Saint Joachims Church, 18-24 Butler Street, The Burg.
The Italian heart of the Burg Church and School for
about one hundred years. In the early 1900s when the
Burgs Italian Immigrant community was large enough
they built this Catholic Church in the style of the
church buildings they knew back home. The School
educated generations of Burg kids until it closed a
few years ago. Sometimes when walking by Saint
Joachims Church I think of the people who came
before and built the world that I grew up in. Many
were Christened there, did their first Communion
there, were married there, had their funeral mass
there. My family Church Immaculate was the other
main Catholic Church within the Burg and its
magnificent too. Church was part of the life we
once knew back in our Burg days:)
5 comments:
HI MAC...WHEN I WAS A KID ON MOTT STREET I FEARED GOING TO CATACHISM FOR MY FIRST COMMUNION. ALL THE KIDS WOULD SAY THE NUNS WERE TOUGH AND IF YOU GOT OUT OF LINE THEY WOULD USE THE RULER. OF COURSE, THAT WAS NOT THE CASE. I FOUND OUT THE SISTERS WERE VERY NICE BUT MOST ONLY SPOKE ITALIAN. I ONLY LEARNED TO SPEAK ITALIAN SO I COULD ASK MY GRANDMOTHER TO MAKE ROOT BEER FOR ME. BEST REGARDS.
How did I get through at least 11 years in a Catholic school and not know that Saint Joachim was Mary's father? I looked it up after the pic on this site.
Ralph, the nuns at Saint Hedwig's were brutal. On a daily basis a kid was kept in the dark "cloak room" and the knot on the waist was a weapon that "could reach out and touch someone" for certain. The ruler and that long pointer were used. One kid was knocked cold by one of those big green Geography books.
Of course, you learned not to give them or anyone a hard time.
When I hear about these kind nuns I just get envious.
Skip
IF YOU WANT TO HEAR ABOUT TOUGH NUNS, YOU SHOULD OF BEEN AROUND WHEN WE USED TO JUMP THE FENCE AND PICK CHERRIES FROM THE TREES AT ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL ON BERT AVE. IN THE 1920'S. THE SISTERS WOULD GRAB US BY THE EARS AND ESCORT US OFF THE GROUNDS. WE LATTER LEARNED THAT THEY WOULD HAVE GIVEN US SOME IF WE ASKED IN A KINDLY MANNER.
Next time you are up by Saint Hedwig's look in the court yard by the school. There is a crucifix under a canopy. Years ago there was a small bench by it. I used to have to go out there for "penance" dished out by the sisters. 100 Hail Mary's and you could not leave till they hollered out the window .. "And young man, your lips better be moving".
Little did I know that that cross was a memorial for a boy killed on that spot a few years before I went there in the 1950's.
Seems he was playing with some ordinance from the war and it went off while he was in the hall. He ran to that spot and perished.
Skip
The nuns at Saint Joachim's were brutal also. They pulled our hair, hit us with rulers on our hands, spent many hours in the cloak rooms, made us not eat lunch, made us kneel during class, hit us with books. And I was one of the better kids. No wonder i'm all screwed up now.
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