When the Church of St. Raymond was founded in 1842 — 19 years before the start of the Civil War —the location of the church was in an area of farmlands and estates in what was then known as Westchester Village in Westchester County. We now know it as the Bronx and the current Church of St. Raymond is on the same piece of property as the original church. The first St. Raymond Church was converted from an old barn.
Initially, there was prejudice against Catholics and against building a Catholic church in the area by local estate owners. However, in 1842 the Right Reverend John Hughes, Coadjutor to the Bishop of New York, was able to purchase the property where the church now stands. Father Felix Villanis was appointed as St. Raymond’s first pastor. St. Raymond Church became the center of missionary activities. St. Raymond Church, the first church in what would later become the Bronx, started 13 mission churches over the years.
Father Villanis began raising money for a new church from Catholic families in Westchester Village. However, Father Villanis was transferred before the church was completed and it was the parish’s third pastor, Father Matthew Higgins, who was pastor when the new church was dedicated on August 31, 1845, the feast of St. Raymond Nonnatus, which is how the parish received its name. Even before the church was completed, burial ground adjacent to where the completed church would stand, was consecrated. Father Higgins eventually purchased additional land for what would become St. Raymond Cemetery.
The Catholic Church in Westchester was growing during this time. St. Raymond Church experienced significant growth with the influx of Irish and German immigrants to Westchester as a result of the Great Irish Famine of 1847 and the German Revolution of 1848. Many of these newcomers became parishioners. Records show that there were 99 baptisms in 1854; 81 in 1855; and 90 in 1856; considerable numbers for that era.
In the first 15 years of St. Raymond Parish, seven priests served as pastors, with Father Jeremiah A. Kinsella beginning his pastorate in 1857. He would remain at St. Raymond for 18 years and is credited with founding the parish’s first elementary school. St. Raymond School opened in 1868 with two Sisters of Charity to staff it, per Father Kinsella’s request, and 130 students from the adjacent Catholic Protectory.
During Father Kinsella’s tenure as pastor, St. Raymond Parish grew considerably, as did the surrounding area. Many of the farms were sold and homes were built on the land. New streets were laid out and the number of parishioners increased so significantly that by 1865, Father Kinsella required the help of an assistant priest and received it in the person of Father James T. Cole. The number of Catholics continued to grow during this time. In 1846, there were 15 parish churches in the city for approximately 100,000 Catholics. By 1866, the number of churches had increased to 31 and the number of Catholics to about 450,000, although some estimates put the number as high as 600,000.
St. Raymond Cemetery continued to grow and by 1874, was almost full. St. Raymond’s pastor, Father Michael McEvoy, purchased Underhill Farm, which became known as the New Cemetery.
The years between 1888 and 1931 saw a lot of changes for St. Raymond Parish. The pastor for these years was Father Edward McKenna, who would build a new church, elementary school, convent and rectory.
By the early 1890’s, St. Raymond Church could no longer accommodate all its parishioners, and in August 1897, ground was broken for a new church. The first Mass in the new St. Raymond Church (which still stands today) was celebrated in July 1898.
The new elementary school was dedicated in 1909. World War I delayed the building of the convent, which was completed in 1928. In the meantime, parish demographics were changing as the 1920’s saw an influx of Italian immigrants into the area.
The new rectory was completed at the end of 1931 but the first pastor to live in it would not be Father McKenna, who passed away in December of 1931, but Father Thaddeus Tierney, his successor, who joined St. Raymond Parish in 1932.
St. Raymond'Church in 1942 , the 100th Anniversary of the Parish
During his tenure, Father Tierney made improvements to the church; beautified the grounds surrounding the church; improved the cemetery and purchased 90 additional acres for the New Cemetery. The Parish continued to grow with the opening of Parkchester in 1940. The influx of new parishioners necessitated doubling the number of Sunday Masses. The elementary school continued to grow until it could no longer accommodate all the students. Monsignor Tierney built a new elementary school, which opened in 1951 and is still in use today. In 1960, Monsignor Tierney’s successor, Monsignor John Corrigan, established St. Raymond Academy for Girls, a high school. In 1962, Monsignor Charles Giblin completed work on a building that his predecessor, Monsignor Corrigan, had purchased and opened St. Raymond High School for Boys.
The demographics of St. Raymond Parish continued to change in the 1970’s, when large numbers of Hispanics and African-Americans moved into the area. The 1990’s saw an influx of West Africans, especially from Nigeria and Ghana. Today, St. Raymond Parish and its three schools are multicultural. Our three schools together educate nearly 2,000 students each year.
St. Raymond Cemetery, the only Catholic cemetery in the Bronx, is one of the busiest cemeteries in the United States with nearly 2,500 burials each year.
At 176 years old, our parish has a vibrant spiritual life with a strong religious education program, a robust RCIA program, two adult choirs (English and Spanish) and a junior choir, a youth group, a Legion of Mary, an African Community, and many other groups. St. Raymond Church continues to provide a warm and welcoming spiritual home for Catholics and those who want to become Catholic in the Bronx and beyond; to remind us to strive to live as Jesus taught us; and to provide assistance and support to those in need in our community.