St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church,Philadelphia

The Baptismal font in front of the St. Joseph’s altar at St.Michael’s Church in Philadelphia.

St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church is an ac-tive parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese ofPhiladelphia located at Second and Jefferson Streets inPhiladelphia, in the West Kensington section of the city(sometimes referred to as "Old Kensington").

1 Today

The parish assumed its current configuration under ParishAdministrator Msgr. John J. Miller, when St. Michael’sabsorbed the neighboring parish of Immaculate Concep-tion in July 2011.[1] Msgr. Miller served as parochial ad-ministrator at St. Michael’s from early 2011 until he wasreplaced in 2014] by the Rev. Arturo Chagala, who hadbeen ordained in the Denver Archdiocese in 2013.[2] AsofMarch 2015, the church has daily Mass at 8 a.m. Mon-day through Friday in the rectory chapel with Masses onSaturday evening at 5 p.m. and in the church on Sunday at8:30 a.m. (English) and 11:00 a.m. (Spanish). On mostholy days of obligation there is a 7 p.m. bi-lingual Mass.

There are also Sunday (10 a.m.) and holy day Masses(usually at noon) in English at Immaculate ConceptionChurch worship site. The website for the parish is here.

2 Founding

The parish was founded in 1831, the first CatholicChurch in the County of Philadelphia (but not withinthe Philadelphia City limits) on land purchased for$3,333.00.[3] The cemetery connected to the church wasthe first Catholic cemetery in the Philadelphia area. Theoriginal pastor, who served from 1833 until 1843, wasthe Very Rev. Terence Donaghoe, who also foundedthe Sisters of Charity, BVM with Mother Mary FrancesClarke and invited them to teach in the parish school.

3 Destruction of the originalchurch

View of the Churchyard at St. Michael’s Church in Philadelphia

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2 6 REFERENCES

The initial church was destroyed in the Nativist Riotsof 1844. The unrest began when the Catholic BishopFrancis Kenrick petitioned the Public School Board toallow use of the Douay-Rheims (Catholic) translation ofthe Bible by Catholic students, instead of forcing themto use the Authorized (King James/Protestant) Versionas did other students. A Nativist meeting to plan oppo-sition to this initiative was stopped by the Irish Catholicsand, following a second meeting in a local market whichthe Catholics considered their territory, violence brokeout, during which an Irish Catholic was seriously injuredand a Nativist killed after shots were fired from insidea local Irish Catholic volunteer fire house, the HiberniaHose Company, as well as by Nativists on the street. Theriots were only stopped after two Catholic churches, St.Michael’s and St. Augustine’s, burned, when, the follow-ing day, cannon were set up in front of the city’s CatholicCathedral (St. John the Evangelist) and General GeorgeCadwalader, who was in command of the state militia,threatened to shoot on anyone continuing the disorder.It took several years for the church to be rebuilt, alongthe pattern of the original church, using an award of$27,000.00 granted in December, 1847 in a suit againstPhiladelphia County for failing to protect the church andsurrounding buildings.Several long term changes resulted from the 1844 riots.First, the “outlying” districts of Philadelphia County, likeKensington, Northern Liberties and Southwark (whereSt. Philip Neri Church was also almost destroyed by fire)were incorporated into the City of Philadelphia and thepolice and fire departments in those areas unified with thecity’s. Secondly, Bishop Kenrick, dropped the tactic oftrying to influence the treatment of Catholic students inthe public schools in favor of creating exclusive parochialschools for Catholic children.

4 Changes of population and area

The membership of the church, at that time largely anIrish parish adjacent to the handloom weaving mills inKensington where both Catholic and Protestant Irishimmigrants worked, grew exponentially after the IrishPotato Famine in the late 1840s, but, as the surroundingarea saw the founding of additional Catholic churches, itsterritory and population dropped as the Catholics in thearea were divided among other parishes.Today, the parish boundaries extend broadly from WestKensington into Kensington, Fishtown and Northern Lib-erties, increasing notably after it assumed the territory ofthe neighboring Immaculate Conception Parish in 2011when that parish was suppressed and made a worshipsite of St. Michael’s.[4] In addition, there is a significantLatino population, mostly concentrated in West Kensing-ton, along with other ethnic groups in the remaining partsof the parish.

The rear of St. Michael’s Church in Philadelphia showing theorgan with American and Papal flags flying from the front ofthe choir loft.

5 Links with educational institu-tions

La Salle University began at the St. Michael’s School atSecond and Jefferson Streets in Philadelphia when theChristian Brothers opened a school there and taught theirfirst classes on July 20, 1858. Initially known as the “Select School,” it eventually took the name “ChristianBrothers Academy.” In 1863, the Academy became thecollege preparatory division of what was then La SalleCollege. In 1867, La Salle moved to Juniper and Fil-bert Streets; ultimately, the campus relocated to the Ol-ney Section of Philadelphia in 1929. The High Schoolseparated from the College and moved to Wyndmoor inthe 1960s. However, the connection with LaSalle liveson in a new school opened several years ago in one of theparish buildings.Several years after St. Michael’s Parish School closed,in 2002, the vacant convent was converted for use asLaSalle Academy of Philadelphia, a grade school meantto serve children from the immediate area of the parishwhich includes among its trustees members of the Chris-tian Brothers and the Sisters of St. Joseph. It featuresclass sizes of 15 or less, with an 11 month academic cal-endar.

6 References

[1] http://archphila.org/press%20releases/pr001820.php

[2] http://catholicphilly.com/2014/06/news/local-news/clergy-assignment-changes-announced-7/

[3] http://home.catholicweb.com/StMichaelsHistory/index.cfm/NewsItem?ID=233596&From=Home

[4] http://archphila.org/parishes/8270.php

3

Coordinates: 39°58′24″N 75°08′19″W / 39.97335°N75.13862°W

4 7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text• St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church, Philadelphia Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St.%20Michael’{}s%20Roman%20Catholic%20Church%2C%20Philadelphia?oldid=660145258 Contributors: Bearcat, TiMike, Bgwhite, Wmflanagan, The Anomebot2,Yobot and RevelationDirect

7.2 Images• File:Baptismal_Font_at_St._Michael’{}s_Philadelphia.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Baptismal_Font_at_St._Michael%27s_Philadelphia.jpg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Wmflanagan

• File:Organ_and_Choir_Loft.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Organ_and_Choir_Loft.jpg License:CC BY-SA 4.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Wmflanagan

• File:Panoramic_View_of_Cemetery.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Panoramic_View_of_Cemetery.jpg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Wmflanagan

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