To spot St. Anthony of Padua Church, just look for a big, honey-colored brick building with a huge round stained-glass window and three inviting wooden doors, right at the center of Monroe Street NE-you can’t miss it!
Picture yourself back in 1891 right where you’re standing, but instead of cars and playgrounds, there’s the soft clip-clop of horse hooves and the earthy scent of new gardens planted by ambitious settlers. Antoinette Margot, a bold woman who worked with Clara Barton and the Red Cross, packs her bags-hot on the heels of Washington’s latest wave of development-and settles here in Brookland. Alongside her friend Leonide Delarue, Antoinette dreams of a Catholic community, so what does she do? She teams up with a brilliant priest from Catholic University, Fr. Henri Hyvernat (try saying that three times fast), to gather the locals. The very first Mass is held not in a grand church but right at a neighbor’s cozy house, filling the air with hope and the delicious aroma of home-baked bread. Soon, the church blossoms thanks to Cardinal James Gibbons and the first official pastor, Desire C. DeWulf. Today, you’re standing on land where friends, faith, and a little daring spirit turned a patch of Northeast D.C. into “Little Rome,” right next door to a bustling Catholic school. Not bad for a place that started with little more than a prayer and a lot of heart!
