Holy Rosary Parish-East Harlem

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The facade of Holy Rosary Church, which is situated in East Harlem or El Barrio, the world-renowned Spanish Harlem.

The Roman Catholic parish of Our Lady of Holy Rosary at 444 East 119th St. in New York City's East Harlem neighborhood was established in 1884 by John Cardinal McCloskey east of Third Ave. toward the East River. The area had been served by St. Paul's Church on East 117th St. and by St. Cecilia's on East 106th St. Since both older churches were some distance from the newer settlement along the river, it was inevitable that the rapidly developing area would see the founding of two ethnic churches: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on 115th St. for the Italians and Our Lady of Holy Rosary on East 119th St. for the Germans and the Irish.

1 History
2 Pastors who served at Holy Rosary
3 Priests assigned at Holy Rosary
4 Sources
5 External links

[edit] History

The new parish was placed under the advocation of Our Lady of Holy Rosary. A 35-year-old New Yorker, Rev. Joseph A. Byron, was appointed as first pastor with neither a church nor a rectory. He conducted a door-to-door census of his prospective parishioners seeking their support for his plan for a church of their own. He purchased in March 1884 four lots on East 119th St., between First and Pleasant avenues, where the present parish buildings stand.

He soon learned of a recently vacated and unused church that had formerly served the parishioners of St. Cecilia's, and he arranged to have the building dismantled. He then had the materials transported by wagon to the river edge, floated upstream to East 119th St. and again hauled by wagon to the Holy Rosary premises. All through the summer, both parishioners and laborers reassembled old St. Cecilia's. On Rosary Sunday, Oct. 5, 1884, coadjutor Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan presided over the dedication of the new church.

Rev. Byron and his two assistants, Rev. Charles A. Meridith and Rev. James T. McGovern, lived in a rented house at 365 Pleasant Ave. until the completion of the present rectory. On March 29, 1893, Rev. Byron, 44, died from a cold caught during the building of the new rectory. Rev. Francis H. Wall, DD, another native New Yorker, assumed the pastorship of Holy Rosary in 1894. He encouraged the establishment of Rosary Society, Sacred Heart League, Holy Name Society, St. Vincent de Paul and Young Men's Lyceum.

The year 1898 saw the rise of the present stone church that Archbishop Corrigan dedicated on Feb. 11, 1900 . Sports became part of parish life, and the Boys Club was set up in 1903. When Rt. Rev. Msgr. William J. Guinan, DD succeeded Rev. Wall in 1909, he established a training course for CCD teachers. Rev. Thomas F. Kane became pastor in 1916. He got the support of the Pallotine Sisters who had begun in 1908 St. John's Settlement at 361-371 Pleasant Ave. Staffed at the time by nine Sisters, it counted 42 girls and 35 boys as its wards.

From 1918 to 1925, two separate parishes existed in the same building. Rev. Kane and his two Irish assistants maintained the regular parish upstairs while Rt. Rev. Msgr. Gaetano Arcese, PA, assisted by several Italian priests, maintained the Italian one downstairs.

The increasing Italian population in East Harlem had made it necessary to provide a priest at Holy Rosary who spoke their language. Rt. Rev. Msgr. Arcese was chosen to minister to them in the lower church. Msgr. Arcese, a native of Alpino, Italy, came to the United States at 17 years of age and studied for the priesthood at Dunwoodie, the famed seminary of the Archdiocese of New York. He was named monsignor in 1937 and as prothonotary apostolic and ecclesiastical superior to the Pallotine nuns in 1943. He arranged for the training of the nuns at Fordham University and for their teaching accreditation. He likewise moved St. John's Settlement, a children's home, to smaller quarters. In 1949 he opened the Holy Rosary School to an initial enrollment of 160 pupils with the help of two Sisters.

Upon the death of Msgr. Arcese in 1953, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Bonaventure Filitti, PA from St. Patrick's Old Cathedral replaced him. Rt. Rev. Msgr. Filitti added a wing to the parochial school and embellished the interior of the church and the rectory. Two years later he was transferred to Our Lady of Grace Parish in the Bronx.

Rev. Salvatore Cantatore, who had served as curate for six years under Rt. Msgr. Arcese, was installed pastor in 1956. One of the significant developments taking shape during this period was the influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants around East Harlem. The first to serve their specific needs was Rev. Robert Banome who, prior to his priestly ordination, had worked in Puerto Rico. From 1968 to 1969 the pastor was Rev. Msgr. Raphael Lombardi, PA. In 1975, the School of Mt. Carmel under Rev. Terzo Pavis, a Pallotine and pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, was merged with the Holy Rosary School under Rev. Msgr. Pavis.

In 1975, Masses were said in English, in Spanish and in Italian. There were evening devotions to Our Lady of Miraculous Medal, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Anthony. Various organizations flourished, including Senior and Junior Legions of Mary, Holy Name, St. Anne and Sacred Heart societies, Senior and Junior Sodalities of Our Lady, St. Therese and St. Aloysius, Fathers and Mothers Clubs, St. Vincent de Paul, Boys and Girls CYOs, Boy and Girl Scouts, drum and bugle corps, choir, altar boys and ushers. There was a CYO Center next to the rectory. School enrollment rose to 727 and the number of faculty members to 16.

In 1976, Rev. Ronald Ciaravolo was appointed pastor. Renovation and painting of the church marked his term. Two years later, the Parish was entrusted by the late Terence Cardinal Cooke to the friars of the Augustinian Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines. Rev. Nicanor L. Lana, OSA, Ph.D. took over as its first Augustinian pastor. When he was recalled by his religious superiors to head the Augustinian house in Neguri, Bilbao, Spain, Rev. Angel S. Dulanto, OSA, succeeded him. Rev. Gilbert Luis R. Centina III, 0SA was appointed pastor by Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, on Dec. 1, 2006. At present, four other Augustinian friars assist Rev. Centina: Rev. Basilio S. Alava, OSA, Rev. Abel G. Alvarez, OSA, Rev. Angel S. Dulanto and Rev. Jose H. Herrero, OSA.

[edit] Pastors who served at Holy Rosary

Rev. Angel S. Dulanto, OSA, former pastor of Holy Rosary Parish.

(1884) Rev. Joseph A. Byron
(1893) Rev. Francis H. Wall, DD
(1909) Rt. Rev. Msgr. Rev. William J. Guinan, DD
(1916) Rev. Thomas F. Kane
(1918) Rt. Rev. Msgr. Gaetano Arcese, PA (Italian congregation)
(1925) Rt. Rev. Msgr. Gaetano Arcese, PA
(1953) Rt. Rev. Msgr. Bonaventure Filitti, PA
(1956) Rev. Salvatore Cantatore
(1968) Rev. Msgr, Raphael Lombardi, PA
(1969) Rev. Msgr. Victor Pavis, PA
(1976) Rev. Ronald Ciaravolo
(1978) Rev. Nicanor L. Lana, OSA, Ph.D.
(1994) Rev. Angel S. Dulanto, OSA
(2006) Rev. Gilbert Luis R. Centina III, OSA

[edit] Priests assigned at Holy Rosary

Rev. Ábel G. Alvarez, OSA, one of the current parochial vicars at Holy Rosary Parish.

Three Augustinian priests who have served at Holy Rosary Parish since 1978: (From left) Rev. Nicanor L. Lana, Ph.D. (1923-2006), Rev. Angel S. Dulanto and Rev. José H. Herrero.

Rev. Joseph A. Byron, Rev. Charles A. Meredith, Rev. James T. McGovern, Rev. John B. O'Hare, Rev. Patrick J. Clancy, Rev. Francis H. Wall, DD, Rev. John T. Power, Rev. Edward F. Somers,Rev. Patrick J. Minogue, Rev. John J. Mallon, Rev. Edward J. Tierney, Rev. William G. Murphy, Rev. William A. Courtney, Rev. John J. O'Brien,Rev. Andrew T. Roche, Rev. James Murphy, Rev. John T, Kelly, Rev. John J. Twomey, Rev. John B. Kelly, Rev. David C. O'Connor, Rt. Rev. Msgr. William J. Guinan, DD, Rev. James H. Flood, Rev. James E. Kearney, Rev. William A. Gill, Rev. Martin F. Cavanagh, Rev. William P. Little, DD, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Gaetano Arcese, PA, Rev. Thomas F. Kane, Rev. Catello Terrone, Rev. John C. McGinn, Rev. Dominic J. Eiorentino, Rev. Edward S. Mahoney, Rev. Matteo D. Iorio, Rev. Francis M. O'Reilly, Rev. John E. McEntee, Rev. Emilio Di Matteo, Rev. Giacinto Napolitano, Rev. Giuseppe Piciocchi, Rev. Joseph McKenna, Rev. Eugenio Fisco, DD, Rev. Michele Celai Zarb, Rev. Arthur Tommaso, Rev. Giocomo Lassandro, Rev. Edward Marcuzzi, Rev. John Casey, Rev. Angelo Maciola, Rev. Leonard Pavone, Rev. Edward J. Waterson, STD, Rev. Charles F. Rizzo, Rev. Joseph A. Vitanza, Rev. Henry J. Lenahan, STD, Rev. Joeph A. Dunn, Rev. Luis Giunta, Rev. John Caldarola, Rev. Arnold J. Raines, Rev. Thomas J. Donnelly, Rev. Salvatore Cantatore, Rev. Msgr. Raphael Lombardi, PA, Rev. Edward I. Giblin, Rev. Constantino De Santis, Rev. Robert Mazziotta, Rev. Harold Higgins, Rev. Matthew Cox, Rev. George A. Giammarino, Rev. Aido Camiato, Rev. Michael Alessandro, Rev. Msgr. Victor Pavis,PA, Rev. Augustine G. Di Blasi, Rev. Anthony E. Ricotti, Rev. Edward Montano, Rev. Vincent Cracco, Rev. Leonard Di Falco, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Bonaventure Filitti, PA, Rev. Angelo Volpicello, Rev. Michael Olivieri, Rev. Robert Banome, Rev. Vincent Resta, Rev. Adrew Savarese, Rev. Philip J. Trainor, Rev. Charles Zanotti, Rev. John Vala, Rev. T. Benavides, Rev. Di Fiori, Rev. Esviardo Palomino, Rev. Nicanor L. Lana, OSA, Ph.D., Rev. Andres G. Niño, OSA,Ph.D., Rev. Lester S. Avestruz, OSA, Rev. Felix Merino, OSA, Rev. Laureano Andres, OSA, Rev. Isaac Insunza, OSA, Rev. German Villabon, OSA, Rev. Manuel Cadierno, OSA, Rev. Armando I. Lavarone, Rev. Abel G. Alvarez, OSA, Rev. Angel S. Dulanto, OSA, Rev. Jose H. Herrero, OSA, Rev. Juan Manuel Chaguaceda, OSA, Ph.D., Rev. Gilbert Luis R. Centina III, OSA, Rev. Basilio S. Alava, OSA.