April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
ALBANY EVENT
Cathedral holds 'scanning weekend'
The wedding had been postponed due to World War II, but finally took place on June 18, 1947. The photo, taken from the choir loft, is just one of an entire photo album that Mr. Horan, chair of the parish's pastoral advisory council, brought to the cathedral June 14 during a History and Heritage program "scanning weekend."
Parishioners were invited to bring their memorabilia of the cathedral to be digitally scanned for the parish's records, which will eventually be available online.
Mr. Horan believes his mother would have been "modestly embarrassed" about sharing her wedding photos. "She would have loved that she could help preserve the history of the cathedral," he said.
The History and Heritage program at the cathedral was organized by Brian Buff, a parishioner who is heritage consultant at Capitol Hill Management Services.
He's setting out to compile a history of the cathedral through the people it has served: "We have the brick-and-mortar history, but it's more about where the people intersect now," he said.
The scanning weekend collected information that spanned more than 125 years of history.
"We inaugurated this program back in April with the talk on the Civil War. We wanted it to be more than just a program that talked or presented history," said Mr. Buff. "We wanted it to have a collection component."
"Our parish community takes great pride in the history of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception," said Rev. William Pape, rector of the cathedral. "We hope our new History and Heritage Program will inspire people to share their own stories about how they connect with the cathedral and increase awareness of this incredible landmark."
Already, the scanning project has uncovered stories of wartime weddings, mysterious burials and giddy schoolboys.
"That's me right there," Denis Dulin said, pointing to a baby-faced boy on the far left of the photo. Mr. Dulin brought in his 1959 eighth-grade class photo from Cathedral Academy.
"I'm interested in the history of the parish," he told The Evangelist. "I want to share these. It gives you a feeling of belonging."
Mr. Dulin also brought in a photo of the cathedral's adult and boys' choir during wartime. Both his parents are in the photo; his mother was in the choir and would often substitute as an organist.
"I believe my mother said this was taken two years before my sister was born, so that must be 1942," said Mr. Dulin.
"This church is my second home," said Mary Ellen Stewart, who brought in a sepia-toned photo of the cathedral taken by her late husband 30 years ago. "He would be thrilled" to share it, she said. "We were married in this church. We walked down the aisle together."
Craig Gallagher brought his great-grandmother Theresa Gallagher's records from the cathedral's Rosary Society, for which she was president in 1916. The log book lists the attendance and dues of the members, as well as number of Rosaries the group prayed each month.
Mr. Gallagher believes his great-grandmother would be happy her book survived: "It's very meaningful."
He also brought a photo of his great-grandfather's home with the cathedral in the background. Mr. Gallagher's great-grandfather built the family home and worked on the south spire of the cathedral and many other prominent buildings in the Albany area.
"They lived here before the cathedral was built," said Mr. Gallagher. The home, which stood at 73 Elm Street, was one of the last houses standing during the demolition of the area for the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza project.
In 1962, the city of Albany demolished 40 city blocks to make room for the Empire State Plaza. This project wiped out much of the history of the area, including that of the cathedral. The History and Heritage project hopes to assist in recovering this lost history.
There will be a lot of follow-up research after the scanning weekend, said Mr. Buff.
One mystery is that of a young priest who was supposedly buried in the cathedral's catacombs: Rev. David Francis Brown, born in Dublin in 1845, who settled in West Troy in 1848. He was ordained in 1869 and assigned as secretary of the cathedral.
Father Brown died in what Mr. Buff believes to be the early 1870s. His obituary, shared during the scanning weekend, states that "the remains will be deposited in the Cathedral vault" and that the funeral procession went "through the front portals and in the street around the Cathedral, to the rear, where the remains were interred."
The catacombs of the cathedral, however, are clearly marked, all with names of former bishops of Albany. So, where is Father Brown?
"We will further research this mystery to determine exactly where Father Brown was buried," said Mr. Buff. "You never know what you'll find."
(Editor's note: As The Evangelist went to print, the mystery was solved: Since Father Brown died in February, his remains were kept in the cathedral's crypt for just a few months; in May 1872, he was moved to his family's plot in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands.)[[In-content Ad]]
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