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Msgr. Hugh Corrigan’s history of “The Parish of St. Mary’s of the Immaculate Conception, Yonkers, 1848-2016” was a long time coming before it was published this summer.
Msgr. Corrigan said he first had the idea to write such a book in 1992, when he was about five years into his pastorate. The occasion was the 100th anniversary of the parish’s magnificent church building at 103 South Broadway. He came up with a history of that edifice, done mostly as a thank you for people who donated money for the centennial.
Just as the parish began celebrations for its 150th anniversary, which took place in 1998, Msgr. Corrigan undertook another writing project. That time, he asked parishioners to tell him about their family histories, which he mounted onto posters that formed a parish history exhibit.
From his first days at St. Mary’s, or Immaculate Conception as it is canonically known, in 1987, Msgr. Corrigan has kept a journal. It gave him ready access to names and dates that were essential as he related the story of his own pastorate, which covers one-fourth of the 122-page book.
Twenty-four pages of photos from those years follow, and an 11-page section of historical photos finds an appropriate place earlier.
The story and growth of St. Mary’s, where the first parish Mass was offered on Christmas Day 1848, in many ways parallels the history of Yonkers. According to figures from the 1850 census, which Msgr. Corrigan cites, 18 percent of the fledgling Westchester city’s 4,160 residents were Irish. The parish boundaries of St. Mary’s in the year it was founded took in the entire City of Yonkers, plus Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Van Cortlandt and Mosholu, all in the Bronx.
Twenty years later, the Irish population more than doubled to 40 percent, and the number of residents rose to 18,318. Parishioners had first thought their new church was too large for their needs; by 1863, the size of the church had to be almost doubled to meet the demand of Catholics who were coming to Yonkers to flee the famine in Ireland and to find work in America.
Interestingly, the first pastor of St. Mary’s was Jesuit Father John Ryan, who stayed less than a year before he was transferred to St. Francis Xavier parish in Manhattan. Father Ryan, we learn, would go on to become a diocesan priest and would later be the founding pastor of another parish, Immaculate Conception on East 14th Street in Manhattan.
Many of the chapters, as might be expected, are devoted to the pastors who led St. Mary’s through its history. One of note was the second, Father Thomas Preston, a former Episcopalian priest who was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1850 and became pastor of St. Mary’s the next year. “Rivaling the open air prayer meetings of Protestants, he preached special missions at St. Mary’s that attracted thousands of Catholics from all over Westchester,” Msgr. Corrigan wrote.
Father Preston later served the archdiocese as chancellor and then vicar general, and he helped Mother Mary Veronica to establish the Sisters of the Divine Compassion in White Plains.
Msgr. Corrigan, now 77, was for many years regional vicar of Yonkers as well as pastor of St. Mary’s, where he has served as administrator since 2013. He also holds a master’s degree in sociology from the New School for Social Research and taught the subject for 13 years at Cathedral College in Douglaston, Queens, before arriving at St. Mary’s.
His perspective as pastor and vicar is invaluable and fascinating, as he goes into detail without pulling punches on controversial topics, such as the Yonkers desegregation case. He said he was especially interested in getting out the word about how hard the Catholic clergy of Yonkers worked during that time. “The story deserves to be told. We weren’t sitting on the sidelines,” he said during our interview in his rectory two weeks ago.
The book offers glimpses into Msgr. Corrigan’s personal life, such as Chapter 28, “Room With a View.” He writes about the three-decade view he’s had from the windows of his upstairs living room in the rectory. In a poignant aside, he describes looking out at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Nursing Home, where his mother lived with dementia for 10 years. “Her room faced my room,” he wrote. “She could see into my room and I could see her if she came to the window. It was a great comfort for both of us.”
The book’s first page is filled with acknowledgements of the various published works and studies that Msgr. Corrigan credits in his research.
Then there were longtime parishioners, such as Josephine Mastronardi, who was parish secretary for more than 40 years before her retirement and kept files of information that Msgr. Corrigan mined for his project. “She was invaluable,” he said.
The trick of publishing such a book, Msgr. Corrigan said, is “how do you bring all these bits and pieces together?” It appears that he figured it out just fine.
Obviously, space limitations don’t permit me to tell the full story. If you would like to read Catholic history with a Yonkers twist, then order a copy of “The Parish of St. Mary’s.” Cost: $30, plus $5 shipping. Information: (914) 963-0156.
