St. Augustine's

St. Augustine's. , St. Augustine's was the first permanent establishment of the Augustinian Order in the United States. Such notables as President George Washington, Commodore John Barry, and merchant Stephen Girard contributed to the building fund of the original church on this site., Father Matthew J. Carr began St. Augustine's in 1796 to serve the increasing number of German and Irish Catholic immigrants who settled in the northern section of this city. Designed by Douglas Fitzmaurice Fagan and completed in 1801, it stood as the largest church in the city at that time. The bell tower, added in 1829, was the work of William Strickland, who designed a similar tower for Independence Hall. Father Carr also established St. Augustine's Academy in 1811, one of the earliest Catholic efforts in secondary education, which was the forerunner of Villanova University., By 1838, St. Augustine had 3,000 parishioners. In the 1840s, sentiment against the growing number of Irish Catholic immigrants was inflamed by the press. The recently created Native-American Party, later called the "Know-Nothings," complained against the naturalization of immigrants. Tensions grew. On May 8, 1844, after three days of anti-Catholic rioting, the mob burned the church and rectory. Also destroyed was one of the finest theological libraries in the United States, containing 3,000 volumes. The Augustinian Order sued in court and rebuilt the church with the funds awarded. This case was one of the first tests of the rights of citizens to religious freedom under the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution, thereby affirming William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges., The present church, completed in 1847, was designed by Napoleon LeBrun, the architect of such Philadelphia landmarks as The Academy of Music and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul., [Captions:] , Fr. Matthew J. Carr, O.S.A. (1796-1820), founding pastor., Dr. Patrick Eugene Moriarty, O.S.A., pastor 1839-1875, called the "Lion of Philadelphia" because of his oratorical skills., Burning of St. Augustine's Church, May 8, 1844., St. Augustine's first church as it appeared before the fire of 1844, c. 1830., Old Philadelphia Congregations. , It was in Philadelphia, alone of America's colonial cities, that Quakers, Jews, Catholics and Protestants "experienced the difficulties of fruitful coexistence that American democracy was to offer." Philadelphia is a city that not only tolerated but welcomed diverse modes of religious practice from its beginning., That diversity is still evident today in the Old Philadelphia Congregations, a consortium of historic churches and synagogues of different denominations working together to broaden interfaith understanding and celebrate Philadelphia's unique contribution to religious freedom in America., The freedom of worship mandated in William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges ensured that Philadelphia made significant contributions to American religious history: Philadelphia is the birthplace of the Methodist, German Reformed, Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal churches in America. It is here that the first African-American bishop was named, the Hebrew Bible was first translated into English, and the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America was held. And in the 1730s, Philadelphia was the only place in the British Empire where a public Catholic mass could be celebrated., In other words, Philadelphia's religious history is the nation's own.,

"Because noe people can be truly happy though under the Greatest Enjoyments of Civil Liberties if Abridged of the Freedom of theire Consciences as to theire Religious Profession and Worship" , from William Penn's Charter for Privileges for Pennsylvanians 1701