The Churches of New York LIX: The Two Churches of Saint John I

Saint John the Martyr
250 East 72nd Street

Here and there throughout the city we find Catholic churches that, for one reason or another, are next-door neighbors to each other. We hear, for example, that in 1924 the predecessor of the church of the Holy Family was built almost directly across the street from the existing old German parish of St. Boniface. And there is a fair amount of duplication of patron saints as well. Just in the borough of Manhattan, we have the five Saint Josephs, the 2 St. Anns (up to 2005), St. John the Baptist as well as St Jean Baptiste…. But at a spot in the southern reaches of old Yorkville we find both: two churches situated within a few blocks of each other that are also dedicated to the same, relatively exotic, saint: St. John of Nepomuk of Bohemia. One, St. John the Martyr, served in the distant past the Czech population of the neighborhood; the other, St. John Nepomucene, still functions as a Slovak national parish. We shall see, however, that their foundations were entirely independent of each other.

Saint John Nepomucene (to use that appellation) was the vicar general of the Archbishop of Prague at the end of the 14th century. He definitely defended the rights of the Church against King of Bohemia Wenzel (Wenceslaus; Vaclav) – also King of the Romans(head of the Holy Roman Empire). More famously, St. John Nepomucene is reputed to have heard the confession of the Queen and to have refused to disclose the contents thereof to the king. In retaliation said monarch had him tortured and then thrown from Charles Bridge into the Moldau River. He became one of the patron saints of Bohemia; his magnificent sliver reliquary stands in the cathedral of Prague. In the 18th century his cult grew to enormous proportions; his image adorns many a bridge and church throughout Central Europe.

 

(Above and below) Two statues of St. John Nepomucene in Prague; that below is the original on the Charles Bridge.

Now the Czechs and Slovaks, although speaking closely related languages, have had an entirely different historical development. The Czechs of Bohemia were from the 10th century ever more closely integrated into the Holy Roman Empire and the German world; the Slovaks were subjects of the kingdom of Hungary. Bohemia became a center of artistic, musical and, in the 19th century, industrial development; the Slovak lands remained until very recently a relative backwater. After a late medieval legacy of religious revolt in Bohemia, in the course of the 19th century a nationalistic, anti-Catholic spirit gained influence among the Czechs, culminating in the strongly atheistic culture of today. The Slovaks, in contrast, have remained attached to their ancestral faith, although there is a strong Lutheran presence among them. As soon as the opportunity presented itself after the fall of the Berlin Wall, President Wilson’s creation of “Czechoslovakia” split into its component parts of the “Czech Republic” and “Slovakia.”

The parish of St. John the Martyr was established in 1903 for the Czech immigrant population. The first pastor, Fr. John Prout, who came from St. Monica’s parish, was a native new Yorker of Czech background. The church was acquired in 1904. Now the interesting aspect of this small sanctuary is that it was constructed many years earlier as part of a projected much larger Protestant church. The noted architect Robert H. Robertson had built this church in 1887 as a chapel of the Knox Presbyterian church. Due to internal disputes the rest of the church was never built; after a fire the chapel was sold to the archdiocese of New York. 1)

The projected but never completed Knox Presbyterian Church(The New York Times, June 7, 2009))

St. John the Martyr had great initial success. By 1914 there were 4000 parishioners – an amazing number for such a tiny church. We hear of an extraordinary reliquary containing over 60 precious relics “secured from a noble family in Rome.” Fr. Prout secured donations of paintings for his church by Albert Zimmerman (presumably the Munich painter of the 1880’s) and Alphonse Mucha (yes, the painter of the famous Art Nouveau posters!). He painted the image of St John Nepomucene). 2) Fr. Shelley, the most recent chronicler of the Archdiocese, notes Fr. Prout was “removed” in 1918. Perhaps this related to a prior dispute with the Archdiocese, reported by one source, about the said famous reliquary. 3)

Already by 1921, there is a report that this church and its sister Czech parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help were mixed Czech-Irish (there already had been at least one non-Czech curate at the St. John’s parish in 1914). 4) After 1918, the pastors are Irish (except for one monsignor with a Polish surname in the 1980’s). By the the 1950’s a Czech-speaking curate was no longer needed. Around 1950 there was a major refurbishing: the ”Liturgical Movement” altars (similar to those in the parishes of St. Elizabeth of Hungary or St. Thomas More) are a legacy of the Spellman era. Meanwhile, the surrounding neighborhood was largely transformed from working and middle class into a district of luxury apartments. Marymount Manhattan College for young ladies established itself next door. In 1964, St. John the Martyr officially ceased to be a national parish and was given territorial boundaries. Any “ethnic” events that took place henceforward seem to have been Irish. In 1969 a drastic “conciliar” updating was imposed on the interior.

One would have expected that St. John the Martyr would settle into a comfortable future as a chapel for the well-to-do, much like St. Thomas More parish further north. Certainly this posting was not the most undistinguished one in the Archdiocese; all the pastors between 1935 and 2004 either already were monsignors or became such while at St John. But the ills and scandals of the “American Catholic Church” – spiritual, personnel and financial – caught up even with this modestly- scaled parish in a most wealthy area. In 2004, the pastor, Msgr. Woolsey, was “removed” for “financial irregularities,” as the parish history so circumspectly puts it. 5) It was a shattering blow.

In 2007, the parish was transferred to the Carmelites who had been just been summarily removed themselves from St. Stephen/ Our Lady of the Scapular. That definitely was not a good omen for St. John’s. “Critical repairs” became necessary around this time. By 2010 the construction of the Second Avenue subway had surrounded the parish with barriers and noise. In 2012 the Carmelites were removed and the pastor of St. John Nepomucene appointed as administrator of St. John the Martyr. It was the first time in the history of these two parishes that the “Czechs” and “Slovaks” were united under one pastor. Since 2012 the number of masses and the opening times of this church have also been curtailed. 6)

Despite the current chaos of the Second Avenue construction, St John the Martyr’s location is highly desirable. All around it are the buildings of Marymount Manhattan, an institution that, despite the Madonnas still found here and there, ceased to be Catholic even nominally decades ago. Considering what goes on there that is indeed fortunate. 7)

(Above) On East 71st Street, the rectory of St. John the Martyr and, next door, the residence of the Sisters of Life. Oh what a deal the sale of these buildings would make!

The brown exterior is a miniature but interesting example of that uniquely American “Romanesque” style of the 1880’s – what with its rugged stone walls, brownstone trimmings, pattern of round arches and touches of carved decoration. Big letters tell us the name and denomination of the church.

(Above) Two statues – united on the former altar of St. Joseph.

Inside, there is not much to report. It a small, simple space with bare white walls. Prior house cleanings of the sanctuary, “conciliar” and earlier, have left relatively little for the visitor – even though what is there is undeniably “tasteful.” The interesting paintings from the first decoration of this church have disappeared. There is a very nice Rood, and a couple of fine statues of Mary and Joseph, but these have been collected on one side altar to make place for a “conciliar” tabernacle on the other side altar. In the rear of the “nave” is an undistinguished line-up of statues. The majority are Lladro – like ceramic figurines. Only that of the Infant of Prague is in any way distinctive – was it part of the original inventory?

(Above)A “post-conciliar” image of St. John of Nepomuk. (Below) The line-up of the saints under spotlights and before massed electric candles.

The history of St. John the Martyr’s should have been an American success story. Starting from immigrant origins, the parish had grown into Irish Catholic respectability by the 1960’s. The new decor from the early 1950’s was eminently restrained and elegant; even the destructiveness of the post conciliar period had been relatively restrained. Yet the spiritual and moral woes of the Church and the Archdiocese – as exemplified by Marymount Manhattan and the Msgr. Woolsey story – could not be kept at bay. The presence in the immediate vicinity of the wonderful Sisters of Life (established by Cardinal O’Connor) could bring about no reversal of the negative trends (just like the pro-life cause in general). The story of this parish shows that the vastly increased wealth of a neighborhood – and the temptations it brings – can be even more destructive than the poverty of so many other parishes. I hear that this church is a leading candidate for closing in “Making all Things New.” It is tragic that this unpretentious, unassuming parish, which in the recent past seemed to have “succeeded” according to all the usual criteria, should now fall victim to the crisis of the 21st century.

1) Gray, Christopher, A Starter Sanctuary, The New York Times, June 7, 2009;
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/realestate/07scape.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=streetscapes&st=cse&

2) The Catholic Church in the United States of America, Vol. 3 at 340(Catholic Editing Company, New York 1914).

3) http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2011/10/1887-knox-chapel-st-john-martyr-church.html. More likely, it had to do with the developing non-Czech make-up of the congregation. Shelley, Thomas J. The Archdiocese of New York: the Bicentennial History 1808-2008 at 248 (Editions du Signe, Strasbourg 2007)

4) Capek, Thomas: The Cech (Bohemian) Community of New York at 50 (The Czechoslovak Section of America’s Making, Inc., New York 1921)

5) In fact, the scandal involved massive theft by a very prominent priest of the Archdiocese. “Monsignor Gets 4-Year Sentence for Large Thefts From His East Side Parish” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/nyregion/23priest.html?pagewanted=all. The economic loss was great. “N.Y. Church Sues Insurer Over $1.2 Million Thefts Blamed on Priest” http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2006/01/26/64637.htm. Obviously this priest was well connected – after his removal from St. John’s but before his conviction Bill Donohue had this to say:

“The Catholic League will stand by Msgr. Woolsey to the end. He is a man of integrity, despite what anyone else alleges.”

http://www.catholicleague.org/msgr-woolsey-steps-down/

And, after his release from prison, Msgr Woolsey was apparently restored to low- key ministry until his retirement in 2009:

“Msgr. John Woolsey, who was serving as parochial vicar of Holy Family, New Rochelle, has taken retirement for medical reasons, effective Nov. 1.”

Catholic New York 11/19/09

6) See generally the parish history: http://saintjohnthemartyr.com/St._John_the_Martyr/Our_History.html

7) E.g., “Catholic News Item Proves not so New After All” http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/30/nyregion/30catholic.html; “Catholic Church withdraws Recognition of College That Plans to Honor Hillary Clinton”http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-church-withdraws-recognition-of-college-that-plans-to-honor-pro-ab. The New York Times article, while giving an accurate idea of the spirit that pervades Marymount in 2005 (and at the present day), rightly points out that actually Marymount had been “nonsectarian” in form and substance for decades prior to the alleged “sanction” of delisting from the Kenedy Directory. It seems clear, though, that in regards to certain audiences – like the ones who read or consult the Kenedy Directory – the college had not necessarily actively advertised this fact. And all parties interviewed by the Times – the Archdiocese, the college and the students – think the entire issue of the college’s Catholic affiliation is devoid of any significance. ( I have not checked whether Marymount is still off the Kenedy Directory)