Old City's 230-Year-Old Augustinian Parish
A short walk from the Liberty Bell, tucked beneath the eastern approach of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church has stood at 243 North Lawrence Street in Philadelphia's Old City since the first decade of the nineteenth century. It is the oldest Augustinian parish in the United States, founded in 1796 by Father Matthew J. Carr, O.S.A., and served without interruption by the Order of Saint Augustine for more than two centuries. The parish is the spiritual home of longtime Old City families, a Filipino community with ties reaching across the tri-state area, an active young adult group, and the musicians of a thriving parish choir. It is also a place of American memory, whose survival and rebuilding helped shape the country's understanding of religious freedom.
From an Immigrant Parish to a National Symbol of Religious Freedom
Father Carr arrived in Philadelphia in 1796 to minister to the Irish and German Catholics settling north of the city. The first church on this site, designed by Nicholas Fitzmaurice Fagan, was completed in 1801 and was at that time the largest church in Philadelphia. President George Washington, Commodore John Barry, and merchant Stephen Girard all contributed to its building fund. A bell tower by William Strickland, who designed a similar tower for Independence Hall, was added in 1829.
The parish grew rapidly. By 1838, St. Augustine counted 3,000 parishioners. Anti-immigrant sentiment, inflamed by the press, led to three days of rioting in May 1844. On May 8, 1844, an anti-Catholic mob burned the church and rectory, along with a 3,000-volume theological library that was one of the finest in the United States. The parish sued the city, and the case became one of the first legal tests of religious liberty under the First Amendment, affirming William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges. The Philadelphia Police Department traces its origin to the protection the city organized in response to those riots.
The present church, designed by Napoleon LeBrun (architect of the Academy of Music and the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul), was completed in 1847. The nave is original, while the altar area was extensively remodeled in the 1920s. The vestibule was rebuilt and stairs added when Fourth Street was excavated to pass beneath the new Ben Franklin Bridge in 1922; the change in brick color on the façade still marks where the original walls end and the new brick begins.
Inside, the ceiling frescoes painted by Nicola Monachesi in the mid-1800s have been certified as the oldest frescoes in any church in America. Walking the length of the nave today, visitors see panels that read salvation history to an eye that was once illiterate, from Old Testament scenes to the life of Christ.
The Augustinian Community and Its Villanova Roots
The parish is served by the Augustinian Friars of the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova. The current parochial administrator is Rev. Christopher J. Drennen, O.S.A., a Villanova-educated Augustinian ordained in 1983 who has served in parishes in New York and California, earned a master's in clinical psychology, and worked for many years in campus ministry at Villanova University and at Malvern Prep. He is assisted by Bro. Jacob A. Marquart, III, O.F.S., Director of Parish Services, a permanently professed Secular Franciscan who has served on the parish staff since 2014 and coordinates administration, scheduling, Safe Environment, and parish communications. Augustinians in residence include Rev. Paul F. Morrissey, O.S.A., a former Villanova theology teacher and prison chaplain who founded the Adeodatus Prison Ministry, which holds a weekly support group at Saint Rita's parish, and Rev. James R. Keating, O.S.A., who supplies sacramental ministry at local Augustinian parishes as needed.
The connection between this parish and Villanova University is direct. In 1811, Father Carr established St. Augustine Academy at 247 Vine Street, one of the earliest Catholic efforts at secondary education in the country. That academy was the direct ancestor of Villanova University, founded by the Augustinians in 1842. Today, Villanova students still come to the parish each year for days of service, and the parish hosts the university's pastoral musicians on retreat.
The friars share a daily rhythm shaped by the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in the fourth century. They gather for morning and evening prayer, set aside one morning a week to reflect on the upcoming Sunday scriptures, share a monthly community Eucharist, and meet monthly in a House Chapter to walk through life together. Two Days of Recollection are planned each year, along with a monthly social evening.
Mass, Music, and the Rhythm of the Week
The parish gathers for Mass in the historic church every day of the week. Weekend Masses are celebrated on Sunday at 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, and 7:00 PM. Weekday Mass is offered Monday through Friday at 12:05 PM. All Sunday and weekday Masses are livestreamed on masslivestream.com.
Music is central to worship. Kim Barroso, the Music Director, coordinates the choirs and serves as principal accompanist. A classically trained pianist and Manila native who studied at the Philippine High School for the Arts, Winthrop University, and Temple University, Barroso also serves as Public Relations Officer for the Filipino Executive Council of Greater Philadelphia and directs the parish's Filipino Choir. Each year the parish hosts a Seasonal Concert of Advent and Christmas, the Gloria! Concert, and concerts throughout the year that draw audiences well beyond the parish. The parish's music program has a special distinction: the Philadelphia Orchestra had its very beginnings in 1900 with musicians from the parish.
The Reconciliation (Confession) is heard after every Sunday Mass in the confessional at the back of the church on the bridge side. Penitents may sit face-to-face with the priest or remain anonymous behind the screen. Confessions are also heard after daily Mass during Advent and Lent, and any time by request.
A National Shrine to Santo Niño and a Thriving Filipino Community
St. Augustine is the parish home of a large and active Filipino-American community that extends across the tri-state area. Devotion to the Santo Niño de Cebu, the Holy Child Jesus, was brought to the Philippines by Augustinian missionaries in 1535, and in 1992 a statue of the Santo Niño was installed at St. Augustine Church. It is now the National Shrine for devotion to the Santo Niño in North America, and in 1994 the Augustinians in the Philippines commissioned an official replica of the original statue to be permanently enshrined here, symbolizing the unity of faith between Augustinians and the Filipino faithful on both sides of the Pacific.
Novena prayers to the Santo Niño are offered after the 11:00 AM Sunday Mass, and all are welcome to join. The annual Feast of Sinulog, celebrated on the third Sunday in January, is preceded by a nine-day novena and opens with a procession reenacting the arrival of the Spaniards. Because January weather in Philadelphia is inhospitable to outdoor celebration, the community also holds a Summer Sinulog on the third Sunday in August, near the August 28 feast of Saint Augustine. The Summer Sinulog draws hundreds of visitors from across the country and around the world.
The Sister to the Liberty Bell
In 1754, when the original Liberty Bell cracked, the Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly ordered a replacement from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in England. That second bell, known as the Sister Bell, hung alongside the cracked original on the State House cupola for decades. In 1830, Rev. Michael Hurley, O.S.A., pastor of Saint Augustine, acquired it and placed it in the steeple of the original church.
The Sister Bell was shattered on May 8, 1844, when anti-Catholic rioters burned the church. It was recast in 1847 at a much smaller size and given to Villanova College, where it hung in a locust tree to call students to class, chapel, and meals from 1847 to 1917. For a quarter century it served at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Parish in Jamaica, New York, then returned to Villanova, where it spent decades in Falvey Memorial Library and later in the Augustinian Heritage Room. In January 2022, the Augustinian Provincial Council approved its return to its roots, and on January 13, 2022, the Sister of the Liberty Bell came home to St. Augustine Church. A Homecoming Ceremony on May 7, 2022, included a blessing by Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Senior, a citation from Philadelphia City Council, and remarks from city and parish leaders. The Sister Bell now stands in the parish as a tangible witness to the cause of religious freedom for which the original parish was rebuilt.
Sacraments and the Life of the Parish
The parish celebrates all seven Catholic sacraments. Baptisms of infants and children take place at the marble baptismal font on the altar near the Our Mother of Good Counsel chapel, a font placed there during the 1920s altar renovation. Families preparing for a child's baptism meet one-on-one with the pastor. Adult initiation through the R.C.I.A. process brings new Catholics into the Church each Easter Vigil.
Confirmation, First Eucharist, and Reconciliation are prepared through the parish religious education program and celebrated in the parish's regular rhythm. Weddings are a particular joy at St. Augustine: the parish hosts more than sixty weddings a year under the coordination of Wedding Coordinator Jean Mangini, and both parishioners and non-parishioners may be married in the church on a first-come, first-served basis. The painting of the Wedding at Cana, in which Christ performed his first miracle, hangs beside the altar and is visible especially to couples kneeling at the altar rail. A Wedding Music Open House is held regularly so that couples can hear the parish musicians perform classical, traditional, and contemporary selections in the church space.
Anointing of the Sick is offered to any parishioner who is seriously ill, facing surgery, or elderly, and may be received as many times as needed. The parish also gathers annually for a parish retreat and a Marriage Day of Reflection around Valentine's Day.
Healing Garden, Outreach, and Ministry Beyond the Walls
Just outside the church, the Healing Garden tended by Father Paul Morrissey offers a quiet space for prayer and reflection, surrounded by plantings and benches. Its name reflects Father Paul's long ministry to the sick and dying, which he has written about in his book Let Someone Hold You: The Journey of a Hospice Priest.
Outreach is woven into parish life. The Drug Awareness Group sends parishioners each month to the Padre Pio Prayer Center in the Frankford neighborhood, distributing food, hot drinks, and hygiene supplies to neighbors struggling with addiction. Father Paul's Adeodatus Prison Ministry conducts a weekly support group at Saint Rita's parish and has served Philadelphia's incarcerated population for more than a decade. The Young Adult Community gathers for service projects, discussion groups, and social events, and the parish regularly welcomes visiting school and university groups, including students from Villanova University, Malvern Prep, Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, Saint Augustine Preparatory School, Merrimack College, and Princeton University, who come for days of service, retreats, and tours of Old City.
Visiting Old City Philadelphia
The church sits a short walk from Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Constitution Center, Christ Church, and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, making it a natural stop for visitors to Old City. The church is open to visitors weekdays from 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM and on Sundays from 9:00 AM through the conclusion of the evening Mass. The building is air-conditioned, with a wheelchair-accessible ramp and restroom, and the adjacent Rev. Matthew Carr, O.S.A. Hall is also wheelchair-accessible. A printed guide is available at the back of the church to help visitors read the stories told in the paintings, frescoes, and stained glass.
On-street parking is permitted on Sundays and during most events, and the parish provides printable parking placards for the city-authorized weekend and weekday Mass times. Two public garages within walking distance are listed for visitor convenience, though the parish has no relationship with either facility. The parish office, entered from Marginal Road on the south side of the church, is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
An Open and Diverse Catholic Community
St. Augustine's mission statement describes the parish as an open, diverse, and active Roman Catholic community rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and founded in the Augustinian tradition, inviting all to participate in worship, service to others, and faith development, growing in the knowledge of God present in themselves and each other. The Parish Pastoral Council, the Parish Finance Committee, and the Filipino Council share in the work of that mission, supported by a staff that includes Director of Parish Services Brother Jacob Marquart, Music Director Kim Barroso, Business Manager Tim Babbage, Wedding Coordinator Jean Mangini, and Maintenance Director Brian Tutka. The friars gather daily for prayer under the Rule of Saint Augustine, and the parish extends the same welcome to anyone searching for a spiritual center to call home.
St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church, 243 North Lawrence Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Weekend Masses: Sunday 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, and 7:00 PM. Weekday Mass: Monday through Friday at 12:05 PM. Reconciliation after every Sunday Mass or by request. All Masses are livestreamed at masslivestream.com.