The Bells Were Once Again Ringing Out on Christmas Day at Historic East Village Church

The East Village received an early Christmas present this year when, on Saturday December 23 the bell tower of Most Holy Redeemer-Nativity Church on East 3rd Street between Avenues A and B was reilluminated after decades of darkness.

Although long hoped for, parish finances prevented its timely renovation until this past autumn. Besides relighting the bell tower and repairing its now accurate clocks, there are now five working bells, as well an electronic carillon which can sound seasonally appropriate hymns to the rooftops and streets below. The project was completed by Elderhorst Bells, Inc. and supervised by Daniel Alvarado, who’s been the church handyman for the last 28 years. Speaking in Spanish, Alvarado noted that the clocks worked for a little while when he arrived, then broke, and that, because their first repair had not been properly done, they soon broke again.

The significance of the event was demonstrated by the presence of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who celebrated a 5:30 p.m. vigil Mass there on Dec. 23 and afterwards joined a candlelight procession outside to bless the bell and clocktower. Afterwards, the electronic bells rang to the tune of “Silent Night.”

Said Dolan afterwards, “We’ve got so many ups and downs, don’t we? And now, when they see their beloved parish, my God, that goes back to 1851, it’s still alive and still confident!”

With these last words, Dolan made a fist with his right hand and gave a brief, elated pump. Dolan continued, “When we illuminate the clock and repair the tower and ring out the bells so appropriate with Christmas coming up, this is the place to be.”

Dolan knows his history. There was no East Village or even a “Lower East Side” when the church first opened 172 years ago because the uptown east side was yet undeveloped.

The history of Most Holy Redeemer Church goes even farther back than that, however. Founded by Redemptorist Fathers in 1843 with New York Bishop John Hughes’ blessing, the first church to bear the Most Holy Redeemer name opened on the block in April 1844. As that edifice soon became too small for the area’s fast growing population, a new church was planned, with construction starting in 1851.

When Most Holy Redeemer was completed in November 1852, it was called “the most beautiful and largest church in New York City.” Although technically a parish It was also known as the “German Cathedral,” reflecting the area’s large number of German Catholics, with many Irish right behind them. Today many of its congregants are Hispanic and the church regularly communicates in both English and Spanish.

In 2015, Most Holy Redeemer merged with the recently closed Church of the Nativity at nearby 44 Second Avenue, thus its formal bipartite naming. (The Church of the Nativity was subsequently sold to Los Angeles-based real estate investor, Gemini Rosemont, for $40 million and demolished in 2022. Although plans for an eleven-story building to replace this and two adjacent properties were filed in August 2020, construction has not yet commenced.)

Aside from its own illustrious history, Most Holy Redeemer was the mother church of a number of other Manhattan parishes that began as Redemptorist missions: the church of St. Alphonsus Ligouri, which stood at 308 West Broadway and closed in 1979; St. Mary Magdalene’s at 529 East 17th Street (between Avenues A and B; razed during the construction of Stuyvesant Town); Our Lady of Perpetual Help at 321 East 61st Street (closed and razed in the 1990s); and St. Joseph’s, still extant—and thriving—on 404 East 87th Street on the Upper East Side.

“Its magnificent tower rises 232 feet into the sky, a prominent symbol of our Christian faith here in the neighborhood, but for the past three decades it has been in disrepair,” said Father Seán Costello, the administrator of Most Holy Redeemer, speaking on the bell tower’s restoration. “The bells have not been working, the clocks have not been working, and its four wooden faces have been deteriorating, making it an eyesore for our local community, so we’re really excited the restoration has been completed just in time for Christmas.”

“It’s our hope that everyone who looks up at the clock, seeing it illuminated, at night will be reminded that god loves them and they will always be welcome in this church to receive his saving grace.”

Added one parishioner, ”I think it brings the neighborhood to life. And for people to realize that there is a vibrant church open right here for everyone to come.”