The name Our Lady of the Rosary came from the Irish immigrant mission of the same name started in 1883. The mission assisted over 60,000 Irish young women find shelter and employment in the New World while trying to help them reconnect with their relatives already in America.

Irish Women's Immigration: A Safe House In a New World

In 1881 an Irishwoman watched young Irish girls being herded aboard a steamship in Dublin. Bound for America, the steamship carried young women from Ireland to an uncertain future in the New World as participants of a British government policy of assisted immigration.

The onlooker was Charlotte Grace O'Brien, a Protestant, and daughter of the famous Irish patriot and rebel, William Smith O'Brien. Admirably, she felt conviction to help these young ladies and therefore sailed to New York herself in hopes of organizing a suitable reception for the girls, not leaving them without help once they arrived in America. Once in New York, Ms. O'Brien traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota to enlist the aid of Archbishop John Ireland. She knew the girls would be needing assistance in a strange new land. The Archbishop sympathized with the dire situation Ms. O'Brien laid out and promised his support of providing assistance until the young women could contact relatives or secure employment.

Deeming her purpose accomplished, Ms. O'Brien sailed back to Ireland unaware that her pioneer voyage would blossom into New York's most famous mission -- Our Lady of the Rosary, at 7 State Street, opposite the Battery. Archbishop Ireland approached Irish societies and with the cooperation of John Cardinal McCloskey of New York, the mission was established in 1883 with Father John Joseph Riordan as its pastor. He bought the property in 1885 and immediately began the task of looking after the young Irish girls as soon as they arrived in New York City. He played no favorites. Any girl was welcome no matter what her religious belief. Before the tide of immigration had died down, the mission befriended more than 100,000 immigrant girls (of which 65,000 are listed in the parish archives). Not one of them had to pay anything for the assistance they received -- the whole project was purely an act of Christian charity.

Charlotte Grace O'Brien never stepped foot in the mission she was largely responsible for creating. However, upon returning back to Ireland, she was received into the Catholic Church, the church of her ancestors.