Photo of the Day: Church of St. Anthony, Nanuet NY

 

A week ago, while driving around in Rockland County, I was struck by the sight of an imposing Roman Catholic church. The Church of St. Anthony in Nanuet is a shrine church in honor of St. Anthony of Padua—a 13^th-century Franciscan known during his lifetime for his extraordinary skill as a speaker, and since his canonization just a year after his death as the patron saint for the recovery of lost items.

St. Anthony’s was founded in 1899 as a mission of St. Paul’s in Congers. The first, wooden church, built in Bardonia, burned in 1912. Four years later the first services were held in the basement of the new fieldstone structure in Nanuet. In 1920, enough had been built on the site for a semi-dedication to be held, using the cornerstone from the original church in Bardonia.