The present church was built through the concerted efforts of former pastor Joseph Rummel (1876-1964), who was elevated as Bishop of Omaha (1928-1935) and in that capacity consecrated the church.
The parish was established in 1903[4] as the German national parish in the Bronx, the penultimate founding of a German National Parish in the Archdiocese of New York.[3][5][6] Property was purchased on East 166th Street for $24,000 in November 1903.[1] Thereafter property to the rear was purchased for a timber-framed rectory was purchased for $15,000.[1]
The pastor of nearby St. John of Chrysostom Church opposed the new parish's founding because nearly all of the Germans were fluent in English.[1] Nevertheless, the German-Americans wanted their own church. A parish of the same dedication in Manhattan, St. Anthony of Padua's Church (Manhattan), (established in 1866) was declared the national parish of the Italian-American community in Manhattan.
The pastor of the Bronx church, Joseph F. Rummel, raised funds totaling $300,000 to build a new edifice.[1] His campaign was successful and the present church was built from 1927 to 1928.[1][3] Rummel dedicated the building on June 10, 1928, having been appointed Bishop of Omaha earlier that year.[1]
No longer German, the parish became significantly Black during the Great Migration and was mostly Latino as of 2011.[1][7]
The first purpose-built church was a combination of church-and-school-and-convent structure, built 1904–1905, and dedicated by Cardinal Farley.[1] The three-story-over-basement brick Italianate structure housed the church on the first floor, church hall in the basement, and 5 classrooms on the second floor, with the third floor given over to additional classrooms and convent rooms.[1] The rectory address is 832 East 166 St., Bronx NY 10459.[8]
