Outside The Church of the Most Precious Blood had its humble beginnings in 1888 when, by Vatican decree, a National Parish should be established in this area for the sole purpose of serving the rapidly growing number of Italian immigrants who, incidentally, were not welcomed into any of the other are churches, but were always relegated to worship and receive sacraments of the Church in the basements of other Parishes, such as Transfiguration, and St. Patrick's Cathedral located at that time on Mott Street. The creation of Most Precious Blood National Parish was to change all that, recognizing for the first time the many talents and accomplishments of our Italian heritage and people with Italian blood; the Scalabrini Fathers first undertook the burden of purchasing property and building what later became the lower church.

But within a short time, the Scalabrini Fathers realized that this was indeed a tremendous undertaking, and perhaps a burden which might have been just a trifle too heavy to carry for those shoulders of our ancestors who came here with absolutely nothing in their pockets,

and more than ideas in their minds. Though they did try to meet the interest payments on their loans, the Scalabrinians soon realized it would be impossible for them to make headway with the principle loans themselves, whereupon, they asked the Ordinary of the Archdiocese to relieve them of this burden and assign someone else to this work.

The Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception Province at this time were making great headway on the west side of Manhattan with the erection of a beautiful church dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua on Sullivan Street. They had friars who spoke Italian fluently and putting both of these ideas together, the Archbishop approached the Provincial Minister of the Franciscans about the possibility of taking over the site begun by the Scalabrini Congregation, and to also supervise the building of the new church on Baxter Street. The Provincial Minister would agree on one condition, that the Franciscans would be permitted to pay off the debt entirely in one shot and then without having this hanging over their heads like a dark could, they could go about their business of building the Upper Church. All the necessary permissions were given and the debts were paid off, and construction for the Upper Church began almost immediately. The friars realized well that the Italians of that district, having just arrived from Italy, were certainly in no financial position to assume the burden of taking upon an additional loan to erect their church. The friars paid the greatest portion of the bills. And since those days, the Italians had a beautiful church in which they might gather weekly to worship (and there was for a long time, standing room only at all the Masses), and they also had their language spoken by the friars who ministered all of the sacraments to them in a language they could understand.

The Franciscan Friars soon realized that most of the immigrants from Mulberry Street hailed from Naples and the vicinity, and in coming to this new land they brought with them their great devotion to San Gennaro. At the very beginning, they would remember their Patron Saint by having a Solemn Mass celebrated on his feast and then in their own way celebrate the day with great solemnity. Gradually, that celebration grew and grew until a Society was formed to celebrate a street festival in honor of their Saint, and their wish to take the statue of their Saint in parade through the streets of lower Manhattan. That feast gradually became the greatest Festival in the United States. Today it is operated principally by a committee approved by the city of New York and all of the processed of that Feast are now turned over to various charities throughout the great city of New York and the Parish of the Most Precious Blood is the principle recipient of a good amount of these funds.

This church became the center for other groups as well, besides the San Gennaro Feast. One of the most popular feasts to be run on the East Side was the famous Feast of St. Anthony Society fra I Giovinazzesi of New York. This group had its humble beginnings in the Giovinazzo, Italy and while there, they celebrated with great pomp the feast of Our Lady of Corsignano, as well as the feast of St. Anthony. A good number of them, on migrating to the United States of America also brought with them a sincere desire to celebrate their feast in honor of St. Anthony each year in the month of June on Mulberry Street, and they too donate all of their proceeds to various charities throughout the New York area. And just as well, they hold their meetings in the newly renovated auditorium at Most Precious Blood Church. Their Masses are also celebrated at Most Precious blood Church every year. The Beato Angelo Society likewise returns to Most Precious Blood annually for their Feast Day Mass in the month of November. The Sts. Cosmas and Damian Society likewise return annually to celebrate their feast at this beautiful church in Little Italy. And finally, the St. Cataldo Society likewise returns to this church annually to celebrate its Patronal Feast. So it can be seen that while many church members of past years have moved away to the suburbs of New York, New Jersey as well as Connecticut, all without hesitation travel the highways and byways to their roots when it comes to celebrating the Feasts of the patrons that are near and dear to their hearts. Many likewise return to the church to have their children and grandchildren baptized and married here. And if you should speak to them, they still speak about Most Precious Blood as "Our Parish" "Our Church" and rightfully so, because this was built for them and as long as it stands, it will be here for them no matter where they may be.

This church was fully renovated under the guidance of Fr. Fabian Grifone OFM in 1995 and re-consecrated on February 7, 1997 by His Eminence, John Cardinal O'Connor. Upon seeing the renovated Church, Cardinal O'Connor called it "my precious jewel". Besides receiving a totally new interior, the beautiful paintings that grace the ceiling and walls of the church has been all restored by professional artists who have not lost the original touch of the paintings. The hi-lights throughout the church were all accented with 24Karat Gold Leaf which truly makes the church stand out as a center of beauty in the city of new York.

Today, this Church is the focal point and center or tourism in Little Italy and lower Manhattan. It is the National Shrine of San Gennaro, and as such is visited by thousands of tourists annually. It has always been self maintained. But due to the high cost of maintenance today, it is getting more difficult to keep up with all the repairs that are needed. At the time of the church renovation, a new Shrine was built to St. Anthony on the side altar, as well as to St. Jude which replaced an old outdated confessional. The St. Jude Shrine is also graced on the left of it with a Tree of Life which is presently entirely sold out and has a beautiful mirrored background. Recently, we were able to renovate the last side of the altar which was recently blessed and dedicated to St. Pio of Pietrelcina. The statue which is now on the Carrara Marble altar was hand carved in Pietrelcina where St. Pio was born, raised and celebrated his first Mass.

At this time the Church is in need of some roof repair; there has been some damage to the interior walls by water and rain. The stained glass windows have never been re-leaded since their installation about 80 years ago. The entire brick walls of both sides and the rear of the building needs repointing. The façade of the Church is a beautiful white limestone, but is in need of a deep cleansing. The upper areas of the belfries which once housed the friars also needs a thorough cleaning form the debris left there by the Vietnamese Cultural Organization, which just walked out of the quarters leaving tons of garbage to be disposed of by the friars. The Church organ and marble pulpit were taken out during Vatican II and today, we are looking to replace them. And last but not least, we are in need of basic air conditioning in the church to make the summers a little more tolerable in a church that suffers greatly from the excruciating New York summer sun.

We realize that the work ahead is indeed not minor, but we also look back at the past fourteen years and see what we have accomplished, and know that with the great help of God we can be most confident that benefactors will always arise to give aid to a worthy project as has been done in the past. This can and will be done. We most heartily welcome a visit from all our benefactors to our beautiful church to see personally the intrinsic value of this house of worship and perhaps we can then meet to address how they might be of service to this Church. We pray that you will look favorably on this request.

Fr. Fabian N. Grifone
Pastor, Most Precious Blood Church

Mr. Frank Paterno
Mr. Anthony DeSena
Trustees