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The Nativity of Our Blessed Lady is a Roman Catholic parish church under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 1510 East 233rd Street and the corner of Secor Avenue, Bronx, New York in the Eastchester neighborhood of the northern Bronx. The church was designed by Don Shepherd, a designer and not an architect. The ''AIA Guide to New York City'' described it as "a minor work but one which calls attention to itself because of its location and the rusted steel crucifix that dominates the corner of the site."〔 ==History== The Nativity of Our Blessed Lady church's cornerstone is dated 1969. The original church of this parish was erected in 1924 (just across the street from its current location) within the confines of the present playground area (closer to Light Street) of The Nativity of Our Blessed Lady School (3893 Dyre Avenue), a Roman Catholic grammar school which opened in 1953 and has seen different orders of educators, including the Sisters of Mercy (who practiced light physical punishment on students during their tenure, including the use of their own hands as disciplinary instruments, as well as rulers), the Sisters of Charity, & several Dominican nuns. While the original church was being constructed, masses for the community's primarily Italian, German, and Irish parishioners were conducted at Brienlinger's Hall (approximately one quarter-mile from East 233rd Street) at the corner of Boston Post Road (Route 1) and Dyre Avenue. Nativity parishioner Angelina "Lilly" Cosentino remembers that Brienlinger's was a popular party and dance hall, recalling (at the age of 99 in 2012), "During the winter & spring of 1922-1923, prior to the church's opening in 1924, Sunday Masses were held at Brienlinger's. The priests at that time were Fathers Ross, Quill, and Ferris. They had a German festival every Sunday night at Brienlinger's, which had surrounding property with a picnic area, swing sets, a carousel, and a puppet show theater where they used to put on presentations of 'Punch & Judy.' My brother Benny Cosentino and Neil Zottoli used to organize a lot of the dances there. In the summer of 1923, a huge tent was erected on the corner of East 233rd and Secor Avenue, where the present Nativity church now stands, and they held Masses there. It was very hot and humid under that tent." When the original church opened in 1924, Marina Cosentino (Lilly's mother) made and donated the crocheted-border tablecloths for the altar. Lilly also remembers movie nights and minstrel shows inside the original church during the 1920s. Lilly Cosentino remembers the priests of the parish well: "Fr. Ross made it clear that he did not like the Italians, and during Mrs. Greco's Funeral Mass, he told the congregation that New York's Sing-Sing prison was full of young Italian boys. When Fr. Ross married my brother Benny years later, my brother reminded him of that callous remark, and Fr. Ross apologized. Fr. Ferris told us that despite how the Catholic Church stressed the need for confession with the priests, we should make our own private confessions to God, kneeling at the altar's Communion rail. Fr. Ferris loved the children of the parish. He was ice-skating with a group of them down at the creek one winter when he suffered a heart attack and died." The original Nativity church was destroyed by fire in 1958 when the parish priests included Frs. Murray and O'Hara. Parishioner Marie Sforza remembers, "During the fire, two or three men rushed into the church to climb up into the niche above the altar and rescue the beautiful wood-carved statue of the Blessed Mother and carry it out of the church before it burned. About 20 years later, I happened to ask the school's custodian Pat Rose whatever became of that statue. To my horror, he told me it was kept in a school janitorial closet for all those years, and he added that just the day before I asked, he had 'chopped her up' and put it out for garbage" (in keeping with the practice that Catholic religious statues must be destroyed to protect them from desecration). There was a great sense of community associated with Nativity church and school and its parishioners during the Sixties and Seventies. Praise Cleaners, a staple business on Dyre Avenue for decades owned and operated by parishioner Jimmy Ricciardi, was located directly across from Nativity's convent (1534 East 233rd Street), and offered free dry-cleaning services to the nuns who taught at Nativity school. Marie Sforza, a member of the Nativity Women's Bowling League for over 30 years (the League remains in existence today), enrolled her four children in Nativity School during the 1960s and volunteered her time typing school newsletters, performing lunch duty and playground supervision, sorting bags of raffle tickets for card party events, helping with bizarres, book fairs, bake sales and Bingo, cleaning the church's altar, and donating baked goods to the convent and the rectory (1531 East 233rd Street), both of which still stand opposite each other. Marie's husband, Mickey, painted the interiors of the current church, as well as the convent, in the 1970s with son Michael, and they would sometimes be obliged to stop their painting at the request of then-Monsignor Griffin, so he could say daily Masses. Mickey & Marie's two daughters, Jeannie and Theresa, participated with other female students in housekeeping duties (within the convent to assist the Sisters). Marie's in-laws, Antoinette and Crescenzo ("John") Sforza (a WWI veteran) from nearby Pratt Avenue, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary while still parishioners, and they were very involved with the Altar Rosary Society (which relied upon women volunteers to launder and iron the altar cloths and help secure donations from parishioners), and with Bingo, as was Louis DeFeo from Conner Street. John Sforza and Louis DeFeo's involvement with running Bingo for the parish continued when the games moved from the school auditorium on Dyre Avenue to the Loew's Theater on Boston Post Road near Corsa Avenue in the Hillside section of the Bronx. At DeFeo's suggestion, the large theater offered better ventilation than the cramped school auditorium with its heavy smoking congregation. DeFeo (a WWII veteran) remembers how Monsignor Griffin would never supply enough funds to furnish the prize money during the Bingo games, so DeFeo would often borrow money from the pizzeria next to the theater, then repay the owner when enough money was collected from the players. DeFeo's wife, Jeanette, was very involved with the P.T.A., and along with friend & parishioner Rita Tosi, organized feasts for the Saints under the direction of Monsignor Donavan. A lifelong artist, Jeanette, with the help of Fr. Escrita, painted a mural which she donated to the school. Parish priests during the 1970s and 1980s included Frs. Corrigan, Jadoff, O'Neil and the stern Monsignor Ziccarelli. After the original church burned, Masses and church events were held in the school auditorium for a decade, with a makeshift altar on the auditorium's small stage and rows of folding chairs serving as pews. Large oscillating fans were brought into the auditorium during the summer months to help keep the congregation cool. Masses continued there until the construction and opening of the new and present Nativity church in 1969, the interior of which features textured stucco-type walls and dark wood accents on the altar and confessionals, as well as contrasting red wood pews. A large Crucifix hangs on the back wall at the center of the altar, and a very contemporary, very large, even overpowering wood-sculpted risen Christ with arms extended to Heaven covers the altar's side wall by the organ and added piano. The Stations of the Cross hang as large wood-carved plaques, partially illuminated by ten skylights (in addition to the large skylight positioned directly above the altar's center table structure, divided into four sections by two substantial crossing beams), and more modern additions include carpeting on the altar, electronic candle bays, and a large painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe near the original tabernacle (a much smaller tabernacle now occupies the back of the altar, partially obscuring the large Crucifix there). The acoustics system is exceptional in its clarity and resonance. The church's congregation now represents many ethnic groups, reflecting the residential population of the Eastchester area. Male parishioners continue the tradition of collecting the monetary offerings during Mass, and October is observed as "The Month of the Rosary," during which a statue of the Blessed Mother is moved to a new home each Friday and stays one week for a "Rosary Visit." According to the weekly bulletin, current weekend Masses include a Saturday evening vigil and a Sunday Spanish Mass, as well as 7a.m. weekday Masses. The current parish clergy are Rev. Cyprian Onyeihe (Administrator) and Rev. James Sheehan (Sunday Mass Associate), and Ralph Carbonaro serves as the Nativity's School Principal. Before Sunday Mass, Rev. Onyeihe asks members of the congregation who have celebrated a birthday in the past week to stand while the remaining parishioners serenade these individuals with the "Happy Birthday" song. Rev. Onyeihe involves the congregation in his homilies, stepping off the altar into the center aisle and encouraging audience participation. Tag sales are held in the school auditorium to help raise funds for the parish. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Our Lady of the Nativity of Our Blessed Lady's Church (Bronx, New York)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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