View source for Mission of Our Lady of Loreto

{{Short description|Jesuit establishment in New York City}}
The '''Mission of Our Lady of Loreto''' was established by the Jesuit fathers on [[Elizabeth Street (Manhattan)|Elizabeth Street]] on the [[Lower East Side]] to serve the large population of [[Italians in New York City|Italian immigrants]]. It sponsored a number of programs. The parish closed in 2011, but its cultural center became The Sheen Center, the Archdiocese of New York's venue for arts and culture.

==History==
In 1891 Archbishop [[Michael Corrigan]] asked the [[Jesuits]] to undertake the pastoral care of Italian immigrants on the Lower East Side.  Provincial superior, [[Thomas J. Campbell (university president)|Thomas J. Campbell]] chose Italian-born [[Nicholas Russo|Rev. Nicholas Russo]] of [[Church of St. Ignatius Loyola (New York City)|the parish of St. Lawrence O'Toole]] to lead the effort. Russo had been a professor and president ''pro tem'' at [[Boston College]].<ref name=McNamara>{{Cite book |last=McNamara |first=Patrick |title=New York Catholics: Faith, Attitude, & the Works |publisher=[[Orbis Books]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-62698-071-6 |location=New York |pages=78–80 |language=en |chapter=Father Nicholas Russo, 1845–1902|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uLodBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT78}}</ref>

[[File:Nicholas Russo SJ cropped.jpg|thumb|left|Nicholas Russo SJ]]
Russo, assisted by Rev. Aloysius Romano, converted a rented saloon on Elizabeth Street  into a small chapel. In the late 19th century Elizabeth Street was filled with [[tenement]] buildings, largely populated by Italian immigrants, making the street part of [[Little Italy, Manhattan|Little Italy]] of lower Manhattan.<ref>{{cite book | title=Mrs Astor's New York: Money And Social Power In A Gilded Age | publisher=Yale University Press | author=Homberger, Eric | year=2004 | pages=29–30 | isbn=9780300105155 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=13jwkUPvYGcC&pg=PA29}}</ref>

They named the chapel ''Missione Italiana della Madonna di Loreto''. The first Mass was held on August 16, 1891, the Feast of [[Saint Roch|San Rocco]]. Campbell was the main celebrant, with Russo delivering the sermon in Italian. The parishioners were mainly Neapolitans, Sicilians, and Calabrians, each speaking their own dialect.<ref name=McNamara/>

In 1892, Russo purchased two tenements across the street, and after renovations, the new church, located at 303 and 305 Elizabeth Street, was dedicated by Corrigan on September 27 under the title [[Basilica della Santa Casa|Our Lady of Loreto]].<ref name=Lafort>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KL4YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA319 Lafort, Remigius. ''The Catholic Church in the United States'', New York. The Catholic Editing Company, 1914, p. 357-358] {{PD-notice}}</ref>

A parochial school for girls opened in October 1895 and one for boys in 1898. To involve the young men in the parish he started the St. Aloysius Club; he also began devotions to the [[Sacred Heart]], a traditional Jesuit devotion that proved very popular.

Russo died on April 1, 1902, at the age of fifty-six at [[Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers#St. Vincent's Hospital, Manhattan|St. Vincent's Hospital]] of complications of pneumonia. He was buried from Our Lady of Loreto. Russo was succeeded by Aloysius Romano, who, in turn, was followed by William H. Walsh.<ref>[http://www.jstor.org/stable/25022498 Brown, Mary Elizabeth. "The Making of Italian-American Catholics: Jesuit Work on the Lower East Side, New York, 1890’s-1950’s", ''The Catholic Historical Review'', vol. 73, no. 2, 1987, pp. 195–210. JSTOR]</ref> Through the Barat Settlement House, Walsh and the Jesuit priests and brothers worked in close collaboration with diocesan priests of [[Church of the Nativity (Manhattan)|Nativity parish]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=z1kYrJnWRTgC&dq=Barat+Settlement+House%2C+Manhattan&pg=PA81 King, Edith Shatto and Frear, Augusta. ''Classification of Social Agencies by Function in the City of New York'', Welfare council of New York city, 1926, p. 81]</ref>

By 1926, the parish was staffed by diocesan clergy and religious and a brand new school and cultural center were built which included an auditorium with a professional stage on which some half-dozen full-scale operas were presented annually. In 1938, following the ravages of the Great Depression, the parish was forced to foreclose on the cultural center. Catholic Charities bought this property at 18 [[Bleecker Street]] and created the Holy Name Centre - a residence and employment center for homeless men. The theater remained a part of the property and in the 1950s and 1960s, was host to a number of Golden Glove tournaments. Daily Mass took place in a small chapel inside the building.<ref name=sheen/>

By the mid-1980s, the church building of Our Lady of Loreto fell into disrepair and the congregation had significantly diminished. The property where the church stood (just south of 18 Bleecker Street), was sold, and the parish was moved into the chapel of the Holy Name Centre.<ref name=sheen/>

==The Sheen Center==
In 2011, the Holy Name Centre and Our Lady of Loreto parish were closed. Nearby Catholic parishes welcomed the few remaining parishioners, and services for the homeless continued at other Catholic Charities locations throughout New York City. The sacramental records of the former Loreto Mission are kept at the parish office of [[Church of the Most Holy Redeemer (Manhattan)|Most Holy Redeemer - Nativity]].<ref name=evc>[https://stbrigidstemeric.org/the-former-loreto-mission " History of the Former Loreto Mission", East Village Catholic]</ref>

Following extensive planning and renovations, The Sheen Center was opened in 2015 as the official Arts Center of the Archdiocese of New York and named for the Venerable Archbishop [[Fulton J. Sheen]].<ref name="sheen">{{Cite web |last=Culture |first=Sheen Center for Thought and |title=History {{!}} Sheen Center for Thought and Culture |url=https://www.sheencenter.org/about/history |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=www.sheencenter.org |language=en}}</ref> The Sheen Center is one of New York City's popular venues for live performance rentals, having housed performances by local and international musicians, dance companies, and off-Broadway theater productions. The center features a proscenium theater, an 80-seat black box theater (Frank Shiner Theater);<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chicoine |first=Christie L. |date=2022-03-09 |title=Sheen Center's Black Box Theater Renamed Frank Shiner Theater |url=https://www.cny.org/stories/sheen-centers-black-box-theater-renamed-frank-shiner-theater,23538 |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Catholic New York |language=en}}</ref> a multi-track recording studio; four rehearsal studios; and the Janet Hennessey Dilenschneider Gallery for art exhibitions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-20 |title=Gallery Patrons |url=https://www.cny.org/stories/gallery-patrons,23747 |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Catholic New York |language=en}}</ref>

==Barat Settlement House==
In 1905, the Barat Settlement House was established on Elizabeth Street as a branch of the Mission of Our Lady of Loretto. Initially it was founded to provide girls of the Mission with a way to earn a living other than by working in factories. Members of the [[Sodality of Our Lady#The Children of Mary (associated group)|Children of Mary]] from the [[Manhattanville College|Academy of Convent of the Sacred Heart]] in [[Manhattanville, Manhattan|Manhattanville]] rented space on East Houston Street, and assisted by teachers, taught the children after school hours. In 1911, the Settlement acquired new headquarters at 221 Chrystie Street.<ref>{{Cite book |last=City |first=Babies' Welfare Association of New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xue2rhPHFM4C&dq=Barat+Settlement+House%2C+Manhattan&pg=RA1-PA164 |title=Directory of Infant Welfare Agencies of Greater New York |date=1919 |publisher=Bureau of Child Hygiene |pages=130 |language=en}}</ref> A children's daycare was soon established, as well as the St. Martha's Society which taught all manner of domestic skills such as housekeeping, cooking, sewing, and [[home economics]].<ref name=Lafort/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=elY_AQAAMAAJ&dq=Barat+Settlement+House%2C+Manhattan&pg=PA23 Treacy, Gerald C. "On the East Side", ''America'', Volume 15, 1916, p. 22]</ref>

The Settlement House strove to meet the religious and social needs of the people by providing Sunday Mass, catechetical instruction, clubs for boys, sodalities for girls, the Barat men's club for young business men, and the St. Madeleine Sophie Barat Club for young business women. In 1934 social worker Dorothy Farrell Gormley was a director of the Barat Settlement House on Chrystie Street. She was from a family of wealthy socialites heavily involved in charitable causes.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{East Village, Manhattan}}
{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York|state=collapsed}}

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[[Category:Jesuit churches in the United States]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic churches in Manhattan]]
[[Category:East Village, Manhattan]]
[[Category:Defunct organizations based in New York (state)]]