By Christine Persichette and Jessica Easthope
Monsignor Guy Massie has immense pride in his parish. Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen in Carroll Gardens can be seen from the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and beyond, thanks to one of Patrick’s Keely’s signature designs.
“The iconic sign of Keely is the tower,” Msgr. Massie said. “This cross lit up at night in the harbor and let’s look at what that means for so many people. This parish was built by Irish immigrants and they worked on the shore and it was a sign of great hope.”
Inside the red doors lies more of Keely’s handiwork still visible today and symbols of his culture and faith many will never notice, unless you know where to look.
“Keely was Irish, and his Irishness came through in all of his churches,” laughed Monsignor Edward Doran, the former pastor of St. Charles Borromeo in Brooklyn Heights . “He snuck it in!”
Msgr. Doran has walked the pews of St. Charles Borromeo countless times, each time noticing and marveling at one of Keely’s design features – from the arches to the pillars made of wood.
Born in County Tipperary, Ireland in 1816, Keely’s father was a builder and the source of all his training. His Irish heritage was the first and seemingly only tool he needed to launch his illustrious career.
Keely revived a centuries-old style of architecture that welcomed new arrivals to the city.
“The immigrants were not always very well received,” said Msgr. Doran. “But in creating a beautiful piece of architecture, it represented the spirit of the Irish people, the faith of the Irish people, the positive attitude of the Irish people.”
Like many of his fellow Irishmen, Keely came to the states in 1842 as an unskilled laborer.
“I’ve been in practice for 45 years, architectural practice is something that you get good at after 30 years,” explained Carlo Zaskorski, principal architect at Zaskorski and Associates. “He managed to be able to have the effort, the drive, the stamina, the capability to be able to achieve what he did. And his buildings were sensational!”
With nearly 200 years of advances in technology and education, Zaskorski is still learning from Patrick Keely.
“Our job is so minor in comparison to what Keely did, I’m almost embarrassed,” Zaskorski joked. “Our job is to protect the interiors of Keely churches, but just to be associated with the building is exciting. It’s thrilling!”
Having restored several of Keely’s churches and many more across the Diocese of Brooklyn, Zaskorski says Keely was a master at capturing each church’s spirit from the inside out, Like at the Oratory Church of St. Boniface on the historic Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn.
“Churches to Keely and to the Irish Catholics were fundamental in essentially preservation of their culture, their spirit and, and their world,” Zaskorski said.
Throughout Keely’s career, he had the newly formed Diocese of Brooklyn’s best interests at heart, building in money-saving features in his designs. But not every design worked in his favor. One is known as “the cathedral that never was.”
Diocese of Brooklyn archivist Joe Coen says the unfinished cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Clermont Avenue in Fort Greene was slated to be the Prince of Church Architecture’s crowning achievement.
“The bishop, took money that would have been wonderfully given to the cathedral and supported the needs of his people.” Coen said. Here’s a crying need for high schools by 1933, and this cathedral is never really going to happen.”
Immigrants laid a foundation of faith in the Diocese of Brooklyn and Patrick Keely built upon it, forging a future for generations of newly arrived to shape their own lives and for the Diocese of Immigrants to continue to be a safe haven for all.