A church, “a house of prayer in which the Eucharist is celebrated and reserved, where the faithful assemble, and where is worshiped the presence of the Son of God our Savior, offered for us on the sacrificial altar for the help and consolation of the faithful - this house ought to be in good taste and a worthy place for prayer and sacred ceremonial.” In this “house of God” the truth and harmony of the signs that make it up should show Christ to be present and active in this place.

CCC 1181

Welcome to St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church of Smithtown.  Parishioners of St. Patrick’s are blessed every Sunday as they walk into our new church, which was dedicated on November 15th, 2003.  Many others come to St. Patrick’s for special celebrations such as baptisms, weddings, funerals or to just take advantage of the opportunity for quiet reflection and prayer.  Much thought has been put into the design and layout of the church to find the point where beauty, form and function come together in an environment that speaks to the mind, heart and soul.  We hope that this tour will provide an introduction to our church and open us to its message.

From its start in the 1830’s the St. Patrick’s community has grown many times over.  In 1965 our parish community moved to its third and current location on East Main Street (also known as State Route 25) in the historic Long Island town of Smithtown, NY.  The Church is part of a larger campus that supports a school (grades Pre-K through 8) which also housed the church from 1965 to 2003.  The old church now serves as a gymnasium.  The campus also includes a Youth Center, play and sporting fields, Rectory, Parish Outreach, Religious Formation Center, Convent and more.  Throughout the campus there are religious statues and landmarks.  They serve as areas for reflection and prayer and are often visited as prayer stations during the celebration of various devotions and processions.  They remind us that we are bound together by the Communion of Saints.  They also tie us to our past.  Many of the statues were moved here from St. Patrick’s prior location, the current Byzantine Catholic Church on Edgewater Avenue in Smithtown.  Many pieces of sacred art were also moved from the 1965 church to our current church.  Reintegration of important parts of our history represent a commitment by the parish to acknowledge and honor the past while always looking towards the future. 

The campus has grown into a harmonious collection of buildings built in the American Colonial Revival style of architecture.  This reflects the historic colonial roots of a community that dates back to the mid 1600’s.  Also, Sanford White (1853-1906), one of America’s greatest architects and proponents of the Colonial Revival style, spent much time living and working in Smithtown after marrying Bessie Smith, scion of Smithtown’s founding father, Richard ’Bull’ Smith.  He built or made alterations to many houses in the area.  These include his wife’s childhood home, the Judge J. Lawrence Smith House, located on the Smithtown Historical Society grounds just down the road from the church.

While the new church, located on the western side of the campus, has a design that reflects the local community, it also conforms very well with church traditions that stretch back to the early days of Christianity.  The church integrates two classical building forms, the rectilinear cruciform (cross-like) floor plan and the octagonal (circular-like) floor plan.  This can most easily be seen from a birds-eye view, as the roof peaks form the cross shape, and the outside walls form a general octagon.  As we walk up to the church along the semi-circular drive we first see in classic colonial revival style a symmetrical red brick building, trimmed in white.  It is fronted by a porch supported by 4 large columns topped by a large pediment.  This part of the building steps forward from the basic octagonal shape to form the longer leg of the crucifix form.  A great cupola topped with a simple cross draws our eyes upward to the heavens as do the bell towers of tradition.  The main entrance is composed of three divided-lite glass doors topped by a broken style pediment crowned with a Celtic cross.  Off to the lower right of the entrance is the new cornerstone inscribed with the year ‘2003’.  During the construction process, a special blessing service was held and parishioners were able to place their names, written on paper, in a cache behind the cornerstone.

For it says in scripture: “Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.”

1 Peter 2:6

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