who knows what Catholic/cinema landmark Suz and I are at on our anniversary
St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral—or “Old St. Pat’s”—in Lower Manhattan is where the iconic baptism scene from The Godfather was filmed; Martin Scorsese used it early in Mean Streets. I understand it’s also been used for the TV series Blue Bloods.
Old St. Pat’s was the cathedral, or home church of the reigning bishop, of the diocese of New York, from its opening in 1815 until the opening of the larger and better known St. Patrick’s Cathedral on what is now 5th Avenue in 1879.
For our anniversary, Suz and I did the Old St. Pat’s “Catacombs by Candlelight” tour. Highlights include the original burial site of Pierre Toussaint, a Haitian-American who is a candidate for earliest Black American saint, once the Church starts canonizing Black Americans…
…and the burial sites of such notable New Yorkers as William M. Tweed or “Boss Tweed” and John Kelly or “Honest John.”
Correct! As a boy Martin Scorsese was an altar server at Old St. Pat’s. More recently, my son James was an altar server there for the year or so that he worked in Lower Manhattan. Here he is at the Easter Vigil in 2021. x.com/deacongregk/st…
Correct! As a boy Martin Scorsese was an altar server at Old St. Pat’s. More recently, my son James was an altar server there for the year or so that he worked in Lower Manhattan. Here he is at the Easter Vigil in 2021. x.com/deacongregk/st… https://t.co/NpNLaHcCaR
I understand that Scorsese is currently supporting restoration efforts for the historic Henry Erben pipe organ, which is still used for Sunday Masses but is badly in need of repair—work that very, very few specialists are able to take on in 2023.
After our tour, Suz and I walked several blocks downtown to Little Italy and had dinner at @ilcortile_nyc, a noted Sopranos hangout. The food was great, and Angelo (whom I believe is the proprietor?) took fantastic care of us, knowing that it was our anniversary.
@ilcortile_nyc So, a great evening—until we tried to go home and found Penn Station surrounded by police with dogs who told us NJ Transit was completely shut down and wouldn’t say why. This wasn’t quite true. We went one block east to Herald Square, took a PATH to Hoboken, and caught our train.
@DecentFilms Thank you for your post and kind words about restaurant and Angelo. We appreciate you.