History of St. Patrick's cathedral

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Preface

Old St. Peter's, the old and the new Cathedrals, are the great landmarks of our local Catholic history. Old St. Peter's was the scene of the Church's struggle for existence. In old St. Patrick's the problem of her co-existence with the new Republic was successfully adjusted. The new Cathedral commemorates her triumph and marvelous growth.

In 1785 there were in this city but two hundred Catholics under one priest. They were Irish and French, German and Italian, Spanish and Scotch, English and Portuguese, few in number, poor in resources, divided by racial differences, but united by love of their adopted country, of its political ideals, above all, by love of their Church. At their express wish, the first Catholic temple in this city was dedicated to the Prince of the Apostles. They established the church of New York on the "Rock," and nowhere are the foundations of Catholicity more solidly laid than in this Metropolitan See. They also have the honor of opening the first free school in the State six years before any public school was started.

In 1808, this See was erected, and comprised the entire State of New York and the eastern part of New Jersey. There were 13,000 Catholics in the city, 16,000 in the whole Diocese, with one church, one parochial school, and three priests. Bishop Connolly arrived in 1815, and for some time had but one priest to minister in his vast Diocese. At his death, 1825, there were 18 priests, 8 churches, and 150,000 Catholics. Bishop Duvi PREFACE

bois added 18 priests and 8 churches. The Diocese had 124 priests when the Sees of Albany and Buffalo were created in 1847, and 113 priests when Brooklyn and Newark were erected in 1853. The Catholic population, in 1854, numbered 250,000.

Meanwhile, in the old Cathedral, the difficult problem of the Church's co-existence with the adverse elements of the New World was being solved, but not without many a hard blow ''scalpri frequentis ictibus et tunsione plurima/' Within the fold, trusteeism threatened to undermine discipline in matters spiritual and temporal ; without, persistent bigotry assailed everything Catholic, and engendered the Native American and Knownothing movements. In the pulpit of old St. Patrick's worthy defenders of the faith met every attack, and prejudice was compelled to retreat under the logic and eloquence of Levins and Taylor, of Pise, Power, and the gifted Father Burke, of Archbishop Hughes and Cardinal McCloskey.

Trusteeism succumbed to the young Bishop Hughes, who knew that the hearts of the people were right, if their heads went astray for a while. The fearless prelate, having formed his flock into a compact body, challenged and routed the Native American and Knownothing disturbers, and convinced the nation that allegiance to the Republic was eminently consistent with loyalty to the Church.

The new Cathedral commemorates the victory of the Church in New York and her wonderful development. Rochester was made a separate See in 1868, Ogdensburg in 1872, Trenton in 1881, and Syracuse in 1886. Within the original limits of this See, there are to-day an Archbishop, eight suffragan and two auxiliary Bishops,

PREFACE vii

1,546 churches, 2,710 priests, 583 parochial schools with 251,383 pupils and a Catholic population of 3,162,309, well provided with institutions of charity and of higher education.

This material progress is the manifestation of that spiritual growth which springs from the presence of Christ and of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Immigration, and conversions, of which there are 5,000 yearly, have been important factors in our rapid increase. In the pioneer days, our forefathers sought aid from France and Spain, from Cuba, Mexico, and Ireland. To-day this Diocese alone contributes to the foreign missions $70,000 yearly. In the political, social, commercial, and intellectual life of the community, the Church labors strenuously for justice and charity, for honesty in business and public office, for the sanctity of the family, for lofty moral standards in literature and art, for law and order. The Cathedral for half a century has been an object lesson of the highest art for all our fellow-citizens.

Others have labored and we have entered into their labors. It seems proper that we should "call to remembrance the works of the fathers which they have done in their generations." They have left us a goodly inheritance. It is our duty to transmit that inheritance intact under the guidance of Peter and the patronage of St. Patrick to posterity.

The Feast of St. Patrick, March 17, 1908.

Introduction

In a country where we are constantly reminded by the leaders of education to accept nothing but what we can establish by personal research, where the minds of public men are generally so fair and open, it is amazing to read, in a recent work on Old New York, this absurd statement:

At Fiftieth Street and Fifth Avenue is St. Patrick's Cathedral, the corner-stone of which was laid in 1858. The entire block on which it stands was, the preceding year, given to the Roman Catholics for a nominal sum — one dollar — by the city.*

The vitality of this long-lived lie is all the more astonishing when we consider that it has been repeatedly disproved by Protestant, as well as by Catholic writers. In the Nezv York Journal of Commerce, June, 1882, Colonel William L. Stone, a non-Catholic, printed an exhaustive article on the title of the Cathedral property if

We have several times replied to questions concerning the acquisition of the land upon which stands the Roman Catholic Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. It has been a very common impression that the property was acquired without due consideration, and although we have contradicted this several times in our paper, the accusation is still repeated, showing that the report is circulated by persons who are prejudiced

* Nooks and Corners of Old New York, by Charles Hemstreet, 1905, p. 203.

t T. F. Meehan in The Catholic News, Feb. 1, 1908, reproduces complete report; also Catholic Review, July 15, 1882.

X INTRODUCTION

against the present owners. Wishing to furnish an exhaustive reply to an inquiry recently sent us, we asked Franklin H. Churchill, Esq., attorney and counsellor-at-law, who had searched the title, to give us a full history of the several transfers. His reply has been made at considerable length, but we can not well abridge it without lessening its interest, and we therefore give it in full to our readers.

Colonel Stone published Mr. Churchill's entire report, which corresponds exactly with that of Mr. Beekman, which we reproduce below. Mr. Churchill, however, in spite of his personal investigation and lucid exposition of the facts, did not succeed in correcting the false impression. In our local annals there is no more flagrant example of how difficult it is to kill a lie, especially when begotten of prejudice and bigotry, than this persistent accusation against the large and representative body of Catholic citizens. Again, in 1893, Mr. John D. Crimmins requested a distinguished lawyer, Henry R. Beekman, to institute a thorough examination of the title to the Cathedral property, and we submit the result of Mr. Beekman's investigations to all fair-minded citizens, in the hope that it may eradicate this vestige of bigotry from the pages of our local history.

Legal Opinion of Henry R. Beekman on Title to Cathedral Land.

New York, October 23, 1893.

Hon. John D. Crimmins :

For many years the statement has been made from time to time in the public prints and elsewhere that the land on Fifth Avenue, between Fiftieth and Fifty-first Streets, upon which St. Patrick's Cathedral is

INTRODUCTION xi

erected, was a gift to that church from the city, or had been acquired in some way, without adequate consideration, through the partiaHty of the officers of the city.

The natural effect of the constant reiteration of this statement has been to inspire a general belief in its truth and a feeling on the part of many that an indefensible use has been made of the public property.

That such a belief is prejudicial to the Church which the Cathedral represents is so apparent that no excuse can be necessary for the desire on the part of those belonging to it that the facts which support the title to the land in question should be fully stated. In response, therefore, to your request that I should examine the records which show how this property was acquired by the trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and advise you whether there is any foundation for the statement above referred to, I take pleasure in laying before you the following results of my examination :

In 1796, Casimir T. Goerck laid out what were known as the common lands belonging to the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the city of New York into blocks bounded on the north and south by unnamed streets, sixty feet in width. The property in question forms a part of Block No. 62 on said map, which in 1799 was conveyed by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the city of New York to one Robert Lylburn for the sum of i405 and a perpetual quit rent of ''four bushels of good merchantable wheat or the value thereof in gold or silver coin of lawful money of the State of New York, payable on May 1st of each and every year." The deed also contained a right of re-entry, should the quit rent not be paid. The legal effect of this conveyance was to vest in Lylburn the title in fee to said premises, subject to forfeiture if the quit rent should not be paid. The property was conveyed by Lylburn in 1810 to Francis Thompson and Thomas Cadle, who in turn sold it to xii INTRODUCTION

Andrew Morris and Cornelius Heeney, by whom it was mortgaged in 1810 to the Eagle Fire Company of New York, and in 1821 conveyed to one Dennis Do5de, subject to said mortgage.

The Eagle Fire Company having instituted proceedings for the foreclosure of the mortgage, the property was, by the decree of the Court of Chancery, sold at public auction and was purchased on such sale by Francis Cooper, to whom it was accordingly conveyed on November 12, 1828, by Christian L. Grim, a master of Chancery.

By deed, dated January 30, 1829, and recorded in the Register's Office in this city in Liber 248 of Conveyances, page 71, Francis Cooper conveyed the same property to the trustees of St. Peter's Church in the city of New York. The recitals in this deed state that just prior to the sale in the foreclosure proceedings, Francis Cooper, Peter Duffy, Cornelius Heeney, Garret Byrne, and Hugh Sweeney, acting on behalf of the trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral and St. Peter's Church, had selected the property in question for a burial-ground, and had designated Francis Cooper to attend the sale and bid for the property ; that the purchase was accordingly made by Cooper for $5,550, which money, as well as an additional sum of $51.53, exacted by the master of Chancery for interest, was paid in equal parts by the trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral and the trustees of St. Peter's Church, and that the property was purchased by Cooper and the title thereto taken by him for these two corporations which had advanced the purchase money. It was accordingly conveyed to them.

Thus the title to the property became vested in these two bodies by purchase at public auction for a substantial consideration, and some thirty years after the city of New York had parted with its title.

About 1811 a new plan of streets and avenues was adopted by the city, which differed from the one devised by Goerck in 1796, and the result was that the

INTRODUCTION xiii

city and the grantees of adjoining portions of the common lands it had sold found themselves in many cases with parcels of land cut off from a frontage on the new streets by strips, in some cases not more than a few inches in width. To remedy this mischief, a general plan of adjustment of boundaries was authorized by the Common Council, which involved an exchange of these strips between the city and its grantees so as to give each full blocks bounded by the new streets.

In the case under consideration the situation was as follows : The trustees of the Cathedral and of St. Peter's Church owned a strip of land extending along the northerly side of Fifty-first Street, being four feet, eight inches at Fourth Avenue and tapering to a point at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifty-first Street. The balance of the block between Fifty-first and Fifty-second Street was owned by the city, which was thus shut off from any frontage on Fifty-first Street.

On the other hand the city owned a strip of land extending along the northerly side of Fiftieth Street, being five feet, six inches wide at Fourth Avenue and ten inches wide at Fifth Avenue, thus excluding the trustees of the Cathedral and of St. Peter's from any frontage on Fiftieth Street. As in numerous other similar cases, an exchange of these small strips so nearly equal in area was made between the city and the trustees in 1852, by which each secured the advantage of a full frontage on a street from which it had been excluded.

The exchange in question was fair, and was made in pursuance of a general plan and in no respect different from a large number of other cases of a like character.

During all of the time which had elapsed since the original grant to Lylburn, the property continued subject to the annual payment to the city of the quit rent of four bushels of wheat or their equivalent in current money. The city had made a large number of grants xiv INTRODUCTION

of other property, reserving similar quit rents, which were perpetual in their character.

Subsequently, however, it inaugurated the policy of commuting these quit rents for a lump sum and releasing the property affected from the charge of future payments. Doubtless it was found that these charges materially interfered with the subdivision and sale of the property, and consequently tended seriously to impede the growth of the city.

In pursuance of this policy the quit rent in question — four bushels of wheat — was capitalized at $83.32, which sum was paid to the city by the trustees, and the release, customary in such cases, was made to them by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the city of New York, by deed dated November 11, 1852, and recorded in the Register's Office in Liber 620 of Conveyances, page 364. The sum so paid represents a capitalization at six per cent., taking a bushel of wheat at $1.25, and certainly appears to have been both sufficient in itself and conformable to the general rule adopted by the city at that time in similar cases.

Subsequently the trustees of St. Peter's Church conveyed their interest to the trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral, who thus became sole owners of the property.

From the examination of the title thus made, these facts indisputably appear:

1st. That the bulk of the property in question had been sold and conveyed by the city for a valuable consideration some thirty years before it was purchased by the Cathedral and St. Peter's Church at public auction under a title derived through several intermediate owners from the original grantee of the city.

2d. That the rest of the property, consisting of a slender strip bordering on the north side of Fiftieth Street, five feet, six inches wide on Fourth Avenue, and ten inches wide on Fifth Avenue, was obtained by grant from the city, but in exchange for a similar strip on the south side of Fifty-first Street which was con-

INTRODUCTION xv

veyed by the Cathedral and St. Peter's Church to the city — a full equivalent and a transaction- as beneficial to the city as to the Cathedral.

3d. That the quit rent of four bushels of wheat reserved in the original grant to Lylburn in 1799 was released by the city upon the payment by the Cathedral of a lump sum in commutation, amounting to $83.32, which represented a correct and fair capitalization, at the time, of the rent in question.

In all of the above transactions the dealings of the city with the Cathedral differed in no wise from a large number of similar ones had by the city with other owners of portions of its common lands, and it is apparent upon the face of the facts as I have detailed them, that the criticisms which have been passed upon the method of acquisition by the Cathedral of its property are wholly without foundation or justification.

Yours very truly, (Signed) Henry R. Beekman.

Some observations of Air. Churchill may serve to explain how such an unjust charge could have had even the semblance of a foundation : "In order to remove some confusion of ideas which may exist and doubts which may remain, in spite of the facts which have been stated, it may be well to say that the property occupied by the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, between Fifty-first and Fifty-second Streets and Fourth and Fifth Avenues, was granted and leased by the city for nominal considerations. Such also is the case as respects the Foundling Asylum and St. Joseph's Industrial Home. If there is any question whether it is proper that the city should make gratuitous grants and leases to institutions engaged in works of charity, it must be remembered that sixteen other xvi INTRODUCTION

institutions, mostly conducted in the exclusive interest of various Protestant denominations, but including one Jewish institution, and two or three hospitals having no religious character, have received and now enjoy similar grants or leases."

"A more impartial witness," writes Mr. Meehan, *'to the details of the purchase could hardly be secured than The Journal of Commerce, which for generations has been New York's leading commercial organ. Colonel Stone, as will be remembered, was, during a long and honored career as an editor, regarded as among the foremost of our public-spirited citizens and leaders of public opinion."

Contents

PAGE

Preface v

Introduction ix

Chapter I

Rev. Ferdinand Farmer, S.J., Founder of First Congregation in New York. — The Catholic Church Incorporated June 10, 1784. — Rev. Charles Whelan, O. M. Cap., First Resident Pastor. — Lease of Five Lots in Barclay Street. — Corner-stone laid October 5, 1785. — Dr. Carroll on Trusteeism. — Rev. Andrew Nugent, O. M. Cap., Second Pastor. — Dedication and First Mass, November 4, 1786. — Rev. William O'Brien, O.P., Third Pastor. . . 3

CHAPTER //.

Earliest Records of St. Peter's.

Struggle for Existence. — Appeals. — Father O'Brien Collects in Mexico and Cuba. — Memorial to Trinity Corporation. — Plans for Completing Church. — Donation from Bishop and Chapter of Pueblo de los Angeles. — St. Peter's Free School Established March 30, 1800 18 xviii CONTENTS

Chapter III. Page

The Completion of St. Peter's.

The Church Completed by Father O'Brien. — Heroic Work of Clergy during Yellow Fever Ravages. — Mother Seton makes her Profession of Faith in St. Peter's. — Illness and Death of Father O'Brien. — Memorial to the Legislature. — Distinguished Laymen of St. Peter's Congregation. — List of Pastors, Assistants, and Trustees 33

PART IL The Old Cathedral of St. Patrick (1809-1879).

Chapter I

See of New York created April 8, 1808.— Right Rev. Richard L. Concanen, O.P., First Bishop. — Site of the old Cathedral. — Rev. Anthony Kohlmann, S.J., First Rector. — Plans for Building. — Corner-stone laid June 8, 1809. — Appeal for Funds. — Patrician Society founded January 22, 1810. — Death of Bishop Concanen. — New York Literary Institution. . 49

CHAPTER IL

The Completion of Old St. Patrick's.

Right Rev. John Connolly, O.P., Second Bishop. — Dedication of Cathedral, May 4, 1815. — First Orphan Asylum. — St. Patrick's School opened 1817.— School Report (1805-1824). St. Patrick's Christian Doctrine Society. — Separate Incorporation, April 14, 1817. — Difficulties with Trustees. — Deeds Found and Registered. — First Ordination. — Death of Bishop Connolly 62

CONTENTS xix

Chapter III, Page

Memories of Old St. Patrick's.

Right Rev. John Dubois, Third Bishop. — First Consecration. — First Diocesan Synod. — First, Second, and Third Provincial Councils. — Death of Archbishop Hughes. — Installation of Archbishop McCloskey. — Old St. Patrick's burned, Oct. 6, 1866. — Re-dedicated March 17, 1868. — Investiture of First American Cardinal. — Rectors 85

Part III

The New Cathedral of St. Patrick.

CHAPTER I. The New Cathedral Begun

The Beginnings of the New Cathedral. — The Site. — Old St. John's Church. — Contracts. — Architect's Report. — Circular Letter of Archbishop Hughes. — Corner-stone laid August 15, 1858. — Extracts from Sermon of Archbishop Hughes. . Ill

CHAPTER //.

The Completion of the New Cathedral.

Cathedral Fair. — Dedication May 25, 1879. — First Consecration. — Translation of Archbishop Hughes' Remains. — Cardinal McCloskey's Golden Jubilee. — The Cardinal's Death. — Installation of Archbishop Corrigan. — Spires Erected. — Episcopal Jubilee of Archbishop Corrigan. — His Death. — Synods and Provincial Councils. — Installation of Archbishop Farley.— Cathedral Parish 128

XX CONTENTS

Appendix

1. Succession of Prelates in the Archdiocese

of New York 231

II. The Archdiocese of New York in 1908. . . 233

III. The Architect of the Cathedral 234

IV. Subscriptions Received in Response to the

circular of the Most Reverend Archbishop Hughes for New Cathedral of

St. Patrick 235

V. The High Altar in the Cathedral.— Gift of the Clergy of the Archdiocese of New

York 245

VI. The Subscribers for the Stained Glass Windows in the New St. Patrick's

Cathedral 248

VII. Church Assessments for New Cathedral

(1867-1876) 252

VIII. Archbishop Hughes to Trustees 256

IX. Trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral, 1817-

1908 260

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

facing page Frontispiece.

Old St. Peter's, Barclay Street 13^

Right Rev. Richard Luke Concanen 26 -^

Old St. Patrick's, Mott Street 51-^

Pope Pius VII 58 ^

Right Rev. John Connolly 71 /

Right Rev. John Dubois 85 /^

Most Rev. John Hughes 90 ^

His Eminence, Cardinal McCloskey 97 ^

Most Rev. Michael Augustine Corrigan 102 •

Most Rev. John M. Farley 111^

James Renwick, Architect of the Cathedral. 117-

Ground Plan of the Cathedral 122 -

East View 126 ^

West View 133

North Transept 136

Bronze Doors of Transept 143 ^

The Crypt 149 ^

The Lady Chapel 155

r

Interior of the Lady Chapel 158 ^

The Altar of St. Michael and St. Louis 165^

Altar of St. Elizabeth 171 ^

Holy Family Altar 177 •

The High Altar 183 "

xxii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Statue of St. Patrick 189'

The Pulpit 192

Altar of St. Bernard and St. Bridget 199

Altar of St. John Baptist de la Salle 202

Altar of St. Augustine 209

Altar of the Holy Face 215

Altar of St. Anthony of Padua 218

Altar of St. John the Evangelist 225

Altar of St. Stanislaus Kostka 228

Chapter I

Beginnings of St. Peter's.

Rev. Ferdinand Farmer, S.J., Founder of First Congregation in New York. — The Catholic Church Incorporated June 10,1784. — Rev. Charles Whelan, O. M. Cap., First Resident Pastor. — Lease of Five Lots in Barclay Street. — Corner-stone LAID October 5, 1785. — Dr. Carroll on Trus- TEEiSM. — Rev. Andrew Nugent, O. M. Cap., Second Pastor. — Dedication and First Mass, November 4, 1786.— Rev. William O'Brien, O.P., Third Pastor.

The first priest who regularly officiated for the Catholics in this city was the learned Jesuit, the Rev. Ferdinand Farmer,* whose real name was Steenmayer. A great mathematician, he had co-operated in a work on the Transit of Venus, and was a member of the Royal Society of London, of the American Philosophical Society, and a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. Father Farmer came to America in 1752 and was assigned to the missions of Maryland. He visited New York at intervals, though obliged to enter the city in disguise and minister secretly to a few Catholics assembled in the house of a good German in Wall Street, or any other available place. "Until the close of the Revolutionary War and while the English laws were in force in the country, no Catholic clergyman was allowed to officiate in this State. "f As soon as the British evacuated New York, Father Farmer

* Historical Records and Studies, Vol. I., p. 192. t History of the Churches of New York, by Rev. Jonathan Grcenleaf, p. 333.

came openly to the city and gathered together the scattered members of his flock. On April 6, 1784, the Legislature passed "An Act to enable all the Religious Denominations in this State to appoint Trustees." The Catholics at once took advantage of this statute, and on June 10, 1785, the Catholic Church in this city was legally incorporated, with Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Consul General of France, Jose Roiz Silva, James Stewart, and Henry Duffin as the "Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church in the city of New York." The first pastor of this newly incorporated body was the Rev. Charles Whelan,* an Irish Capuchin monk, who had served as a chaplain in Admiral de Grasse's fleet. "At the close of the war," writes Bishop Bayley, "he (Father Whelan) determined to go on the American mission, and became the first regularly settled priest in the city of New York."f

In a letter dated December 15, 1785, the Rev. Dr. Carroll, Prefect Apostolic, writes to the Rev. Charles Plowden: "The congregation at New York, begun by the venerable Mr. Farmer, of Philadelphia, he has now ceded to the Irish Capuchin resident there." Father Farmer until his death, August 16, 1786, continued to visit the New York congregation of which he is justly considered the founder, and of which the Rev. Charles Whelan was the first resident pastor. In 1781 and 1782 Mass was celebrated in a loft over a carpenter shop near Barclay Street, which was then in

* Historical Records and Studies, Vol. I., p. 196.

t Bayley, History of the Catholic Church in New York, p. 56. The first native of New York State raised to the priesthood was the Rev. James Neale, who was born in St. Peter's parish and acted as assistant there from Oct. 16, 1833, until his death Nov. 6, 1838. He had previously entered the Society of Jesus. (Historical Records and Studies, Vol. II., p. 43.)

the suburbs of the city.* Sometimes the faithful assembled in the parlor of the Spanish consul, Don Thomas Stoughton,t and in 1785 Don Diego de Gardoqui, the Spanish ambassador, opened his house for Catholic services.

Mr. Greenleaf states that the Catholics, after their organization, worshiped at first "in a building erected for public purposes in Vauxhall Garden, situated on a margin of the North River, the garden extending from Warren to Chambers Streets. "J This place was not suitable for church purposes and in April, 1785, Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, who had won distinction as a brilliant soldier under Montcalm in Canada, applied to the city authorities for the use of the Exchange, a building then located at the lower end of Broad Street, and occupied as a court room. The Catholics were few in number, and poor in resources, but had some influence, because New York, then the temporary seat of the Government, was the residence of the foreign Ministers, several of whom were Catholics, and when Congress was in session the Catholic members added the weight of their social and political prestige. Of these Catholics, St. John de Crevecoeur, who had become a farmer in New York, should be held in grateful remembrance. When the Common Council refused to give the use of the Exchange, St. John de Crevecoeur resented the act as an insult. He took the initiative,

* An Italian traveler, Castiglioni, mentions hearing Mass in the "camera poco decente" but that the Catholics, though neither rich nor many, bought a lot in the winter of 1785. iViaggio negli Stati Uniti, Vol. I., p. 177.)

t "Mr. Velasquez informs me that Mr. Stoughton lived at that time in Water Street, and that Mass was celebrated in the second story of a small frame house near his residence." (Bayley, History of the Catholic Church in New York, p. 54.)

t History of the Churches of New York, p. 333.

reorganized the faithful, and encouraged them to proceed at once to secure ground, and erect a church edifice. This zeal on his part is surprising, because according to reliable information he was by no means a fervent Catholic, and his Letters of an American Farmer revealed tendencies to the philosophy of Voltaire and to indifference in religion. How much the project of constructing a church meant in those days may be judged from the fact that at the close of 1784 the venerable Father Farmer could reckon only eighteen communicants in New York, three of whom were Germans. In a letter to the Rev. Dr. Carroll, dated February 21, 1785, Father Farmer says: "The Rev. Mr. Whelan from New York writeth to me that he counts about two hundred."*

However, in the summer of 1785, after considerable difficulty in selecting a site. Father Whelan, acting on the advice of Mr. Silva, bought a lease of five lots in Barclay Street extending to Church. These five lots, now occupied by St. Peter's Church, were leased "from parties who held a long lease from 'The Rector and Inhabitants of the city of New York in Communion of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the State of New York' (the old title of Trinity Corporation )."t

It may be interesting to note that the site on which St. Peter's now stands is that on which the Rev. John Ury, an English non-conforming clergyman, was executed, August 29, 1741, on the supposition that he was a Catholic priest and was involved in the "Negro Plot."t