[CHAPTER V.]
The Edifice on Grand and Main Streets.—The Erection of the Present Church of the Congregation.—The Corner Stone Laying and The Dedication.—A Description of the Church.
In 1863 Father William McNulty, the present pastor of St. John's congregation, came to Paterson and took charge of the fortunes and spiritual welfare of the constantly increasing congregation. The Oliver street church had become too small and could no longer hold the large numbers which crowded to it every Sunday for the purpose of attending divine worship. Father McNulty consequently set to work preparing a new edifice. It was his intention to provide a church which should be large enough to afford every Catholic in the city all the conveniences of attending mass and receiving the sacraments and at the same time he intended to erect a structure which would be a credit to the liberality and enterprise of the congregation. He accordingly entered into negotiations with the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures and in 1865 he purchased from it sixteen lots on the corner of Grand and Main streets. The new enterprise seemed to infuse new vigor into the members of the congregation and the full amount of the purchase money of the real estate was raised in two months. Preparations were made for the construction of the new church and on September 10, 1865, the corner stone was laid.
The following account of the corner stone laying of the church is taken from the Paterson Daily Press of September 11, 1865:
"An immense concourse of people, numbering probably ten thousand, gathered at three o'clock at the site of the new Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist, to witness the ceremony of laying the corner stone of the edifice, by the Rev. Bishop Bayley, Roman Catholic prelate of this diocese. Music was furnished by the band attached to the Church of the Assumption at Williamsburgh, and a large choir of male and female voices. The procession of clergy, preceded by a cross, and accompanying the Bishop in full and splendid canonicals reached the southeast corner of the church about half past two, at which time the pressure was fearful. The corner stone after being crossed and blessed by the Bishop was then laid with the ceremonials prescribed in the Pontifical. It is carved with a cross on the two exposed faces, and has a cavity within, wherein were placed the following articles:
"Specimens of the United States currency, gold, silver, copper and paper; also copies of Paterson Press and Guardian of Saturday, copies of the New York Tablet and Herald, and the following document:
"JESUS HOMINUM REDEMPTOR.
"Lapis hic angularis Templi ad Dei Unius Omnipotentis cultum, sub Patricinio Sancti Joannes Baptistæ in hoc Patersoniensis urbe ædificandi ab illustrissimo et Reverendissimo Jacobo Roosevelt Bayley, hujus Novarcensis dioceseos, Episcopo Pio IX P. M., ecclesiam, per orbem regenti, Patricio Moran Vicario Generali, Gulielmo McNulty Parocho, Jacobo D'Arcy sacerdote coadjutore.
"Fœderatarum Americæ Septemtrionalis Provinciarum Preside Andrea Johnson, Novae Cæsareæ Gubernatore Joele Parker, urbis hujus Proctore Henrico A. Williams, Architecto Patrico C. Keely, ædificationis, delectis Carolo O'Neill, Roberto Hamil, Gulielmo Watson, Michaeli Morris et Patricio Curran. Benedictus et positus est III Idus Septembri, Anno Salutis MDCCCLXV. Hoc operato, concionem, maxime facundam magna civium adstantium corona, habuit jam laudatus præsul decus gregis, quem diu sospitem nostro sæculo servet,