Our Lady of Pompeii, Bushwick

Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii Church is located at 225 Seigel St., Brooklyn NY 11206, telephone 718-497-0614. For Mass schedules, see the link underlined in the previous sentence.  The Pallottine Order of Priests and Brothers, S.A.C., or Società dell'Apostolato Cattolico, staff this parish. On the more general website of the Pallottines is a page describing the parish.

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A decorative plaza faces the church door. An office and instructional rooms are to the left, along Seigel Street. The cornerstone, visible above, is dated 1902. At that time, the parish was almost entirely Italian. The principal languages now seem to be English and Spanish.
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In the distant past, the church was a rope factory, an elongated building needed for the shipping industry.



Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii began in the late 1800's, only a few years before this church was built.



For decades, the neighborhood has been more Latin American than Italian, so it is appropriate that Vincenzo Pallotti is honored with his baptismal name in Spanish. As he lived 1795-1850, he predates the devotion to Our Lady of Pompeii. A brief history of the work he founded is linked here. But who is Herr Seigel?


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November, 2010, Announcements of Closings and Mergers

A Tablet article dated 11.17.2010 concerning the closing and merging of some Brooklyn parishes is linked here. The article includes several photos of interest: St. Edward, St. Patrick (Kent Ave., already including St. Lucy), Our Lady of Montserrat (already including St. Ambrose), and St. Ignatius. How long this article will remain available on the internet is unpredictable. That is one reason why I take my own photos. However, books will outlast blogs!

All Saints, Williamsburg

The above photo looks north to All Saints church, at the intersection of Flushing Avenue, Throop Avenue, and Thornton Street. The office address is 115 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11206, telephone 718-388-1951. The parish website is linked HERE. 
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Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.



The events at Tepayac on December 12, 1531, are commemorated on the passageway linking church and rectory. When the diocese established All Saints parish in 1868, the congregation was mostly German. Mexicans and other Latin Americans predominate nowadays.


When I took these photos in November, 2010, there was no outdoor sign telling the name of the church, welcoming anyone, or announcing the Mass schedule, perhaps because the schedule for the Feast Day 12.12.2010 is quite different: Hymns at 10 a.m., Lauds at 10:30, Procession at 11, solemn Mass at noon, Tecuaniz Dance in the basement at 1 p.m., and Mass at 7 p.m. A guess: the closure of the chapel of Our Lady of Monserrat may lead to other changes and necessitate new signs.
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In 2016, the parish website lists two Sunday Masses: English at 9 a.m., Spanish at 11:30.




The above photo looks southeast on Throop Avenue. Perhaps a former school building at the left is used for religious education and other meetings. On the roof is a dish aimed at the diocesan television antenna adjacent to Bishop Ford High School. In the distance is part of Woodhull Medical Center. Parish school numbers were so large in the past, that schools were built on Whipple St. (at left, above), Throop Avenue, and Thornton Street. One was a parish high school for girls. A school playground is now the location of a busy McDonald's on Broadway. Buildings on Whipple St. appear to have been renovated as apartments. The building on Thornton Street now houses Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, founded by a Sister of Mercy. (Matthew Thornton signed the Declaration of Independence.)
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On 7.31.2013, Kathy Dawe commented, "The building on the corner and the one next to it were both high school buildings for All Saints Commercial High School for Girls. The older building next to these was All Saints Elementary School. Good memories.  Too bad there were never any reunions."

If All Saints doesn't post a sign with its name, at least around the corner on Flushing Avenue, the Angels do.


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St. Lucy - St. Patrick, Kent Avenue

Please read this decree concerning the merger of this parish into that of Mary of Nazareth, 41 Adelphi Street, effective January 31, 2011. The name of the parish is Mary of Nazareth, but the name of the church at 41 Adelphi Street is Sacred Heart. It is about a mile west of St. Patrick's.
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Note the 1843 date on the sign, ten years before the creation of the diocese of Brooklyn. According to John Sharp in "History of the Diocese of Brooklyn," vol. 1, p. 113, Catholics in this neighborhood "on the Newtown Road" (Flushing Avenue) purchased a Methodist church near what is now the intersection of Kent and Willoughby Avenues, and named their church St. Mary's. Bishop Hughes of New York sent them a pastor. About 1849, the parish was renamed St. Patrick's. The church shown below was dedicated by Bishop Loughlin of Brooklyn in 1856, three years after the diocese was created.



At the corner of Willoughby and Kent Avenue stands this church built in 1856 by the famous architect Patrick Charles Keely. My photos date from March, 2005. However, please also see this link
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In August, 2023, Brownstoner predicts that the church will be demolished. Yes,  it was demolished by the new owners in January, 2024.

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In the block adjacent to the left side of the church (that is, going downtown on Willoughby Avenue) is the historic property of the convent and orphanage of the Sisters of Mercy. The place is far more than historic; it is was important to many families for more than a century. A New York Times article is linked here.




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St. Gregory the Great, Crown Heights

In 2011, the parish of St. Gregory the Great was merged into St. Matthew's parish about a mile east, on Eastern Parkway near Utica Avenue. The decree states that the church of St. Gregory the Great will remain a worship site for St. Matthew's parish.
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The cornerstone declares that this extraordinary church was built in 1915. This photo was taken on August 20, 2008. To the left is St. John's Place. At the right is Brooklyn Avenue, one-way southbound. Conveniently, the B45 bus on St. John's Place stops at this intersection, as does the southbound B43.
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For the Mass schedule and contact information, please see the parish website, linked here.
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A better photo and brief commentary may be found here on Andrew Cusack's blog.