For nearly a century, the majestic sound of the pipe organ has echoed through the soaring arches of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. It has lifted hearts in prayer and accompanied moments of joy, sorrow, and sacred celebration. Now, after 97 years of faithful service, the cathedral’s iconic Kilgen Organ is preparing for a long-awaited and carefully planned restoration.
“Every day we lose one note or two,” said Daniel Brondel, Associate Director of Music and organist at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. “There are pipes that can no longer speak. And then there’s also pipes that will not stop speaking.”
Installed in 1928, the Kilgen Organ has played an integral role in the liturgical and musical life of both the cathedral and the Archdiocese of New York. But time has taken its toll. “It’s a tired instrument,” Brondel explained. “We are experiencing, and we have been for the last ten years or so, an increasing number of issues that are to be expected with a pipe organ of this size at the end of its life.”
The upcoming restoration is expected to take two years. It will be led by Casavant Frères, a world-renowned organ building firm based in Quebec, Canada. The company will carefully dismantle, transport, restore, and rebuild the instrument. It is one of the largest of its kind in the country.
“The organ in the cathedral is basically its wind, its lungs, its voice,” Brondel said. “It is the official instrument of the Church. It lifts people and lifts the worshipers into singing. It also inspires worshipers through solo music during Mass and performances after Mass.”
Work is set to begin the day after Easter when engineers will begin constructing a large platform to access the main organ in the gallery. Then, starting around the 5th of May, “they’re going to then start removing all the pipes that you can see in front of the organ, but also the thousands of pipes that you don’t see that are behind the façade,” Brondel said.
Saint Patrick’s is home to three organs. The main Gallery Organ is the most visible. The Chancel Organ, located near the high altar, has already been restored. The third, lesser-known nave organ is located near the transept. With the Chancel Organ project completed, focus now shifts to the restoration of the remaining two.
Dr. Jennifer Pascual, Director of Music at the cathedral, emphasized the organ’s importance far beyond its musical role. “Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, being the cathedral of the archdiocese, the mother church, this organ really does serve the entire Archdiocese of New York,” she said. “We’ve had hundreds, if not thousands, of priests being ordained in this church for the Archdiocese of New York, and hundreds and thousands more to come in the next century, please God.”
She added, “Popes have come here to celebrate evening prayer as well as Mass. This is a great testament to the Archdiocese of New York that we’ve had so many important events here and I know that we’ll have so many more to come.”
The restoration has the strong support of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who announced the project publicly just before Christmas. “He wanted to be involved from the start and made the public aware of the need to support this project to renew this organ, this very important organ here at Saint Patrick’s,” Brondel said. “He is very involved and is definitely overseeing the progress of the project.”
Father Enrique Salvo, the cathedral’s rector, has also taken an active role. He blessed the dismantling and re installation of the Chancel Organ and even traveled to Quebec to inspect the progress in person.
Though the Kilgen Organ will fall silent for a time, its restoration promises to preserve a vital part of the cathedral’s spiritual and cultural identity. When its renewed voice is heard once again, it will continue to lift the prayers of the faithful for generations to come.
Learn more about the Renew the Living Voices: The Kilgen Organ Campaign.
