Monsignor James V. Lewis (1875-1916), St. Francis de Sales Church, Manhattan

RECTOR FOLLOWS FATHER IN DEATH.
Mgr. J.V. Lewis of St. Francis de Sales Church Contracted Pneumonia Attending Parent.
WAS ILL ONLY THREE DAYS.
Youngest of the City’s Catholic Rectors Was Secretary to Cardinal Farley from 1902 to 1913.
The New York Times, March 26, 1916

The Very Rev. Mgr. James V. Lewis, rector of the Church of St. Francis de Sales in East Ninety-sixth Street, died yesterday at the rectory, 135 East Ninety-sixth Street, after a three days’ illness from pneumonia in his forty-first year. His father, John P. Lewis, died from pneumonia on Tuesday, and it was while attending his father that Mgr. Lewis contracted the disease.

Mgr. Lewis became rector of St. Francis de Sales on April 27, 1913, and at that time was the youngest of the Catholic rectors of this city, both in age and ecclesiastical dignity. He was born here, and after being graduated from St. Bridget’s and St. Michael’s Parochial Schools, attended the College of St. Francis Xavier, in East Sixteenth Street, from which he was graduated with honors in 1896. He then went to St. Joseph’s Seminary at Dunwoodie, N.Y., and from which he was graduated in 1901, being ordained a priest on June 1 of that year.

Mgr. Lewis then became assistant to Cardinal Farley, then Bishop, at St. Gabriel’s Church in East Thirty-seventh Street, and six months later was appointed assistant secretary to the late Archbishop Corrigan. In September, 1902, when Cardinal Farley received his appointment, he chose Mgr. Lewis for his secretary, and Mgr. Lewis remained in this position until he was appointed rector of St. Francis de Sales.

Pope Pius X. made him a Monsignor in 1908. He accompanied the Cardinal on his visits to Rome and other countries, and witnessed the formal induction of His Eminence into the Sacred College, in 1911.

Mgr. Lewis is survived by a brother, the Rev. Father Edward J. Lewis of St. Mary’s Church, Wappinger’s Falls, N.Y., and by a sister, Miss Anna T. Lewis. His funeral will take place Monday morning at 10 o’clock at his late church. Mgr. Dunn will officiate at the solemn high mass, and Bishop Hayes will deliver the sermon. The Priests’ Choir will sing the mass.

NOTE
In 1894, New York’s Archbishop Michael Corrigan assigned Father L. Hoey to start a new parish for Catholics on Manhattan’s upper east side. Father Hoey raised money and work soon began on the church building. In 1896, the basement portion of the church, which was being used for worship until the whole was completed, was dedicated. The completed building, described as a “noble Italian Renaissance marble structure,” was dedicated in 1903. The cost for the church and rectory was $250,000.


During Monsignor Lewis’ pastorate, the parish had a number of organizations in place, including 250 men in the Holy Name Society. The parochial school had eight hundred students, taught by four Sisters of Mercy and over one hundred lay teachers. There were three priests with Monsignor Lewis.


In 1986, a funeral Mass was celebrated for actor James Cagney, a former parishioner. The young Cagney made his Confirmation in the parish and was an altar boy. It’s more than likely he may have served at Monsignor Lewis’ Masses. After many years in Hollywood and retirement in upstate New York, he still insisted on being buried at his childhood parish. Among those attending was President Ronald Reagan, who eulogized the late actor.