The Church of the Holy Family was renamed the Church of the Gesú in 1878,[2] after the Church of the Gesù in Rome, which is the universal mother church of the Society of Jesus.[3] The cornerstone of a new, grander church was laid on March 10, 1879,[4] and the cruciform edifice was completed in 1888.[2] A dedication ceremony was held on December 12, 1888.[4] The Baroque revival church was designed by local architect Edwin F. Durang, and was modeled on its Roman counterpart.[2] The interior, including the murals, was decorated by the Italian artist Nicola D'Ascenzo.[5] The dimensions of the new church were: 100 feet (30 m) high, a central nave 252 feet (77 m) long and 75 feet (23 m) wide, and a main altar that is 72 feet (22 m) high.[4] The two towers of the facade, on either side of the Doric, Ionic, and Tuscan columns are each 216 feet (66 m) tall.[6]
The church was also outfitted by Villiger with a number of paintings, which included eighteen portraits by the Mexican painter Miguel Cabrera of the Jesuit Superiors General from Saint Ignatius through Lorenzo Ricci, as well as several saints. However, by 1903, these paintings were no longer in the church.[7] By 1891, the church held over 370 relics for veneration by the faithful.[8] Many of them were around 120 years old at the time they were obtained from Rome.[9] The church served as a parish of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from its opening until its closure in 1993 and merger with Saint Malachy's Church.[2] The building was repurposed by St. Joseph's Prep as its school chapel.[3]
Leu, Sarah; Matijkiw, Anastasia (September 22, 2016). Saint Joseph's Preparatory School records: Finding Aid(PDF). Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. Archived(PDF) from the original on September 14, 2019 – via University of Pennsylvania Library.
Vaccaro, Leo J. (2012). Guide to the Church of the Gesú(PDF) (1st ed.). Philadelphia: The Villiger Society of St. Joseph's Preparatory School. Archived(PDF) from the original on September 22, 2019. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
