There is so much Catholic American history associated with this old cathedral, first dedicated on August 15, 1815, in lower Manhattan. It is now a parish with very a diverse ethnic congregation, especially of Chinese Catholics. In fact, I think, Chinatown New York grew up around the old Saint Patrick’s.
National Catholic Register has an interesting article by Joseph Pronechen on the old Cathedral here in today’s column. Here’s the lede:
Fittingly, on March 17, 2010, St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in Manhattan was officially named the first basilica in the Archdiocese of New York. This is not the new St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Midtown that receives about 20,000 visitors and worshippers every day — but the 200-year-old church that was the city’s original cathedral. Its cornerstone was laid in 1809, and it was officially dedicated on the feast of the Ascension in 1815.
