Commerce, Church-Building, and Citizenry: Atlantic Convergences in New York Catholicism, 1785–1815

Due to the anti-Catholic elements embedded in the American Revolution and the relatively low number of Catholics in the Early Republic, building a Catholic Church was no easy task. This paper examines the multiple networks that supported St. Peter’s Church, which was the first Catholic church in New York State. European monarchies, Atlantic merchants, and foreign ecclesiastical connections provided funding, legal support, and shaped the beliefs, practices, and politics of the parishioners. Of special importance were the wealthy lay trustees who held the property and became the public face for Catholicism in the city, helping gain the right for Catholics to hold office and priest-penitent privilege. Informed by their treks around the Atlantic, the trustees utilized St. Peter’s as one node in their commercial and religious networks. Through St. Peter’s we can examine the multiple threads—many of them submerged in the emerging nationalistic rhetoric—that shaped American Catholicism in the Early Republic. Furthermore, we can begin to interrogate the complicated and often tense relationship between international religious organizations and the rise of nations.