Shrine Church of the Most Precious Blood (Parish of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral & Most Precious Blood)

History & Significance

Cathedral · Est. Parish established 1888; church completed 1904

The Church of the Most Precious Blood on Mulberry Street in Manhattan's Little Italy was founded in 1888 as a national parish for Italian immigrants, with the current church building (designed by William Schickel & Company) completed around 1904 under the Franciscan friars. It is the spiritual home of the annual Feast of San Gennaro and houses a relic of St. Januarius. Since 2015 it has been a shrine church within the parish of the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, serving the Archdiocese of New York.

Italian Renaissance / Franciscan style by William Schickel & Company

• •Founded 1888 as an Italian national parish in Lower Manhattan's Little Italy
• •Center of the annual Feast of San Gennaro and home to a relic of St. Januarius
• •Now a shrine church within the parish of the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral (since 2015)
• •Part of the Archdiocese of New York; St. Patrick's Old Cathedral was declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI on March 17, 2010
• •St. Patrick's Old Cathedral complex is on the National Register of Historic Places (1977) and is an NYC landmark (1966)