History of the Catholic Church in Paterson, N.J.: with an Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Establishment of St. John's ChurchShriner, Charles A. (Charles Anthony)
History
History of the Catholic Church in Paterson, N.J.: with an Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Establishment of St. John's Church
Shriner, Charles A. (Charles Anthony)
Catholic Church -- New Jersey -- Paterson; Paterson (N.J.) -- Church history; St. John's Church (Paterson, N.J.)
pastor of this church he died in the 62nd year of his life on the 7th of
December, 1854. His remains were interred on the 9th of the same month
in St. Patrick's Cathedral, the funeral being attended by a large
concourse of admiring and sorrowing friends, both of the clergy and
laity.
In the latter part of the pastorate of Father O'Reilly the congregation
of St. John's had so increased in numbers that it was found necessary to
enlarge the church. Steps were accordingly taken in this direction, but
the project was not carried into execution until some time after the
advent of Father James Quin, who came to Paterson in 1845. There was
considerable discussion concerning the plans of the addition and the
work was not begun until 1846. Instead of erecting the church to the
size of the old foundation walls--which had been entirely torn down and
used in the construction of the first part of the church in 1833--the
building was made thirteen feet longer, so that the present size of the
church is one hundred and thirteen feet deep and fifty-five front. The
original plot of land obtained from Mr. Colt would not have permitted of
the erection of a building of that size, and so an arrangement was
entered into with the county--which at that time was contemplating the
erection of the present county jail--by which the congregation deeded to
the county a gore of land in return for another gore of similar size.
The addition to the church was built by Colonel Andrew Derrom, and
resulted in a vexatious law suit which was decided in favor of the
congregation. Shortly after the completion of the addition the seating
capacity of the church was considerably enlarged by the erection of a
gallery on the sides of the church. The seating capacity of the church
was about 1,300. As was the case with the first half of the church
building the moneys needed for the construction came in in a very
satisfactory manner so that the church had very little debt when the
structure was accepted from the contractors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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