John Christopher Drumgoole
| John Christopher Drumgoole | |
|---|---|
Statue of Drumgoole at Mount Loretto
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| Born |
John Christopher Drumgoole August 15, 1816 Granard, County Longford, Ireland |
| Died | March 28, 1888 (aged 71) New York City, New York, United States |
| Cause of death | pneumonia |
| Alma mater | Our Lady of Angels Seminary (ordained a priest in 1869) |
| Occupation | sexton, Roman Catholic priest |
| Known for | Caring for homeless newsboys in Manhattan and founding the Mount Loretto orphanages on Staten Island |
Fr. John Christopher Drumgoole (15 August 1816 – 28 March 1888) was an Irish American Roman Catholic priest who was known for his work in caring for and educating orphaned and abandoned children in New York City, especially homeless newsboys. In 1883 he founded Mount Loretto, an orphanage and vocational school for boys in a then-rural section of Staten Island which later grew into a large complex that housed and educated thousands of boys and girls in more than a century of existence. As of 2015, the organization that Drumgoole founded continued to run programs that benefit needy children on a portion of the Mount Loretto property.
John Drumgoole was born in Granard, County Longford, Ireland, on August 15, 1816. His father, a cobbler, died in 1822. John came to the United States at the age of 9, to join his mother, who had emigrated previously. His mother worked as a maid. John became a shoemaker to help support her. In 1844, he became sexton/janitor of St. Mary's, New York City's third Roman Catholic parish, founded in 1826 and located in the poor Lower East Side neighborhood. Drumgoole grew concerned for the many homeless and orphaned children who lived on the streets of New York City after the Great Famine in Ireland and then the American Civil War in the United States. For 21 years, he provided shelter for many of them in the basement of the church.
Drumgoole became a United States citizen in 1838. He had long wished to enter the priesthood, but waited until provision could be made for his mother. In 1863 he commenced his studies, first at St. John's College in Rose Hill, and then at St. Francis Xavier's. He entered the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels, near Niagara Falls, in 1865. He was ordained 1869, aged 53.
In 1871, he was placed in charge of the “Newsboys’ Lodging House”, a project of the St. Vincent de Paul Society located at 53 Warren Street in Manhattan. Under his leadership, this program expanded, and he soon found the building inadequate for the needs of his newsboy charges. Seeking funds to build a larger home for newsboys, he founded a new organization, the St. Joseph's Union, and began publishing “The Homeless Child and Messenger of St. Joseph's Union”. People from all over the world purchased subscriptions to this publication for 25 cents per year and thereby became members of the union. It was with these funds that he was able to build a new mission house at the corner of Great Jones and Lafayette streets, which came to be known as the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin. The cornerstone of the Manhattan building was laid in 1879. The plot of land, which wasnpreviously occupied by a Protestant church, cost $70,000 and the building cost $160,000 to build. It was occupied by 1881.
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