Church of St. Anselm and St. Roch (Bronx)

The Church of St. Anselm and St. Roch is a Catholic parish church in the Archdiocese of New York, located at 685 Tinton Avenue in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. It was established in 1891 and is staffed by the Order of Augustinian Recollects. Previously it was staffed by Benedictine monks.^{[4][5]: 5, 7}

The Church of St. Anselm
General information
Architectural style	Byzantine Revival style, Romanesque Revival
St. Anselm's Roman Catholic Church and School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	683 Tinton Ave., Bronx, New York
Coordinates	40°48′58″N 73°54′20″W
Area	1.51 acres (0.61 ha)
Built	1892 (1892), 1908, 1917, 1956
Architect	Steinback, Gustave E., Kirby, John E.
Architectural style	Byzantine Revival, Classical Revival
NRHP reference No.	13001151[1]
Added to NRHP	February 5, 2014
Town or city	Mott Haven, Bronx, New York City
Country	United States
Completed	1918[2]
Client	Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Anton Koster (according to the AIA Guide to NYC 2010)[3] Gustave E. Steinback (according to the AIA Guide to NYC 1978 and Steinback himself)[2]

Building

The present church was built 1918 in the Byzantine Revival style. Its design is inspired by the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. It is an approximately two-story brick building topped by a large dome surrounded by a series of smaller domes.^[5] The designs was credited to Gustave Steinback and his noted ecclesiastical architectural firm by the AIA Guide to NYC (1978) and according to Steinback's own claim to the American Institute of Architects for its registry filings.^[2] However, the AIA Guide to NYC (2010) has revised the architect of the design to Anton Kloster.^[3] Other guides have also attributed the work to Kloster.^[6][7] It is possible that Kloster worked for Steinback at the time.

The church interior, supported by Romanesque Corinthian marble columns, is decorated with geometric mosaics.^[8] Art historian Annie Labatt sees the influence of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in the apse.^[9]

The adjacent school is a four-story, brick building with terra cotta accents in the Classical Revival style.^[5]

The church and school were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.^[1]

Parish

The parish was organized in July 1891 to serve the German Catholic community and entrusted to the Benedictines. The first pastor was Abbot Alexius Edelbrock. It became a dependent priory of St. John's Abbey in Minnesota. The original church on 151st St. was dedicated in 1893. In 1908 a brick school was built, which opened for classes in 1909.^[10] It was originally staffed by the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt. In 1912 a playground was added, probably the first attached to a Catholic school in New York.^[4]

In addition to their parish work, the monks at St. Anselm's also served as chaplains to the Corpus Christi Monastery of Dominican nuns at Hunt's Point, the Sevilla Children's Home, and supervised the order's mission in the Bahamas. In the early 1900s, the parish sponsored a Fife and Drum Corps.^[4]

Augustinian Recollects took over responsibility for administering the parish; its ethnic make-up has evolved to reflect Spanish and Latin American heritage.

Pastors

• Alexius Edelbrock O.S.B., 1891 - September 1907
• Bernard Kevenhorster O.S.B. (prior), October 1907 -
• Fr Andres Alava, O.A.R., 1985 to 1992, (admin)
• Fr.Antonio Palacios O.A.R (2003-2016)

(Pastor)

Church of St. Anselm and St. Roch

Fr.Antonio Palacios O.A.R (2015-2016) Fr. Enrique Salvo (2016-2021). Fr. Micheal Eguino (2022-Present) fr. damian baker was the pastor in the 1950s to early 1960s

Church of St. Roch

St. Roch 525 Wales Av

The Church of St. Roch was founded in 1899 as a national parish to serve Italian Catholics. The first pastor was Rev. John Milo. The original church building was located on 150th St. near Robbins Ave. Later, a larger church was constructed on Wales Ave. The new church, designed by Anthony J. DePace of DePace and Juster,^[3] was dedicated in 1932. For many years in the mid-twentieth century the parish put on a Passion Play. The parish's ethnic composition developed to reflect immigrants from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Mexico. In 1974 the archdiocese transferred parish administration to the Augustinian Recollects of the Province of St. Nicholas of Tolentine, based in Madrid. From 1985 to 1992, due to low attendance, St. Roch's became a mission parish of St. Anselm's, also in the care of the Recollects.^[11]

In 2015 the parish of St. Roch was merged with St. Anselm's.^[12] Effective November 2017, the St. Roch's church building was desacralized.^[13]

Pastors

• Fr John Milo, 1899
• Msgr. Ignatius Cirelli
• Fr George A. Giammarino, 1968-1974
• Fr Gregorio Garcia, O.A.R., 1974 to 1976
• Fr Angelsan Ufrasio, O.A.R., 1976 to 1979
• Fr Patrick O'Hagan, O.A.R., 1979 to 1985
• Fr Andres Alava, O.A.R., 1985 to 1992, (admin)
• Fr Ignacio Basterra, O.A.R., 1992 to 1995
• Fr Francisco Oviedo, O.A.R., 1995

References

1. "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 2/03/14 through 2/07/14. National Park Service. 2014-02-14.
2. Norval White and Elliot Willensky, AIA Guide to New York City, rev. ed., (New York: Collier Books, 1978), p.314.
3. White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City. American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (Fifth ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 823. ISBN 978-0-19-538386-7.
4. Remigius Lafort, S.T.D., Censor, The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X. Volume 3: The Province of Baltimore and the Province of New York, Section 1: Comprising the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn, Buffalo and Ogdensburg.. (New York City: The Catholic Editing Company, 1914), p. 381. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
5. "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original (Searchable database) on 2019-04-04. Retrieved 2015-12-01. Note: This includes Julie Kroon and Jennifer Walkowski (December 2013). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: St. Anselm's Roman Catholic Church and School" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-12-01. and Accompanying photographs
6. See Thomas J. Shelley, The Archdiocese of New York: the Bicentennial History, (New York: Archdiocese of New York / Strasbourg: Éditions du Signe, 2007), p.216, 219.
7. McMahon, Joe (March 25, 2008). "Saint Anselm, Tinton Avenue, Morrisania". Bronx Catholic. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
8. Sanchez-Korrol, Virginia (August 19, 2013). "Saving St. Anselm's". Huffington Post.
9. Labatt, Annie (March 28, 2012). "St. Anselm". The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
10. "Welcome to St. Anselm Parochial school".
11. Burger, John (November 2, 1999). "We Love This Church". Catholic New York.
12. Timothy Cardinal Dolan (November 2, 2014). "Decree on the Merger of the Territorial Parish of St. Anselm, Bronx, NY and the Personal Parish of St. Roch, Bronx, NY" (PDF).
13. Timothy Cardinal Dolan (November 30, 2017). "Decree on the Relegation of the Church of St. Roch, Bronx, New York" (PDF).

External links

• Church of St. Anselm and St. Roch website