The Church of St. Stephen of Hungary (Hungarian: Szent István Római Katolikus Magyar Templom) is a

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church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

in the

Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroug ...

, located at 402-412 East 82nd Street,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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.Remigius Lafort, S.T.D., Censor,
The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X. Volume 3: The Province of Baltimore and the Province of New York, Section 1: Comprising the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn, Buffalo and Ogdensburg Together with some Supplementary Articles on Religious Communities of Women.
'. (New York City: The Catholic Editing Company, 1914), p.375. The former parish of St. Stephen was administered by the

Order of Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (also called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachi ...

from its founding in 1922 until its merger with St. Joseph's in 2015.

History

The congregation was established in 1902 by Lászlo Perényi, a

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

from Hungary to serve the growing immigrant population from that country in the city. It had no permanent facility until three years later, when it moved into a former Presbyterian church on 14th street. Growth in the parish led to plans to build a new church and school in 1927 in the Yorkville neighborhood of

, which became a center for several

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

an ethnic groups, most notably German and Hungarian. In November 2014, the Archdiocese announced that St. Stephen of Hungary Parish was one of 31 parishes which would be merged into other parishes. St. Stephen Parish and St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish were to be merged into St. Monica Parish at 413 East 79th Street. A High Mass for the Feast of St. Stephen took place on August 23, 2015, the last major event for the parish. The final Mass was held on August 30. After that, the Hungarian congregation moved to the nearby Church of St. Joseph.

Buildings

Plans were filed for a three-story brick church and school (both with basement and tile roofs) in 1926 to designs by Joseph H. McGuire of 5 Columbus Circle at a cost of $240,000. According to the ''

AIA Guide to NYC The ''AIA Guide to New York City'' by Norval White, Elliot Willensky, and Fran Leadon is an extensive catalogue with descriptions, critique and photographs of significant and noteworthy architecture throughout the five boroughs of New York City. ...

'' (Fifth Edition, 2010), the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

church was built (or at least completed) in 1928 to the designs of a different architect, Emil Szendy. There are no referenced plans filed with the city for a church designed by Szendy; however, he may have worked for McGuire. Similarly confusing is the attribution for the rectory. The Rev B. J. Dudley had plans for a four-story friary at 402-412 East 82nd Street designed in 1960 and filed with the city to designs of Brother

Cajetan J. B. Baumann Brother Cajetan J. B. Baumann, O.F.M., AIA, (1899-1969), was a Franciscan friar and a noted American architect.Joseph Mitchell of 355 West 54 Street for $300,000.

References

External links

Video of Interior of Church Building
(YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Stephen Of Hungary Church, New York City Hungarian-American culture in New York City Roman Catholic churches completed in 1928 Romanesque Revival church buildings in New York City StephenofHungary StephenofHungary Christian organizations established in 1902 Religious organizations disestablished in 2015 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States