fr. Varela. It is till flourishing and even expanding. We learn that 96% of the pupils are Chinese and 75% are non-Catholic. Indeed the school has done so well that it has taken over the building of the equally ancient but closed St James school. The tower of Transfiguration indeed is visible from St James. Will these two parishes, both arising out of Fr. Varela’s original Christ Church and occupying two of the most ancient church buildings of the Archdiocese, be reunited someday as well?

1) Willensky, Elliot and White, Norval, AIA Guide to New York City at 76(3rd Edition, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1988); Dunlop, David W., From Abyssinian to Zion: a Guide to Manhattan’s Houses of Worship at 275 (Columbia University Press New York 2004)
2) See, Shea, John Gilmary, The Catholic Churches of New York City at 687-691 ( Lawrence G. Goulding &Co., New York 1878)
3) Shea, op. cit. at 696.
4) The Catholic Church in the United States of America, Vol 3 at 378 (Catholic Editing Company, New York 1914)
5) http://www.transfigurationnyc.org/parish/en/home; “The History of Transfiguration Parish” (with many pictures – including some of the interior of the unrestored “pre-conciliar” church); http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2011/02/1801-catholic-church-of-transfiguration.html
6) Shea op cit. at 694.
7) http://www.transfigurationnyc.org/parish/en/home