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Cardinal Egan memorializes forgotten Irish immigrants on Staten Island in New York

By
MEGAN FINNEGAN AND ELEANOR MILLER,
IrishCentral.com

Published Sunday, October 18, 2009, 1:52 PM
Updated Monday, October 19, 2009, 12:37 PM

 

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Poignant service: The final burial for Irish immigrants 150 years later
Poignant service: The final burial for Irish immigrants 150 years later

Mourners gathered at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church on Staten Island Saturday to bury the dead, but this was no ordinary funeral.

Members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians escorted two caskets - one a small, white children's casket with golden angels; the other larger and pearl-colored - into the church as bagpipes played "Amazing Grace."

The two coffins contained the final remains of immigrants who died over 150 years ago.

The remains represent the thousands of unnamed Irish and German immigrants who came to America in the mid-19th century, looking for a new and better life, but instead ended up in quarantine on Staten Island because of severe illness. Many of those confined never made it out, and were buried in mass graves with little fanfare or record.

Workers found the bones during the construction of a new courthouse in St. George in 2000. "We knew going into this project that we were likely to encounter the remains of what had once been a burial ground," said Marc Violette, press officer for the New York State Dormitory Authority, which was charged with the project.

As soon as the existence of a cemetery site was confirmed, a long process of historical excavation and forensic analysis began.

For some, the process seemed to take too long. Lynn Rogers is the Executive Director of Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries, a Staten Island non-profit organization that works to reclaim and honor the long-forgotten, buried dead. Rogers and Bill Reilly, a local member of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, worked tirelessly to bring the remains back to where they knew they belonged.

“Bill and I went on a crusade," Rogers said, "and this is the result of our campaign, which was over 2000 letters and petitions.” This weekend, their hard work came to fruition, and for Rogers, the day couldn't come soon enough.

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14 Comments

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Posted by knowthyself on Jun 13, 2010, 04:02 PM EDT
May God Bless their Irish Souls. and may they find safety & Pece.Knowing the Gates of Heaven are Protected by United States Marines. Semper Fi .. 5th Generation Irish Americanand proud of it !!
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Posted by eulalia on May 14, 2010, 11:00 PM EDT
Cardinal Egan is a great man who has never forgotten his roots. Brent Anthony Egan Sydney, AUSTRALIA
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Posted by billyking on Mar 21, 2010, 09:49 AM EDT
why, when we read about the immigrant Irish, does it alway look like only Irish Catholics came to America, is it because the Irish Non Catholics became part of our fine new country looking forward to improving themselves and their adopted land, and the catholics from Ireland kept their roots bringing with them a very traditional catholic approach to life that they kept them apart from the rest of the people in our new land calling themselves Irish rather than American
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Posted by darkrosaleen on Mar 07, 2010, 10:13 AM EST
I enjoyed the story, but the comments that followed are powerful and to the point.
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Posted by EOReilly on Feb 19, 2010, 11:10 AM EST
GREAT STORY ABOUT OUR HISTORY. MY GRANDPARENTS WERE THE LUCKEY ONES THAT PASSED THROUGH eLLIS ISLAND. THANKS.
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Posted by ProsperoCelt on Feb 17, 2010, 11:26 AM EST
Irish-Americans must not forget that it was Cardianal Egan who destroyed the Irish-Immigrant Rose Window at old St. Patrick's Church before delaying its utter destruction due to the crys of Irish-Americans in New York City and beyond. This is hypocrisy of the Classic Roman Monarchical kind!
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Posted by Beechmount on Jan 31, 2010, 01:00 AM EST
Well done Ms. Rogers and Mr. Cooney. Must have been a beautiful day for the celebration of their being laid to rest. May they rest in peace. And yes just a wee comment about the Irish flag, if I'm not mistaken it is usually mentioned a Green, White and Gold, in that order??? Kate
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Posted by Gerry57 on Jan 06, 2010, 05:01 PM EST
With great pride we bury our ancestral family members today. It's so a great sadness to do so.Our race of people have travel very far indeed!
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Posted by Intercessor on Dec 13, 2009, 11:39 PM EST
Unfortunately, people are easily impressed and their focus on heavy, scandalous things is often diverted by empty gestures on the part of bishops and cardinals. It's too bad that good, old Cardinal Egan hasn't come up with the idea of memorializing all of the boys and girls, who were molested and raped by priests, who were under his direction when he was a bishop, archbishop and cardinal. It's too bad that he can't come clean and be honest, concerning how he orchestrated coverups of abuse, so his faithful Pedophile Priests could be shuffled from one unsuspecting parish to another. If he were to do so, that would really be worthy of making a headline.
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Posted by mollymcgee on Dec 04, 2009, 11:38 PM EST
Proves there still a little respect in this country!
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Posted by eileenkny on Nov 30, 2009, 10:13 AM EST
I think it's a sign of progress. This country worships the present and future. It's about time some respect was paid to the past. Americans have done some vile things throughout the history of this nation; we need to come together and apologize for many of them.
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Posted by ritamckernan on Nov 18, 2009, 06:19 PM EST
It was a fantastic day. Well done Lynn Roger and Bill Reilly Andy Cooney was a warm treat after the memorial too.
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Posted by RROSUMO on Nov 13, 2009, 06:21 PM EST
i enjoy the articles and there well written,thank you
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Posted by eulalia on Nov 12, 2009, 03:09 AM EST
Great to see that he does not forget his own! Brent Anthony Egan Sydney, AUSTRALIA
 


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