One of Hoboken’s most popular and most traditional events is back again, running from Friday, July 22 through Tuesday, July 26. The 106-year-old St. Ann’s Italian Festival, known colloquially as “The Feast of St. Ann,” will include the traditional statue procession and Novena, but will have some modern touches — including battery-operated candles used as part of the religious observation.
The five-day festival begins on Friday at 6 p.m. and ends on Tuesday, July 26 at 11 p.m., centered at Seventh and Jefferson streets. It promises games, rides, a 50/50 raffle, live musical entertainment, a pizza cook-off, and a variety of food including the famous fried Zeppoles (with their infamously long line).
But one thing that’s going to change is that parishioners observing the nine-day novena to St Ann, or prayerful worship, will carry electric candles rather than traditional candles with open flames, to prevent soot on the ceilings. This is because during the church’s ongoing restoration, workers noticed portions of the ceiling and walls had turned black over the years.
“When you walk into the church now, It’s amazing how nice it looks, how transformed it is.” – Father Remo DiSalvatore
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“With change there is always some resistance or opposition to it, and we just have to deal with it,” Pasculli said. “It usually takes a while but then they will begin to understand.”
The discoloration was brought to light during the church’s ongoing restoration (see sidebar). Fr. Remo DiSalvatore, the pastor of St Ann Roman Catholic Church, said the discoloration was startling.
“By the end of the Novena, thousands of candles, literally thousands of candles, would be [at the front of the church] and over the years what happened was the soot and the heat made everything black,” DiSalvatore said. “So when we cleaned it [we exclaimed], ‘Wow, who knew there were actually colors up there.’ ”
The event
This year’s musical entertainment begins every evening at 8 p.m. with performances by Dancin’ Machine, La Cabena, The B Street Band, The Nerds, and Michael Castaldo accompanied by the 17-Piece Big Band.
DiSalvatore, believes the popularity of the festival brings new people to the parish.
“The parish is really growing as Hoboken grows,” said DiSalvatore. “Our attendance is really increasing and I think the feast will introduce new people to the area, to St. Ann’s, and I think there is a direct correlation there too.”
The church has two societies. The first, the Holy Name Society, is a male organization committed to the promotion of Jesus and faithfulness to the church. The second is the Saint Ann Guild which is a female organization dedicated to the promotion of the devotion of St. Ann.
History
Hoboken’s version of the festival began in 1910. The event celebrates the Novena (or nine successive days of prayer and worship) in honor of St. Ann, the Holy Mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus.
St Ann is the patron saint of unmarried women, grandparents, mothers, pregnant women, the childless, grandmothers, horseback riders, and cabinet-makers to name a few.
The Novena consists of mass and prayer in which expectant parents, families, grandparents, engaged couples, married couples, single adults, the sick, and the deceased members of the parish and St Ann Guild are blessed.
The Novena begins Sunday July 17 at 7 p.m. with a mass, devotion, and induction of new members into the St. Ann Guild.
The Novena ends on what is known as the Feast of St Ann’s on July 26. This last day begins with an 11a.m. mass and is followed by a procession through the streets of Hoboken in which the women of the guild wheel a 600-pound statue of St. Ann around on a cart.
St Ann’s parish began in 1900 and started construction on the church seen today in 1925. It opened in December of 1927.
In 1995 the Hoboken City Council voted unanimously to rename the section of Jefferson Street in front of the church and Friary as “St Ann’s Square.”
SIDEBAR
Restoration of St. Ann’s Church ongoing
The money from this year’s 50/50 raffle at the St. Ann’s Festival will go to the ongoing restoration of the church at 704 Jefferson St.
The restoration began in 2014 and will cost an estimated $2.5 million. It is funded primarily through parishioners’ donations and state grants, but so far, those equal roughly $1.7 million according to Fr DiSalvatore. This leaves the fund about $800,000 short of their $2.5 million campaign goal.
Phase one of the restoration is complete. External structural issues of the church were addressed. This included resetting the tiled roof and replacing the HVAC system, gutters, and windows, and repairing the bell tower.
The church is currently under phase two of the project, which deals with the interior of the building, including organ pipe restoration, electrical rewiring, repair of the terrazzo floor, murals, and nave, plastering, repainting, and installation of new pews and the confessional.
“When you walk into the church now, It’s amazing how nice it looks, how transformed it is,” said DiSalvatore. “People who have been here all their lives, longtime parishioners, born and raised, have [told me], ‘I came in and I cried. It looks so beautiful. I have no words.’ That to me, that is the most important thing.”
The interior has suffered from water damage due to lack of upkeep that was exacerbated by Hurricane Sandy.
Work remains to be completed, as a support beam in the church’s basement still needs replacing. Still, Fr DiSalvatore believes that the restoration should be completed in May of 2017.