Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption

The history of the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption begins with the land on which it stands. A part of the Battle of Trenton took place on this site during the American Revolutionary War, and the property that would later hold the cathedral rectory occupied the position of the Stacy Potts house where Hessian Commander Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall made his headquarters. Mortally wounded in the fighting, Rall received the sympathetic visit of General George Washington and died on the site on December 27, 1776. A historical marker on the façade of the rectory still identifies this Revolutionary-era location. In 1865, Reverend Anthony Smith purchased the property from Dr. Jacob Quick. Father Smith, who had earlier served St. John's Church in Trenton, was a far-visioned churchman known for launching ambitious building projects and for his care of orphans and soldiers' families through the Sisters of Charity. Ground was broken for the foundation of Saint Mary's Church on April 23, 1866. The parishioners contributed much of the labor, and it took approximately five years to complete the Gothic temple, which was adorned with sacred frescoes and enriched with a white marble altar. On January 1, 1871, Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley of Newark solemnly dedicated Saint Mary's Church and Father Smith was formally transferred to its pastorate. The spire was completed in 1879 by Joseph Trier, a Trenton contractor, and was said to be the tallest church spire in New Jersey at the time. The tower clock had been originally built by the Seth Thomas Clock Company for the Paris Exposition of 1878, where it served as the official timepiece of the fair. The bell tower of the first cathedral held ten bells of different sizes and tones. On August 2, 1881, Pope Leo XIII established the Diocese of Trenton and selected Saint Mary's as the cathedral — the Mother Church of the new diocese and home to the cathedra, the Bishop's chair. Bishop Michael J. O'Farrell was consecrated by Cardinal John McCloskey at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and was enthroned at St. Mary's on November 17, 1881. Father Anthony Smith was named the bishop's vicar-general, an office he administered alongside his pastoral duties until his death on August 11, 1888, mourned as one of the ablest New Jersey clergymen of his era. After Father Smith's death, St. Mary's was temporarily administered by the Rev. J. Joseph Smith and the Rev. John McCloskey until October 1890, when the Rev. James A. McFaul was appointed pastor. Father McFaul had served as a curate under Father Smith, became vicar-general to Bishop O'Farrell on November 1, 1892, and succeeded to the episcopate himself in 1894, continuing as rector of the cathedral until February 1, 1895. On that date Bishop McFaul appointed Rev. John H. Fox as rector. Monsignor Fox — who had built the first Catholic church in Sea Bright, founded parishes at Highlands and Atlantic Highlands, and served as pastor of St. Joseph's in East Trenton — was named a domestic prelate of the Holy See in 1904 and vicar-general by Bishop McFaul four years earlier. Under his long tenure, temperance societies for men and women were organized, a new organ was installed, a handsome sisters' convent was erected at Warren and Bank Streets, and an unusually fine parish hall and gymnasium were built on Bank Street; the cathedral properties were eventually valued at close to a million dollars. Tragedy struck on March 14, 1956, when the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption was destroyed by fire. The Very Reverend Monsignor Richard T. Crean, the cathedral rector, and two cathedral housekeepers — Miss Mary Brennan and Miss Mary Donnellan — perished that day. Just weeks before the fire, the diocese had removed the spire because it was in danger of collapsing. A new cathedral rose on the same site and was dedicated by Bishop George W. Ahr on March 14, 1959, at a Pontifical Mass celebrated by Newark Archbishop Thomas A. Boland; the attached rectory was completed at the same time. At the dedication Bishop Ahr declared, "Here, the parishioners of Saint Mary's, the people of this city and visitors will find an inexhaustible well-spring of divine grace and a fruitful source of spiritual blessing, strength and consolation. In very truth it will be a House of God and a Gate to Heaven." Among the elements salvaged from the burned first cathedral and incorporated into the new one were the bronze main doors, the altar rails, some of the original stained-glass windows, the ten bells (warped and blackened but restored and rehung), and the Seth Thomas tower clock — whose original weights-and-pulleys mechanism was replaced with an electric drive. In 1948 a new large Casavant Brothers pipe organ had been installed in the first cathedral shortly before its destruction; the rebuilt cathedral inherited a similar instrument, with the bells now played electronically from a keyboard near the organ. In August 2013 the Blessed Sacrament was transferred from a side altar to a newly installed tabernacle at the center of the sanctuary, an expression of the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the faithful. Other changes to the sanctuary included the installation of a new altar table under the tabernacle, the extension of the altar of sacrifice, and the relocation of the cathedra (the Bishop's chair) from the middle of the sanctuary behind the altar to its proper place as the Bishop's teaching seat. Long-term restoration work continued on the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and the roof, with future plans including renovations to the dining hall and restrooms and the installation of an elevator. For more than six decades the present cathedral has served as the site of scores of significant diocesan celebrations, including the ordination of priests and deacons, the Rite of Election, the Bishop's Anniversary Blessing Mass for married couples, the annual Chrism Mass, the Blue Mass, and — inaugurated by Bishop David M. O'Connell, C.M., after his arrival in 2010 — the annual Catholic Schools Mass.