Three months without a trip to South Philadelphia! The Project has been dancing for joy at this vacation of sorts. No cursing! No banging my head on the steering wheel! No wishing that Almighty would put me out of my misery!
All good things, however, must come to an end. I can’t avoid South Philly forever. Since there is still more to cover here, it’s time to get back on the saddle and—for the first time since our August trip to Pennsport’s Sacred Heart of Jesus—head south on I-95.
Angels and saints, preserve me.
Fortunately, this week’s destination, Queen Village, isn’t deep South Philly. In fact, it’s sometimes not even considered South Philly at all. Its close proximity to South Street and Society Hill means it’s occasionally lumped in with those Center City-ish areas. Personally, I consider anything south of South St. as South Philly, but at the very least this part is less painful than others.
It’s here that we find our target, St. Philip Neri. This parish is actually one of the more historic that Philadelphia has to offer. Founded in 1840, it’s certainly one of the oldest. But it’s also played a key role in some of Philadelphia’s religious developments. It was the city’s first free church—meaning that attendees didn’t need to pay for their seats. It was also an unwilling participant in the 1844 Nativist riots, the same riots that burned St. Michael and St. Augustine to the ground. Philip Neri was besieged as well, but was fortunately saved by government intervention before any serious harm occurred.
Despite the history angle, Philip Neri is a church I almost glossed over completely, because…well, face it. Look at that picture. Not exactly inspiring, is it? It wasn’t for me. It kind of doesn’t even look much like a church—certainly the St. Vincent de Paul Effect at work.
However, I had a last second change of heart, and I decided to give the place a chance. It turned out to be a good call on my part, as Philip Neri rates as a surprisingly effective Italian-Renaissance church. Its decor sort of reminds me of another South Philly native, St. Charles Borromeo. The two share a lot in common, except that Neri utilizes a uniquely reserved ivory-and-white color scheme. Some might find it boring, but I actually like it. It evokes a very classic, classy sensibility, and it reminds you that paintwork doesn’t need to be over-the-top to be effective.
(And, oddly, that seemingly boring exterior design complements the interior design nicely. When is the last time you saw that?)
The setup, also, is somewhat unique. Where most churches use a “window-station of the cross-window-station of the cross” design, Philip Neri uses an unusual “two windows-two stations of the cross” arrangement. Really interesting design choice.
LOOK FOR IT: Neri is designed in the same bizarrely square shape that we found in Old St. Mary’s.
DID YOU KNOW?: While Philip Neri’s building is from the 1840s, the interior décor is from the late 1890s. In 1897, the parish was beset by a fire that spared the exterior but virtually wiped out the interior. A new interior was commissioned and dedicated in 1899. That’s probably why it doesn’t suffer from Old vs. OIder Churches syndrome.
All things considered, a decent time.
Size Rating: 7 out of 10
Ornamentation Rating: 8 out of 10 crosses
Overall Design Rating: 7.5 out of 10 crosses
