Jun 12, 2018
The Dominicans have just celebrated the 150-year jubilee of
their ministry on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Fr. John Maria
Devaney, O.P., host of the Order’s Word to Life program on
Sirius XM, takes me through the history of the Dominicans in NYC
(which involves quite a bit of history of the city itself). From
Rose Hawthorne to Andy Warhol, it is a fascinating and grace-filled
legacy.
Links
Word to LifeFr. John’s Sirius XM radio show https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/word-to-life/id1416667926
Dominican Friars Province of St. Joseph https://opeast.org/category/word-to-life/
The St. John Paul II Society https://www.stjohnpaul.org/
The Angelic Warfare Confraternity http://www.angelicwarfareconfraternity.org/
Book mentioned by Fr. John, Pioneer Priests and Makeshift
Altars: A History of Catholicism in the Thirteen Colonies by
Fr. Charles Connor https://amzn.to/2Mk6Iyo
Timestamps
2:17 Father John’s background and call to the priesthood
4:34 Parish missions: the beginnings of Dominican ministry in
Manhattan in 1867; Catholic demographics in New York at the
time
14:57 The second church of St. Vincent Ferrer that was built
after the arrival of more Irish immigrants; Dominican Sisters of
St. Mary of the Springs start a school
17:20 The English sisters who served poor immigrants and started
the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill
21:07 Aside on Bishop John Hughes, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and
Dominican friars out West
26:38 The first two bishops of New York were Dominican
28:47 The gilded age of New York: opening the Priory of St.
Vincent Ferrer and the Mission Church of St. Catherine of Siena
35:07 The story of Rose Hawthorne and her founding of a
community of Dominican sisters to care for poor cancer sufferers
(the “Hawthorne Dominicans”)
41:54 Rose’s cause for canonization and its importance in
combatting assisted suicide; her connection to Sloan-Kettering and
Dominican hospital work in NYC more generally
47:48 The vital role of Dominican nuns and sisters
49:44 The current St. Vincent Ferrer church built in Gothic
style by the great architect Bertram Goodhue
52:02 The stained-glass Aristotle window; his importance to the
Dominicans
56:15 Developments in the neighborhood since the 1950s
57:39 Andy Warhol’s attendance of St. Vincent Ferrer
1:01:28 Catholicism in the public sphere and art circles in the
mid-20th century
1:03:42 The Dominican mission of influencing NYC as a cultural
hub today; the Dominican contribution to Catholicism in the US is
devotional life
1:09:55 The Our Lady of Fatima statue at St. Vincent Ferrer
which was sculpted by Fr. McGlynn under the direction of Sister
Lucia, the piece of St. John Paul II’s bloodstained cassock from
when he was shot
1:14:48 The importance of the rosary to Dominicans and all
Catholics
1:18:56 How Fr. Matthew Carroll got the sisters to wear their
habits again
1:27:36 This week’s excerpt: Pope St. John Paul II,
Crossing the Threshold of Hope