Hometown History and Faith

Since I came back from Madrid I've had Spain on the brain all the time. I think they call it reverse culture shock. Anyway, I had more than enough reasons for it this past Sunday. I'm talking about the Vatican granting the title of Basilica Shrine of Saint Mary to Saint Mary Catholic Church, the church I grew up in. Yup, a basilica. Its a fancy name for a church that has a rich history and a unique architectural design. North Carolinians should be proud.

Okay, first things first, the architect of St. Mary Shrine & Basilica was a Spaniard who had immigrated to the U.S. in 1881. His name was Rafael Guastavino Moreno and you could say his roots are aptly reflected in the Spanish Baroque style of the basilica. I found this out right before I went to Spain and this kind of blew my mind at the time because I was obsessed with all things Hispanic then. Guastavino was born in Valencia, Spain and he died in Asheville, NC where he is buried in another basilica that he built in 1905, the Basilica of Saint Lawrence. After doing a little bit of research I discovered that he has also been instrumental in designing architechturally important and famous buildings in the United States such as Grand Central Terminal, Carnagie Hall, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He also designed the Jefferson Standard Building in Greensboro, NC, the city where I'm living in right now. What many of these buildings had in common was the use of brick tile in place of wooden or steal beams. This worked by interlocking terracotta tiles with layers of mortar which produced self-supporting arches and vaults which were virtually indestructable. Pretty cool, right?

New York City, City Hall Subway Station, Guastavino tile.

Apart from her architechtural greatness, St. Mary's social, cultural, and religious history is something to marvel at too. She was founded in 1845 by Irish immigrants under the name of St. Thomas the Apostle where Father Murphy, an Irish immigrant was appointed its first pastor. The church also served as a beacon of education, helping establish the first parochial schools in the area in the late 1860s. The Sister's of Mercy were the driving force behind them and worked to educate Jewish and black children at a time when they were not allowed into the city's public schools. By the 1900s Wilmington's Catholic population had grown to the point that another church had to be built on Fifth avenue. This would be St. Mary Church along with St. Mary School. Meanwhile, St. Thomas would continue its services and education for African-American Catholics under the guidance of the Josephites and the African-American nuns of the Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary. Rightly, In the 1960s the two congregations merged into one at St. Mary Church along with their respective schools and faculty. In the late 1980s into the late 1990s a wave of immigration came from Latin America. As a way to integrate Latin American Catholics into the flock, the church began to offer mass in Spanish. As a result, St. Mary's cultural heritage now includes a more diverse congregation, reflecting  the universality of the Catholic Church.

What truly makes St. Marys special in my eyes, as the bishop reiterated that Sunday, is that she has always served as a home for the "other", a home whose foundation is bolstered by a community outreach center that provides services for the poor, the immigrant, the stranger. This was one of the reasons my mother was drawn to St. Mary's when she first immigrated to North Carolina from Colombia in the 1980s. And it is what draws people from all walks of life to the basilica. Yet, what sets her apart today is her accepting and inclusion of the immigrant in a time when the topic of immigration raises heated tension. That is what I call an active and true faith and I like to think that it is mirrored in St. Mary's rich history and architecture.

Basilica Shrine of St. Mary