A brief history of the now closed Our Lady of Angels church follows; prior to 1867, the
spiritual needs of Albany’s Catholic Germans were served by the priests of Holy
Cross Parish- the only German-language Catholic parish in the city. It soon became evident that another parish
was needed. Holy Cross church had become
too small to accommodate all of its numerous parishioners. The church was close to the South End, but
many German Catholics lived a great distance from the church, in the Bowery
section of Albany. In 1867 the Very
Reverend Edgar Wadhams, Vicar-General of the Roman Catholic diocese, requested
the Franciscan Fathers to organize a parish for German Catholics in the western
section of the city of Albany.[1] Father Francis M. Neubauer of the Order of
Friars Minor Conventual (OFM) was named the first pastor of the new
Catholic-German congregation, Maria
Königin der Engel, or Our Lady of Angels, for the western part of Albany on
June 19, 1867. At this time Father
Neubauer had a congregation of only 150 families, no money, property or
plans. In time the parish grew and
became the city’s largest German Roman Catholic parish, including over six
hundred families before the turn of the century.
Through the kindness
of the neighboring pastor for the Irish Saint Patrick’s Church, Father Francis
was allowed to offer Mass in Saint Patrick’s Hall, since he did not have a
church.[2] Father Francis immediately sought a building
that would be suitable for use as a church until a permanent structure was
erected. Within two weeks he rented
Coulson’s Factory at 328 Central Avenue.
At this locale the first mass was offered in this temporary church on
July 14, 1867. Soon a lot was purchased
on the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Robin Street, formerly Perry
Street. The existing building, an old
malt house, was razed, and work began on the new church’s foundation in
September 1868. Within two months, on
November 29, 1868, the cornerstone was placed with impressive ceremonies
conducted by the Most Reverend John J. Conroy, D.D., Bishop of Albany. A parade from the bishop’s residence to the
site of the church inaugurated the event.
Numerous Catholic societies from the city took part in the
procession. Historian and antiquarian
Joel Munsell noted in his Collections on
the History of Albany that,
The German Catholics laid the corner
stone of a new church, to be called Holy Queen of Angels, on the corner of
Central Avenue and Robin Street… The notice [that was] published, [stated] that
the ceremonies would take place, and be attended with a grand procession,
called out one of the largest crowds we ever saw on any similar occasion.[3]
Finally on March 26, 1871, Bishop
Conroy, together with pastors from other city churches, blessed the new church
with imposing ceremonies and dedicated it to Our Lady of Angels. The participants and onlookers of the ritual
included fully six thousand people who assembled around, outside, and within
the church.[4]
 |
| Our Lady of Angels |
By 1890 the Our
Lady of Angels congregation consisted of six hundred families and included
numerous parish societies. Parish
organizations included the German Young Men’s Catholic Union, or German YMCU,
which was founded before 1897. Its
offices were located at 410 Sheridan Avenue, next to the school of Our Lady of
Angels. The YMCU first appeared in
Albany city directories in 1899- the year the writer assumes the society might
have been created. The Altar-Rosary
society was founded on June 30, 1867, and fostered devotion to the rosary and
provided furnishings for the altar. The
Saint Johannis Verein was established
on June 9, 1878, as an Unterstützungverein. The society joined the German Roman Catholic
Central Verein in 1885. The Verein
had ninety members as of 1897, and its capital totaled $2,969.88. Members paid quarterly dues of $1.25 for a $5.00
weekly sick benefit, a $100 death benefit, and a $75 benefit for the death of a
member’s wife.[5] The Holy Name Society was established in 1910
to promote proper respect for the Holy Name of Jesus. The Saint Elisabeth Society for the Poor was
organized on June 21, 1895, with forty members that conducted acts of charity
within the parish. The Saint Elizabeth Frauen Verein, the Männer-Unterstützungverein, the Saint Franciscus, and Saint Antonius
Vereine were all founded before
1897. The Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, Branch 230 was formed in the
parish, circa 1903. Other societies
included the Knights of Saint John’s, Saint Francis Commandery, No. 102. The Knights are an American Catholic
fraternal order which was founded in 1879.
The men of Our Lady of Angels parish established the order in November
1899. The Our Lady of Angels Council,
No. 145 of the Catholic Benevolent League, or CBL, was organized circa
1888. A choir group, the Liszt Chorus, was
established on September 1, 1891, with thirty-eight members that met in the
school house.[6] Additional parish societies included the Sodality
of the Blessed Sacrament, containing 320 members; the Little Sacred Heart,
including ninety members; the Order of Saint Francis, counting 250 members; and the League of the Sacred Heart,
numbering 1,000 members[7]
 |
| Our Lady of Angels, interior |
Nineteen acres of
land in Colonie were purchased in 1877 for the creation of a parish
cemetery. More acreage was later
purchased in 1948 to increase its size.
The cemetery is located east of Colonie Center shopping mall on Central
Avenue. In traditional German manner the
parish made an early provision for the education of the children. On June 29, 1867, a parochial school was
opened under the care of lay teachers, who were replaced two years later by
religious instructors. The parish
purchased a building on Washington Avenue for use as a school on January 3,
1866, and then sold it on June 9, 1868.
A frame house next to the church on the southwest corner of Robin and
Sherman Streets was acquired for use as the school. Shortly thereafter, a new school was built in
1874 on Sherman Street and was in use until 1927, when a new modern school was
built in its place. By 1870 there were 200
children in the parish school under the direction of three Sisters of the Third
Order of Saint Francis. In 1957, with an
enrollment of 822 pupils, Our Lady of Angels School was ranked as the fourth
largest elementary school in the diocese.[8] Regrettably, the school closed in 1986 due to
dwindling enrollment. The church served the
community for 138 years until it held its final mass on April 3, 2005.[9] (For a list of the Pastors of Our Lady of
Angels Church, see appendix II.)
 |
| Our Lady of Angels convent & school |
Pastors of Our Lady of Angels
Church
Francis M. Neubauer, 1867-77
Pius Kotterer, 1877-79
Maurice Bierl, 1879-83
Anselm Auling, 1883-89
Louis Miller, 1889-92
Fidelis Voight, 1892-99
Alphonse Lehrscholl, 1899-1912
Henry Thameling, 1912-1919
Sylvester Ahlhaus, 1919-1926
Camillus Eichenlaub, 1929-32
Innocent Dressel, 1932-35
Stephen Korthas, 1935-42
Gerard Stauble, 1942-48
Dominic Rapp, 1948-51
Denis Gallagher, 1951-57
Cuthbert Dittmeier, 1957-63
Matthias Manley, 1963-66
Crispin Fuino, 1966-76
Camillus Murray, 1976-77
Conall McHugh, 1977-82
Giles Van Wormer, 1982-88
Alvin Somerville, 1988-2001
Sister Margaret Walker (Parish Life Director) 2001-05
[1] Leary, The
History of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Albany, p. 269.
[2] One
Hundred Anniversary Celebration, 1867-1967 Our Lady of Angels Parish (Albany : 1967), pp. 14-17.
Our Lady of Angels Church, 125th
Anniversary, 1867-1992 (Tappan, NY: Custombook, 1992), pp. 20-22.
[3] Joel
Munsell, Collections on the History of Albany
[4] One
Hundred Anniversary Celebration, 1867-1967 Our Lady of Angels Parish, pp.
16-17. Our Lady of Angels Church, 125th
Anniversary, 1867-1992, pp. 20-22. Anne Roberts and Marcia Cockrell, eds., Historic Albany: Its Churches and Synagogues
(Albany: Library Communications Services, 1986), p. 217. Albany Argus, March 27, 1871, 4:1. n.
a., Geschichte der Deutschen in Albany
und Troy, pp. 133-137.
[5] n. a., Geschichte der Deutschen in Albany und Troy,
p. 97.
[6] n. a., Geschichte der Deutschen in Albany und Troy,
pp. 177-179.
[7] Louden, ed. Catholic
Albany, pp. 242-257. Times Union,
August 7, 1914, 8:6. n. a., Geschichte
der Deutschen in Albany und Troy, p. 137.
[8] Leary, The
History of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Albany, p. 49. History of Our Lady of Angels
School Albany : Our Lady of
Angels Church, 2002), pp. 1-5.
[9] Times Union, March 8, 2005, 1:2, April
4, 2005, B1: 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment