Antonio Demo
Encyclopedia
- 1936 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
) was a New York City priest and civic activist. He studied at seminaries in Italy and emigrated to the United States in 1896. He initially did missionary work in Boston and then served as assistant pastor of Our Lady of Pompei Church on Bleecker
Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street is a street in New York City's Manhattan borough. It is perhaps most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street is a spine that connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was once a major center for American bohemia.Bleecker...
and Carmine Streets in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. In 1900 he was appointed pastor of the church, which served what was then a largely Italian-American community.
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
Sixth Avenue – officially Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown"...
. Father Demo organized a campaign to buy a nearby property and build a new church, rectory, and parochial school. The new church opened in 1928.
In 1935 Father Demo became Pompei's pastor emeritus and superintendent of its parochial school
Parochial school
A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...
. He died in 1936 in New York, and thousands of parishioners and friends, including Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, paid their respects.
In 1941, the intersection of Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street is a street in New York City's Manhattan borough. It is perhaps most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street is a spine that connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was once a major center for American bohemia.Bleecker...
and Sixth Avenue was named Father Demo Square.