The Irish standard., 1895-10-12
CATAC0MBS in GOTHAM.
Underneath st. Patrick's Church There
-s Are Many Things Of Interest.

/ Hamlet: Glow long will man lie i
the earth ere he decay"
Clown: 81 faith, y he will
| last you some eight year or nine year; a
tanner will last you nine year. s.
The first Christians in Rome were a
! prosecuted sect. Those who escaped the
sword and the beasts of the arena wor-
! SHIPPED in caverns and cellars. They also
lived for great part of their time in
these subterranean places, and when they
died were laid to rest there. Thus orig
| mated the Roman catacombs, which to
this day attract thousands of pilgrims to
the Eternal City.
But how many New Yorkers-travel-
| ers, historians or ents-know that
there are catacombs right here in New
York TASKS the World.
A well known citizen was eating a small
i'll an uptown hotel the other night when
he dove into his pocket and produced
two inches of tallow candle.
| "Do you see that?" he asked. @
! Yes said the person addressed, GU
riously.
"And do you see where the rats have
been gnawing it?" Then, after pause,
! he said: Eve been through the cata-
combs today. Some one had left this
candle there and the rats have been eat
| ing it. It is a gruesome sort of trophy,
but shall keep it in remembrance of my
visit to one of the most interesting places
in New York
The cataconbs alluded to are beneath
old st. Patrick's Church, in Mott street.
| formerly the archdiocese parish. The
| way to them lies through three trap
doors, situated just within the church
yard gate and down ten stone steps.
Draw your coat close about you, lest
you have a Chill said the guide to a
| World reporter later, as he lifted the an
cient matches.
The advice was timely, for Just then q
current Of musty air that seemed to chill
4 to the marrow poured from the opening.
Upon descending the stairs a torch was
| lighted, which brought to view three
long corridors of masonry, profusely cob
webbed. The gloom was intense and the
light of the torch penetrated it but slight
| ly. 1t was only after each of the crypts
had been traversed that a clear idea of
the dismal surroundings could be had.
! There are about half a hundred sepul-
chres ..or family vaults built into the
walls. Each vault will hold sixteen
| bodies, and many of them have their full
quota. Indeed, some might reveal even
more skeletons than this, for skeletons
have a way of crumbling and falling to
pieces after years and decades, thus max
| ing room for others. The truth as to the
| exact number of dead that sleep within
| these to1nbs can therefore only be rough
" estimated. They may number a thou
sand or they may number no more than
seven or eight hundred.
The tablets along the corridors identify
| the remains. Here Is the clerical vault,
containing the dust Of Vicar General
Starr and Mgr. Preston. A little further
on is the name Of John Kelly. He was
the founder of the Kelly family. destined
to become more famous through his son,
| bearing the same name. Here sleep the
father, son and two daughters.
! Far away in another corridor is the
nelmonico vault, founded by Francis, the
first of the great family of Chiefs in 1910.
| In another place sleeps Bishop Connolly.
He was the first Catholic Bishop resident
| in New York That was in 1926 and he
has been dead many years.
Another slab tells where the Sisters Of
| Mercy sleep. and a blank tablet was
| pointed out as. the resting place of the
| Paulist Fathers.
| These catacombs were built in 1875 or
earlier They We're intended to entomb
/ the families OF well-to-do New Workers
who approved of the ancient Roman
method Of burial. But nearly all Of its
| founders have long since been gathered
| to their fathers. and it is rarely that the
stones are rolled away from the vaults
| nowadays.
On Monday last a tomb was opened to
receive the body of Mrs. Hargons. mem
! Der of one of New York Oldest families,
who died at New Rochelle, aged SO years.