The Church of St. Joseph is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York covers New York, Bronx, and Richmond counties in New York City , as well as Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties in New York state. There are 480 parishes...

, and the oldest extant Roman Catholic church on Staten Island. The nearby cemetery is the second oldest Roman Catholic cemetery on the island. The church is located on Poplar Avenue in Rossville

Rossville, Staten Island

Rossville is the name of a neighborhood of Staten Island, New York, located to the west of Prince's Bay, on the island's South Shore.-Early History of the Area:...

, Staten Island, 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...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.

Parish history

St. Joseph's was established in 1848 as a mission of St. Peter's Church

St. Peter's Church (Staten Island, New York)

The Church of St. Peter is a Roman Catholic parish church under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located in Staten Island, New York City in the neighborhood of New Brighton. The parish was established in 1839. St. Peter's is the oldest of the 36 Roman Catholic parishes...

 by that church's pastor, the Rev. Mark Murphy. Fr. Murphy celebrated the first Mass on July 2, 1848 for 58 Catholics in a house on Rossville Avenue. In 1851, a small chapel dedicated to St. Joseph was completed on Poplar Avenue. The mission was upgraded to parish status in 1855 and thereby the chapel upgraded to church status with Rev. Francis DeCaro, O.F.M., being appointed as first pastor. With its 1855 establishment, St. Joseph's is the third oldest of Staten Island's 36 parishes after St. Peter's

St. Peter's Church (Staten Island, New York)

The Church of St. Peter is a Roman Catholic parish church under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located in Staten Island, New York City in the neighborhood of New Brighton. The parish was established in 1839. St. Peter's is the oldest of the 36 Roman Catholic parishes...

 and St. Mary's

St. Mary's Church (Staten Island, New York)

The Church of St. Mary is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 1101 Bay Street, Staten Island, New York City. St. Mary's is the second oldest of the 36 Roman Catholic parishes on Staten Island, having been established in 1852, after St. Peter's ,...

. However, the influentially encyclical The Catholic Church in the United States, etc. Vol. 3 (1914), reports the parish establishment date as 1878. In 1914, the parishioners numbered around 400, the value of the church property was $20,000 with a dept of $4,000.

Pastors

• Rev. Mark Murphy (1848-1855), pastor of St. Peter's Church
  St. Peter's Church (Staten Island, New York)
  The Church of St. Peter is a Roman Catholic parish church under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located in Staten Island, New York City in the neighborhood of New Brighton. The parish was established in 1839. St. Peter's is the oldest of the 36 Roman Catholic parishes...
  
  , in charge of the mission of St. Joseph
• Rev. Francis DeCaro, O.F.M. (1855-?)
• Rev. C. Rigney, (?-1892), tranfered to become pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Mercy (Bronx, New York)
• Rev. Peter J. Harold (as reported in 1914)

St. Joseph's Cemetery

Located at the end of Barry Street, St. Joseph's Cemetery dates from the early 1850s, and is the second oldest Roman Catholic cemetery on the island.