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Founded in 1822, St. James was the first Catholic church on Long Island and thus the cradle of Catholic Christianity for two dioceses and 388 parishes.
March, 1, 1822. Peter Turner, foremost founder of St. James and President of the Roman Catholic Society, gathered together with 70 lay persons to buy property for a church.
July 25, 1822. On the feast of St. James the Greater, Bishop Connolly laid the cornerstone of the first church in Brooklyn. It was the third church in New York City and the sixth Roman Catholic Church in New York State.
1823. The site of the first Catholic Cemetery on Long Island is established at St. James. Between 1823-1849 there were 7,000 burials of clergy and laity. Today, this beautiful country cemetery is still preserved and revered as an urban oasis for prayer and reflection.
November 9, 1853. John Loughlin is installed as the first Bishop of Brooklyn at St. James Cathedral.
May 2, 1892. Most Reverend Charles E. McDonnell was installed at St. James Cathedral as the second Bishop of Brooklyn in the presence of Archbishop Corrigan of New York and Bishop Francis Chatard of Indianapolis who had ordained McDonnell to the priesthood in Rome.
February 15, 1922. Most Reverend Thomas Edmund Molloy was installed as the third Bishop of Brooklyn at St. James Cathedral by Archbishop Patrick J. Hayes of New York.
June 13, 1957. Most Reverend Bryan J. McEntegart installed as the fourth Bishop of Brooklyn.
September 12, 1968. Most Reverend Francis J. Mugavero was installed as the fifth Bishop of Brooklyn.
October 3, 1979. On his first visit to the United States as Pope, His Holiness John Paul II stopped and walked among the faithful assembled in front of St. James Cathedral, blessing those who had gathered to greet him.
May 6, 1982. On this date during the 160th anniversary year of its founding, an Official Decree designating St. James Cathedral a basilica was issued by Rome. Henceforth the Diocesan Church of Brooklyn and Queens will be titled, “The Cathedral-Basilica of St. James.”
April 16, 1990. Bishop Thomas V. Daily installed as sixth Bishop of Brooklyn.
November 9, 1997. Installation of the basilica symbols - the Tintinnabulum and Ombrellino - on the fifteenth anniversary of its elevation to the rank of minor basilica. On this occassion Bishop Daily chooses the motto, Infinem Dilexit Eos (He loved them to the end. Jn. 13)
June 14, 1998. The 175th Anniversary of the Parish of St. James observed at a Solemn Mass celebrated by Bishop Daily.
September 29, 2003. The first pastoral visit of then Bishop Designate Nicholas DiMarzio to celebrate Vespers with the priests, deacons, and their wives, those in consecrated life, and seminarians before his installation as the seventh Bishop of Brooklyn on October 3, 2003 in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica, Brooklyn.
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