After 60 years, eyewitnesses still recall the fatal fire that claimed St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
By Lois Rogers | Correspondent
Sixty years have passed since the catastrophic arson fire of March 14, 1956 destroyed "old" St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral on Perry Street, Trenton, claiming the lives of its rector, Msgr. Richard T. Crean, and housekeepers Mary Brennan and Mary Donnellan.
To see photo gallery on this story, click here.
But at the annual scholarship breakfast memorializing the event March 13, one thing was certain: for those who survived the horrific event, the memories will never dim, nor will those who perished ever be forgotten.
That poignant message was shared by upwards of 100 guests who attended the annual Msgr. Crean Memorial Scholarship Breakfast sponsored by the Mercer County Federation of Holy Name Societies in the cathedral dining hall.
Their spiritual director from formation of the Mercer County Federation of Holy Name Societies in 1940 until his death, the men of the federation have sponsored a Mass annually for the repose of Msgr. Crean's soul. The Mass is followed by a breakfast with the proceeds helping to finance scholarships in his memory to help deserving Catholic high school students continue their education.
This year's recipients, seniors Blake Pettiford, Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, and Kassandra Sanchez, Trenton Catholic Academy, Hamilton, and their families, were among former students of Cathedral High School and grade school, members of the Holy Name Societies and current parishioners of the Cathedral present at the breakfast.
All listened attentively as Sisters of Mercy, who were actually on the scene that day, shared their dramatic insights along with those of Father Timothy J. Capewell, pastor of St. David the King Parish, Princeton Junction. Father Capewell was a fourth grade pupil in Cathedral Grammar School back then, and his sister, Patty, was also enrolled in sixth grade.
Mercy Sisters Karen Horan and Helen Neder transfixed the gathering with their brief, but compelling eyewitness accounts of what it was like to actually be present during much of the conflagration.
Sisters Karen, Helen and Theresa McCarthy, who also attended the breakfast, were among the teaching Mercy Sisters in residence at the adjacent convent on the cathedral campus.
Now in their mid-80s, the sisters spoke of how back then, there were 39 Mercy sisters in residence. "Now there are four of us left," said Sister Karen. They shared how they awoke to the smell of smoke, the sight of flames and the panicked cries emanating from those trapped inside the building.
"We've done a lot of remembering since we were invited" to the breakfast, said Sister Karen, who recalled the sensation of a huge amount of noise upon awakening as the first indication something was dramatically wrong.
She spoke of how only the night before, the sisters and Msgr. Crean had all been present at a "very nice program for the PTA" - this memory of his last night - a very good night - would be of comfort to the sisters as realization that the rector, so highly regarded by the sisters, his priestly peers and the community at large, lost his life as he selflessly tried sound the alarm to all those in the rectory as the fire quickly spread.
The sisters recounted how they dropped to their knees and prayed the Rosary as the blaze progressed. Their prayers continued as they moved out of harms way at the direction of Bishop George W. Ahr to the nearby St. James Nursery. There, they remained in prayer as the terrible morning took its toll.
Sister Helen, who was teaching second grade at the time, read a poignant excerpt from a recollection written for a course in the months following the fire in which she reflects that while great cathedrals are “destroyed and rebuilt by men, only the hand of God can form such a priest as Msgr. (Crean) was.”
Still very clearly moved by his heroic death, she concluded saying: “he died as he had lived, giving his life for others.”
In a reflection, entitled “Of Martyrs and Miracles: My Many Memories of March 14, 1956,” Father Capewell, the guest speaker, spoke of how though he was just a child, memories of the fire and the harrowing days after it, would never fade.
He recalled first arriving on the scene from his nearby Trenton home with his sister Patty and their aunt. “It was a damp, dreary and drizzly morning as we stood in front of the Ave Maria Shop” once located directly across from the cathedral, and “gazed at the old Gothic St. Mary's Cathedral that was now totally consumed by flames, flames that at one time, according to news reports, leaped 100 feet high. All that remained was the frame of the rectory and the exterior walls of both the church and the tower.”
“Oh, what a horrible sight,” he said, tears gathering in his eyes. “To think that we were there just the night before at the gym for the annual St. Patrick's Day Assembly.”
The sight that met his eyes when the students returned to school the following Wednesday is one he has never forgotten. “Trenton was covered in snow with the worst blizzard to hit in 30 years. It was then I got to see for myself, the inside of what was once a beautiful Gothic cathedral.”
“I was able to look down from the second and third floor classrooms on the left side of the grammar school and see such a horrific sight of mass destruction.”
“Whenever I have the honor and privilege of standing in the sanctuary of today's 'new' cathedral, (where) at one time stood the old Cathedral Grammar School, I remember that dark day and it still hurts, because the dreams of our ancestors in faith come to life,” in memories of the old St. Mary's with its visionary priests, dedicated religious sisters and the “hard working immigrants who came to this country with only the clothes on the backs and pennies in their pockets. … '
Summing up Father Capewell noted that horrific as this chapter had been, a “new chapter was about to begin.” The wreckage of the old cathedral was torn down along with the grammar school to make way for the 'new' cathedral blessed and dedicated with solemn ceremony exactly three years to the day of the fire.
In his remarks, Msgr. John K. Dermond, moderator of the Mercer County Holy Name Federation and former rector of the cathedral, spoke of how much this story still “moves the heart” to keep the memories alive. In a direct reflection of that commitment, Robert J. Zotta, who chairs the scholarship committee, closed the event by awarding $1,000 scholarships to each of this year's recipients.
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By Lois Rogers | Correspondent
Sixty years have passed since the catastrophic arson fire of March 14, 1956 destroyed "old" St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral on Perry Street, Trenton, claiming the lives of its rector, Msgr. Richard T. Crean, and housekeepers Mary Brennan and Mary Donnellan.
To see photo gallery on this story, click here.
But at the annual scholarship breakfast memorializing the event March 13, one thing was certain: for those who survived the horrific event, the memories will never dim, nor will those who perished ever be forgotten.
That poignant message was shared by upwards of 100 guests who attended the annual Msgr. Crean Memorial Scholarship Breakfast sponsored by the Mercer County Federation of Holy Name Societies in the cathedral dining hall.
Their spiritual director from formation of the Mercer County Federation of Holy Name Societies in 1940 until his death, the men of the federation have sponsored a Mass annually for the repose of Msgr. Crean's soul. The Mass is followed by a breakfast with the proceeds helping to finance scholarships in his memory to help deserving Catholic high school students continue their education.
This year's recipients, seniors Blake Pettiford, Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, and Kassandra Sanchez, Trenton Catholic Academy, Hamilton, and their families, were among former students of Cathedral High School and grade school, members of the Holy Name Societies and current parishioners of the Cathedral present at the breakfast.
All listened attentively as Sisters of Mercy, who were actually on the scene that day, shared their dramatic insights along with those of Father Timothy J. Capewell, pastor of St. David the King Parish, Princeton Junction. Father Capewell was a fourth grade pupil in Cathedral Grammar School back then, and his sister, Patty, was also enrolled in sixth grade.
Mercy Sisters Karen Horan and Helen Neder transfixed the gathering with their brief, but compelling eyewitness accounts of what it was like to actually be present during much of the conflagration.
Sisters Karen, Helen and Theresa McCarthy, who also attended the breakfast, were among the teaching Mercy Sisters in residence at the adjacent convent on the cathedral campus.
Now in their mid-80s, the sisters spoke of how back then, there were 39 Mercy sisters in residence. "Now there are four of us left," said Sister Karen. They shared how they awoke to the smell of smoke, the sight of flames and the panicked cries emanating from those trapped inside the building.
"We've done a lot of remembering since we were invited" to the breakfast, said Sister Karen, who recalled the sensation of a huge amount of noise upon awakening as the first indication something was dramatically wrong.
She spoke of how only the night before, the sisters and Msgr. Crean had all been present at a "very nice program for the PTA" - this memory of his last night - a very good night - would be of comfort to the sisters as realization that the rector, so highly regarded by the sisters, his priestly peers and the community at large, lost his life as he selflessly tried sound the alarm to all those in the rectory as the fire quickly spread.
The sisters recounted how they dropped to their knees and prayed the Rosary as the blaze progressed. Their prayers continued as they moved out of harms way at the direction of Bishop George W. Ahr to the nearby St. James Nursery. There, they remained in prayer as the terrible morning took its toll.
Sister Helen, who was teaching second grade at the time, read a poignant excerpt from a recollection written for a course in the months following the fire in which she reflects that while great cathedrals are “destroyed and rebuilt by men, only the hand of God can form such a priest as Msgr. (Crean) was.”
Still very clearly moved by his heroic death, she concluded saying: “he died as he had lived, giving his life for others.”
In a reflection, entitled “Of Martyrs and Miracles: My Many Memories of March 14, 1956,” Father Capewell, the guest speaker, spoke of how though he was just a child, memories of the fire and the harrowing days after it, would never fade.
He recalled first arriving on the scene from his nearby Trenton home with his sister Patty and their aunt. “It was a damp, dreary and drizzly morning as we stood in front of the Ave Maria Shop” once located directly across from the cathedral, and “gazed at the old Gothic St. Mary's Cathedral that was now totally consumed by flames, flames that at one time, according to news reports, leaped 100 feet high. All that remained was the frame of the rectory and the exterior walls of both the church and the tower.”
“Oh, what a horrible sight,” he said, tears gathering in his eyes. “To think that we were there just the night before at the gym for the annual St. Patrick's Day Assembly.”
The sight that met his eyes when the students returned to school the following Wednesday is one he has never forgotten. “Trenton was covered in snow with the worst blizzard to hit in 30 years. It was then I got to see for myself, the inside of what was once a beautiful Gothic cathedral.”
“I was able to look down from the second and third floor classrooms on the left side of the grammar school and see such a horrific sight of mass destruction.”
“Whenever I have the honor and privilege of standing in the sanctuary of today's 'new' cathedral, (where) at one time stood the old Cathedral Grammar School, I remember that dark day and it still hurts, because the dreams of our ancestors in faith come to life,” in memories of the old St. Mary's with its visionary priests, dedicated religious sisters and the “hard working immigrants who came to this country with only the clothes on the backs and pennies in their pockets. … '
Summing up Father Capewell noted that horrific as this chapter had been, a “new chapter was about to begin.” The wreckage of the old cathedral was torn down along with the grammar school to make way for the 'new' cathedral blessed and dedicated with solemn ceremony exactly three years to the day of the fire.
In his remarks, Msgr. John K. Dermond, moderator of the Mercer County Holy Name Federation and former rector of the cathedral, spoke of how much this story still “moves the heart” to keep the memories alive. In a direct reflection of that commitment, Robert J. Zotta, who chairs the scholarship committee, closed the event by awarding $1,000 scholarships to each of this year's recipients.
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