The Newark star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1909, 1909-07-12
ST. JAMES CHURCH
HAS LONG HISTORY
Wonderful Growth and Work
Recorded Since Starting
in 1854.

When the original st. James's Roman
Catholic Church was dedicated by
Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley in the
the land east of the Pennsylvania
Railroad tracks to the Plank Road
bridge on the Passaic river, north to
and along the river and south to the
swamp meadows. 1t was a brick
building 40 by so feet. three stories,
the first being used for church serv-
ices and the two others as a school.
Though the building was finished
while the Rev. James Callan was pas
tor, the cornerstone was laid while the
Rev. Benjamin F. Allaire, secretary to
Bishop Bayley, vas in charge of the
parish.
In those days the territory which
now comprises the Fifth, Tenth n
Twelfth wards, with a population OF
fully 100, 900, was thinly settled. h
Irish Catholic residents were mainly
working people. but they were loyal
to their church and generous in their
contributions to its support.
The Rev. Father Callan was pastor
until 1854, when he went to California,
where he met with a cad death.
Buys First valuable Land.
The Rev. John Mary Geryais, a ma
tive of France, who was an assistant
to the Rev. Bernard ]. McQuaid, the
late bishop of Rochester, N. " at 81.
Patricks Cathedral, succeeded father
Callen as pastor. He raised money to
buy the block now bounded by Lafay-
ette, Madison, jefferson and Elm
strrets, and he began raising money to
build a new church. After the founda-
ton walls were started, Father Ger
vais was seen working daily with the
masons and the laborers.
New Building Erected.
The result of his energy was the
erection of the present fine stone
building at the corner of Lafayette and
Jefferson streets. Bishop Bayley dedi-
Gated the new church on June II, 1866.
1t Is one of the largest churches in
Essex county. Father Gervais also
erected the buildings now occupied as
parochial schools, one of the largest in
New Jersey, st. Jamess Hall and st.
James's Hospital. The latter was made
possible by the generosity of Nicholas
Moore, a rich member of the church.
who, when he died, bequeathed a large
sum for the hospital. Father Gervais
died in 1872 at the age of AZ years.
The Rev. Patrick Cody, now the Very
Rev. Dean Cody, took charge of the
parish In 1873. He was ordained priest
ON December 10, 1861, was project and
vice-president of Seton Hall College
until the building was burned in 1866,
after which he was assistant in St.
Peters, New Brunswick, and then in
st. Peters, Jersey City. He was next
pastor in Hackensack, where he fin
ished the church in 1868, and from 1869
until he was appointed pastor Of st.
James's Church he did good work at st.
Patrick's. Elizabethport.
No Vacation In SO Years.
During the t~hirty-six years he has
been at st. James as pastor Dean
Cody has never taken a vacation.
st. James's is the mother of our
parishes that have been carved out OF
the original big parish. They are st.
B~enedict's, st. Augustine's, ST. Mary's
ION the island,'' and Noun Carmel.
st. Aloysius's and st. Benedict's
churches are fine structures, and there
are large school buildings and halls
N1Outt II . ali plip
church. The German attend st. Bene-
diets, which is in charge of Benedlc-
tine priests. st. Columbus Church has
also drawn from the west end of the
Tenth ward members of the old ST.
James's parish.
Gifts of ParishiSncrs.
All the beautiful cathedral stained
glass windows in the present church
and the paintinge of the saints and the
groups In panels on the walls of the
chancel about and above the main
altar, also the statues, We're gifts from
old members of the church and from
some members of ST. Patrick's Cathe-
dral and other parishes. The windows
were gifts from Nicholas Moore, John
Kenneth. Thomas and Elizabeth Nor
risey. Thomas O'Connor, Catherine
O'Connor, Patrick and Sarah Brady.
Patrick n Ann Lynch, Henry and
Ann Mooney, Charles and Catherine
Phillips. Martin and Catherine Cole.
man, Julia Moore, Michael and Ellen
Stanley. Jane Kennett, Ann Moore.
The splendid group painted in large
panels on the chancel walls above the
grand altar were gifts from Julia
Moore. Thomas and Catherine O'Con-
nor, Edward and Margaret Kelly,
Christopher and Elizabeth Nugent,
Patrick and Sarah Brady.
The fifteen life-size paintings of
snints on the wall of the chancel were
gifts from Thomas O'Connor, Mar
garet O'Connor. William F. Jones.
Mary and Catherine O'Connor, James
Hart and wife, John Walsh, Michael
n Ann Nerney, Peter and Bernard
GrannOn, Patrick and Sarah Rrady.