St. Leo Church (New York City)

The parish was established in 1880 to relieve the overcrowded St. Stephen's parish by the Rev. Thomas J. Ducey, its first rector, who continued there until his death in 1909. It was dedicated to St. Leo, patron saint of Pope Leo XIII, the reigning pontiff at the time. The Archbishop of New York was John Cardinal McCloskey, the first American-born Cardinal, who was eligible to take part in the conclave that elected Leo pope (but did not because of travel delays). The Delmonico brothers were significant contributors to the construction of the church. Lorenzo Delmonico was buried from St. Leo's in September 1881. Thomas J. McCluskey, future president of Fordham University, served as vice-rector from 1881 to 1887. The parish was marked by its broad humanitarian spirit. In 1899 Ducey built the "House of Repose for the Stranger Dead", a separate mortuary chapel at 9 East 28th Street for people of any faith who had died while temporarily being in the city, such as hotel guests. The bodies could remain there until being claimed for a proper funereal arrangement, or St. Leo's clergy would handle the service without remuneration. In the early 1900s the neighborhood began to change to one of apartments and hotels. The parish was suppressed to become a mission of the former St. Stephen's Church. Some sources say the suppression took place in 1908; others that it occurred in 1909, following Fr. Ducey's death. The church building was given to the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix as a convent and retreat house, and the old rectory was turned into a convent inhabited in 1914 by thirteen professed nuns, three lay sisters and a postulant. ==Building==

The Gothic Revival church was built in 1880 to the designs of Lawrence J. O'Connor, ==Rev. Thomas J. Ducey (1843-1909)==

Thomas James Ducey was born 4 February 1843 in Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland and emigrated to the USA with his parents, James and Margaret Walsh Ducey, in 1848. His mother found work as housekeeper for prominent lawyer James T. Brady, elder brother of Judge John R. Brady. Three years later Ducey was orphaned and the attorney took him in. Brady sent the boy to the College of St. Francis Xavier in Chelsea and employed him in his law office. Through Brady, young Ducey became acquainted with many of the city's wealthier Catholics, such as the Delmonicos. Although Brady considered Ducey better suited to the practice of law, he entered St. Joseph's seminary in Troy, New York in 1864; he was ordained in December 1868. Even after he was ordained, Ducey continued to live at the Brady Mansion on West Twenty-Third Street. Ducey is described as a "flamboyant character with a flair for self-advertisement who combined a taste for high society with progressive views on social reform." Brady left a substantial portion of his estate to the young priest. During a series of sermons in 1871 and 1872, he denounced the Boss Tweed ring, who retaliated by trying to have him removed to a parish outside the city. However, Fr. Ducey had powerful friends and John Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York refused and instead in September 1872 assigned Ducey as assistant at the Church of the Epiphany on Second Avenue. In May 1873 Ducey was assigned as assistant to John Lancaster Spalding at the Church of St. Michael on Ninth Avenue. In 1880, he was assigned to establish St. Leo's. Ducey donated $100,000 of his own funds towards construction. He died on 22 August 1909. == References ==