Museum exhibit showcases origins of city's Catholicism
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Visitors to Trenton’s Church of the Sacred Heart might not realize its 200-year history includes the founding of Catholicism in Trenton and surrounding area.
Featured in a Trenton City Museum exhibit, “Sartori to Sacred Heart: Early Catholic Trenton,” the history of Trenton’s Catholic community and its founder is displayed through Oct. 12.
John Baptist Sartori (1765-1854) was born in Rome, the son of a jeweler to the Pope. He settled in Trenton in 1801 as a merchant, as well as U.S. Consul in Rome (in absentia). He is recognized for founding the first pasta-making factory in the United States; Sartori pasta was sold across the east coast, as well as to U.S. presidents.
In 1828, for his efforts in establishing the Catholic Church in Trenton, the Vatican named him Consul General of the Ports of the United States. Prior to 1814, Sartori family members and fellow worshippers attended Mass in his mansion at Rosey Hill. That changed when a brick church, St. John the Baptist, was completed at the corner of Market and Lamberton streets, with the help of the Sartori and Hargous families. The church was consecrated by Bishop Egan of Philadelphia, and soon after a cemetery and school were added.
Later a second, larger church was erected on a new site, South Broad Street. After a fire destroyed this St. John’s church in 1883, it was replaced by the building of a new structure in 1884-1889, renamed the Church of the Sacred Heart, which remains today.
The exhibit includes documentary materials, religious articles such as chalices and vestments, and even a matchstick model of the church building.
The exhibit is being curated by Richard Hunter, president of Hunter Research, Inc., and museum society board member, and by Patrick Harshbarger, principal historian and architectural historian at Hunter Research. Support for the exhibit has been provided by Father Dennis Apoldite and Sacred Heart Parish.
The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion is located in Cadwalader Park, Trenton. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. For directions via a mapping program, use 299 Parkside Ave, Trenton, NJ 08618.
For more information, call 609-989-3632 or 609-989-1191; or visit www.ellarslie.org.
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Visitors to Trenton’s Church of the Sacred Heart might not realize its 200-year history includes the founding of Catholicism in Trenton and surrounding area.
Featured in a Trenton City Museum exhibit, “Sartori to Sacred Heart: Early Catholic Trenton,” the history of Trenton’s Catholic community and its founder is displayed through Oct. 12.
John Baptist Sartori (1765-1854) was born in Rome, the son of a jeweler to the Pope. He settled in Trenton in 1801 as a merchant, as well as U.S. Consul in Rome (in absentia). He is recognized for founding the first pasta-making factory in the United States; Sartori pasta was sold across the east coast, as well as to U.S. presidents.
In 1828, for his efforts in establishing the Catholic Church in Trenton, the Vatican named him Consul General of the Ports of the United States. Prior to 1814, Sartori family members and fellow worshippers attended Mass in his mansion at Rosey Hill. That changed when a brick church, St. John the Baptist, was completed at the corner of Market and Lamberton streets, with the help of the Sartori and Hargous families. The church was consecrated by Bishop Egan of Philadelphia, and soon after a cemetery and school were added.
Later a second, larger church was erected on a new site, South Broad Street. After a fire destroyed this St. John’s church in 1883, it was replaced by the building of a new structure in 1884-1889, renamed the Church of the Sacred Heart, which remains today.
The exhibit includes documentary materials, religious articles such as chalices and vestments, and even a matchstick model of the church building.
The exhibit is being curated by Richard Hunter, president of Hunter Research, Inc., and museum society board member, and by Patrick Harshbarger, principal historian and architectural historian at Hunter Research. Support for the exhibit has been provided by Father Dennis Apoldite and Sacred Heart Parish.
The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion is located in Cadwalader Park, Trenton. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. For directions via a mapping program, use 299 Parkside Ave, Trenton, NJ 08618.
For more information, call 609-989-3632 or 609-989-1191; or visit www.ellarslie.org.
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