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Grabowski
English 5710
16 December 2010
In a pivotal scene in Oscar Hijuelos’ novel, Mr. Ives’ Christmas, the protagonist finds
himself trapped inside an elevator at his place of work in mid-town Manhattan (Hijuelos, 96-8).
The event sets in motion a powerful religious experience for Edward Ives, culminating in an
epiphanic vision wherein he beholds “the very sky filled with four rushing, swirling winds, each
defined by a different-colored powder… spinning like a great pinwheel over Madison Avenue
and Forty-first Street” (Hijuelos, 101). In this scene, Manhattan becomes for Ives a spot of
concentration for the cosmic powers, a locus rich with the meaning that lies beneath the surface
of physical realities. Here, the vision of Hijuelos’ novel expands beyond the ostensible chaos of
a New York minute to glimpse a moment of Divine transcendence, an expansion of sight typical
of the author’s Catholic imagination. In this paper, we will see how Hijuelos paints his picture
of Edward Ives’ life with colors borne upon the winds of New York’s Catholic past.
In 1951 – coincidentally, the year of Hijuelos’ birth – the bestselling novels of the year
included a book by the Cardinal Archbishop of New York, Francis Joseph Spellman (Morris,
225). The Foundling tells of an orphan being discovered at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in mid-
town Manhattan by a recently returned-home veteran of World War I. Profits from the novel
were to be given in support of the Sisters of Charity (founded by Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton)
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whose orphan home, The New York Foundling, had been serving the city since 1869 (“Books”;
“Foundling”). The Sisters’ work, spreading from their first location in Greenwich Village,
became one of the longest-standing Catholic presences in New York City, and by the 1920s had
made quite an impact on the life of the metropolis, with the number of orphans under their care
at times totaling several thousands (Collins). Institutions such as this one became “the building
blocks of Catholic New York” (Golway, 17), laying the foundation not only for the success of
Spellman’s book, but also for the artistic vision of Hijuelos’ novel.
Edward Ives’ early years as a foundling are a very significant influence in the story of the
protagonist. In this regard, his background impacts some of the most essential relations in his
life. For instance, Edward’s unknown background, along with his dark skin, causes a rift with
his wife Annie’s family, which in turn becomes a source of firmer solidarity for the couple
(Hijuelos, 45). His foundling’s origins strengthen the marriage again in the event of the birth of
Edward’s beloved son, Robert. Annie is at first reluctant to raise the baby, and Ives painfully
leaves the decision in her hands. But as she reflects on this, “how [Edward] had been a
foundling” and how much pain it must have caused him to contemplate giving away his first-
born, Annie is inspired with renewed love for her husband and decides to keep the child
(Hijuelos, 50). Thus, by extension, Ives’ identity as a father to his child originates in connection
with his own experience of having never met his own real father.
Another influence of his past can be discerned in Edward’s predilection for orphans and
immigrants: “his foundling’s loneliness” (Hijuelos, 21) connects him to his best friend, the
Cuban orphan Ramirez (Hijuelos, 64), and it becomes the inspiration for Ives’ charitable work in
his community (Hijuelos, 87). The final relation in Ives’ life touched by his orphaned origins is
his relationship with his faith. In Edward’s Catholic vision of the afterlife, he imagines a type of
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Edenic existence where, significantly, “even orphans and foundlings would be welcome – or
especially welcomed” (Hijuelos, 105). Furthermore, during his frequent contemplation of the
Christmas story over the years, Ives would be moved to extreme emotion by consideration of the
mystery that lay between him, “an unwanted child,” and his Savior, “most wanted child in the
history of the world” (Hijuelos, 4). Ives is presented by the author in this particular prayer both
at the beginning and the end of the book, indicating – if the novel’s title were not enough – the
extreme importance that Christmas had in shaping Ives’ personality. It is noteworthy that at one
crucial point in the story, just as Ives is beginning the process of reconciliation with his son’s
murderer, Edward’s parentless background is mentioned once more, here as an assertion of his
very identity, as well as in connection with his religion: Hijuelos describes him as “Mr. Ives of
the mystical experience, foundling beginning, and saintly demeanor” (Hijuelos, 173).
Hijuelos’ authorial choice to make Ives an orphan and to have this be such a foundational
part of his personal and religious character is not incidental. According to historian Bernadette
McCauley, the Catholic presence in New York City in 1920 – right around the time of Ives’ birth
– would have been no more strongly felt than in the care provided to abandoned women and
children by the various religious communities (McCauley, 104). Whether Hijuelos was familiar
with Cardinal Spellman’s The Foundling or not, the coincidence in story elements is telling of
the way in which New York’s history shapes the Catholic imaginations of both Hijuelos and the
prelate. One can imagine Hijuelos himself immersed in the task of research which he portrays
Ives undertaking in his story, “sitting at a table reading an archaic book of statistics, put out by
the New York City Department of Child Welfare, which had information about the number of
orphans and abandoned children in New York in the 1920s” (Hijuelos, 16). Through such
research Hijuelos would inevitably have read of the Sisters of Charity, who did have a home in
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Brooklyn, which perhaps forms the real-life basis for the fictive orphanage of Saint Stephen’s
where Ives spends his early years (cf. Lutz). In any event, the Christian solicitude for orphans,
embodied in the work of Mother Seton’s nuns, certainly shaped the Catholic ethos of New York
City in a significant way; and this influence is plainly evident – either intentionally or
As mentioned above, Annie Ives’ family was hostile and prejudiced toward her husband.
In elaborating upon the background of this bias amongst Annie’s Gaelic family, Hijuelos wryly
summarizes the sad narrative of immigrant history in places like Manhattan: “[Annie’s]
grandparents had come over to New York at the turn of the century, at a time when people spit
on their kind of immigrants, and now they could sit on their porch watching their grandkids spit
on other kinds of immigrants” (Hijuelos, 45). The historical narrative of racial tension is woven
throughout the novel, from Ives’ own encounters with bigotry to the circumstances surrounding
his son’s death. Edward’s friends at Malloy’s bar offer to take up a collection to have Gomez,
the murderer, killed (Hijuelos, 145-7); and Gomez himself, in a letter to Ives after his release
from prison, describes how the culture of “the joint” had been dominated by strife among the
various races (Hijuelos, 203). Interrupting this refrain of racial hatred is Ives himself, who
throughout the novel acts as peacemaker among divergent cultures; in fact, the main emotional
crisis of the story describes Ives’ own reluctant chilling toward Hispanic culture after his son’s
death eventually resolving in his reconciliation with Gomez (cf. Hijuelos, 10-13; 243). This role
of straddling racial divides in many ways mirrors an important part played by historic Catholics
in the life of New York City, illuminating another important point of contact between the
From its earliest days, the Catholic experience in New York was one of racial diversity.
Most histories of New York’s Catholic heritage tend to focus on the immense influence of the
Irish, and justifiably so; as Charles Morris observes, Irish Catholics’ opportunity to shape the
Church on these shores benefited from their ability to speak English and their relatively early
migration (Morris, 51). Nevertheless, this belies the fact that, as one commentator puts it,
“change has been a constant for New York City parishes” (Gibson, 56). For instance, in the
early waves of Italian Catholic immigration to Manhattan (1870s-80s), it was discovered that –
for one reason or another – these members of the Church were ‘falling away’ upon their arrival
(Brown, 31). Quickly a plan was developed in order to ‘missionize’ this demographic; this
development, in turn, became a working model for New York parishes in the management of
outreach to African Americans and Hispanics” took root as early as 1914 (McNamara, 48;
Badillo, 55); and the Island of Manhattan soon followed suit. Under the leadership of Jesuit
Father John LaFarge, beginning in 1926, a interracial dialogue took hold of the city, culminating
in LaFarge’s formation, in 1934, of the Catholic Interracial Council (Keane, 110-14). Although
this ministry focused mainly on African-Americans, it laid the groundwork for the welcome
It was Cardinal Spellman, explains Latino scholar David Badillo, who began New York’s
outreach to Spanish-speaking immigrants in earnest, during the 1940s – the same time as Ives’
coming of age in Hijuelos’ novel (Badillo, xx-xxi). This period also roughly coincides with the
time that Ives’ friend Ramirez departed Cuba – in 1938, a year before Spellman’s appointment to
the See of New York (Hijuelos, 161). The correlation of dates is revealing; Cardinal Spellman’s
increasing influence and power in New York’s race relations lend to Hijuelos’ fictional
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characterizations a peculiar verisimilitude and relevance. To take an example: Ives’ affinity for
Spanish-speaking peoples leads him to lobby for change in his employer’s hiring practices, in
order to include Spanish-speaking employees – a move described as taking place “long before it
became the fashion” (Hijuelos, 59). Similarly, Spellman’s leadership in accepting Spanish-
speaking immigrants was markedly progressive; as Morris describes the Archdiocese’s response
to the mass Puerto Rican immigration of the 1950s: “considering the times… [it] was almost a
Spellman also ceased formation of ethnic parishes in New York, considering them forces
of segregation. The new model – “an ‘integrated’ or mixed parish” – had a powerful effect on
the racial relations of Latinos in Manhattan (Badillo, 66, 80). On the one hand, Spellman’s move
was unpopular in that it made it more difficult for Spanish-speaking immigrants to form
community. On the other hand, Spellman’s plan resulted in the barillos which did form being
were even ecumenical, since community building took priority over religious differences which
under Spellman’s influence into the 1950s (Badillo, 81-3); during which time, in the novel, Ives
and his family relocate to one on the Upper West Side. Their new neighborhood is depicted as
Ricans and Dominicans and Cubans” (Hijuelos, 56, 140). The home in which Ives would spend
most of his life, in which his son would be murdered, was built by a Catholic plan. Perhaps
In the case of Ramirez, the defining point of connectivity with the Catholic history of
New York is in the early 1960s, when the Church throughout America cooperated with the
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Federal Government to relocate Cuban refugees to various Dioceses. The Archdiocese of New
York was the site of the largest influx of these refugees outside Miami, with Catholic Relief
Services resettling over 10,000 Cuban immigrants in Manhattan (Badillo, 100). These new
immigrants gave a distinct character to Cuban American experience in every place they settled:
throughout the 1960s, a growing sense of cultural heritage (cubanidad) and a determination to
return to their homeland and overthrow the dictator (la causa cubana) became the dominant
tropes of Cuban American life (“Identity,” 173, 176). These sentiments can be traced in the
characterization of Luis Ramirez. One particular scene, taking place in 1967, captures the
about the changes that had taken place in Cuba, to which he’d hoped to one day retire” and later
“[talking] about one day opening a restaurant in midtown, serving good Cuban cuisine”
(Hijuelos, 116-17). These details illuminate how Ramirez’s experience as a Cuban American is
marked by the two central themes of Cuban “exile,” a depiction made all the more credible by
the historic events in New York that coincide with the time in the novel – events facilitated there,
In The Catholic Imagination, Andrew Greeley details the various factors which shape
Catholics’ worldview, especially in America. While the works of larger religious communities
and the power of the Church hierarchy and institutions do indeed figure significantly in
Catholics’ lives, Greeley promotes as far more influential the things closest to home: “Parents,
relatives, neighbors, friends, teachers, classmates, local clergy, lovers, and above all spouses
are… the most powerful sources of the Catholic sensibility” (Greeley, 179) – which is to say, in
a word, the local Church. The local Church, specifically the phenomenon of “the neighborhood
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parish,” Greeley holds to represent “the distinctive Catholic view of human networks” (Greeley,
127). The neighborhood parish is the particular version of Catholic localism unique to the
American Catholic experience, particularly in places like New York City. Greeley attributes this
communities, localizing within those communities as sub-cultures based upon “intense and
In Hijuelos’ novel, Ives’ life is colored in many and varied ways by the vibrancy of the
local Church as lived in the neighborhood parishes of New York. The first example – and
arguably the most significant – is the influence of local priests. One of Ives’ oldest friends,
dating back to the time he first met Annie, is Father Tom Bernhardt, who provides valued
counsel to Ives throughout their friendship. He is the first person to whom Ives is willing to
reveal the story of his mystical vision (Hijuelos, 104), and it is he who suggests to Edward that
he will feel better if he forgives his son’s murderer (Hijuelos, 204). In bringing about that
reconciliation, there is another priest who is also instrumental: Father Jimenez, who arranges
Ives’ first meeting with Gomez and also the last, when Ives finally pardons the young man
(Hijuelos, 142, 239). And of course, there is the man closest to Ives, the man who is called but
never ordained due to his life being cut short: Robert, Ives’ only son. Robert’s decision to
pursue the priesthood has a profound effect on Ives, even before Robert is killed; in fact, it seems
to be the catalyst of the spiritual crisis that climaxes in Ives’ vision of the four winds (Hijuelos,
77ff.). In any event, the priesthood in Ives’ life is not a peripheral matter, an esoteric concern of
abstract doctrine; rather, as envisioned by the Catholic author Hijuelos, the priesthood is a local
†
I would add to this that this tendency would certainly have been exacerbated in this country by the unfriendly
reception which the first waves of Catholic immigrants received; even if they’d wished to “assimilate,” the culture of
resentment and distrust toward them (e.g., the Know Nothings) would have made this impossible.
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A second example of the impact of the local Church depicted in Hijuelos’ novel are the
church buildings themselves. According to a search on the Archdiocese of New York’s website,
there are ninety-six parishes in Manhattan county; given the size of Manhattan, and assuming at
least one church building to every parish (although there may be more), that means an average of
four Catholic churches per square mile. Little more need be said of how the Catholic heritage of
New York’s past has created a formidable physical presence amongst the streets of New York.
Nor is it difficult to see in the action of Mr. Ives’ Christmas how this real-world fact translates
into Hijuelos’ imagined world; in fact, we need look no further than the first page of the story.
Edward Ives is introduced as a man who, years ago, “would head out during his lunch hours,
visiting churches, to think and meditate,” sometimes venturing as far as Saint Patrick’s
Cathedral, “where he’d become lost in a kind of euphoric longing” (Hijuelos, 3). The pastime
does not derive from a motivation that is uniquely Catholic; but the opportunity to pursue that
pastime finds provision in the expansive presence that the Church established during its
We have suggested that Oscar Hijuelos’ Catholic imagination, as evident in the action of
Mr. Ives’ Christmas, is a sense molded by the historically wrought presence of Catholicism in
New York City. Care must be taken, though, to understand how this artistic vision operates in
setting the scene for Edward Ives’ life. We may tend to think of that historic Catholicism as a
separate font of creativity, a set of images alongside the secular New York images of Central
Park and the Empire State Building. According to this mechanism, Hijuelos’ Catholic
imagination would be no more than an inclination to see certain things as more prominent than
others might see them to be: circling certain landmarks on Manhattan’s map because those are
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the sites the author prefers to visit. Conceiving of the Catholic imagination in this way errs,
though; and to explain how and why, we will begin with Hijuelos’ own reflection on the matter.
In an interview about the novel he lovingly calls “Ives,” Hijuelos describes the manner in
which he came to write the book. It seems an academic friend of his had “scoffed at” Hijuelos’
faith; “baffled” by the other’s atheism, Hijuelos’ observed: “That a city as confusing and
contradictory as New York is tolerable… is due to the fact that there are people who believe in
something greater than themselves” (Gonzalez). Those who do not believe are “tone deaf,”
Hijuelos explains: “They hear a piano being played and they only hear ‘thunka-thunk.’ There is
this wild jazz going on called religion and some people don’t have the chops” (Gonzalez,
emphasis added).
For Hijuelos, there is meaning behind the external forms of New York’s Catholic past,
like the notes which lie in potency on a piano’s keys before being struck by someone who “has
the chops.” To an imagination like Hijuelos’, this meaning runs deeper than the mere shaping of
historical events; it connects with the hearts of those who hear it, revealing what seems to be
mere noise and chaos in everyday life to be a busy music straining on the ear. Thus, in the
Sisters’ care for foundlings can be glimpsed the righteousness of the God who has solicitude for
orphans (James 1:27); in the respect shown to the immigrant in a foreign land is the kindness of
the God who loves the sojourner (Deuteronomy 10:18); and in the sanctuaries of Churches is the
answer to Ives’ “euphoric longing.” In all, and in unexpected places like bustling New York
City, Hijuelos finds the wild jazz of religion, for which he clearly has the chops.
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WORKS CITED
Badillo, David A. Latinos and the New Immigrant Church. Baltimore: John Hopkins University
“Books: Cardinal’s Novel.” Rev. of The Foundling by Francis Cardinal Spellman. TIME.com.
/article/0,9171,859238,00.html>
Brown, Mary Elizabeth. “A Separate Feast: The Italian Influence on Catholic New York.”
Collins, Glenn. “Glimpses of Heartache, and Stories of Survival.” NYTimes.com. The New York
/2007/09/03/nyregion/03foundling.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all>
Gibson, David. “St. Brigid’s Parish: A Pilgrim Church for an Immigrant People.” Golway. 54-
67. Print.
Golway, Terry, ed. Catholics in New York: Society, Culture, and Politics 1808–1946. New York:
Gonzalez, David. “Townie Brings A Tale of Faith To a Seminary.” NYTimes.com. The New
<http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/21/nyregion/townie-brings-a-tale-of-faith-to-a-
seminary.html?pagewanted=all>
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Greeley, Andrew. The Catholic Imagination. Berkley, CA: University of California Press,
2000. Print.
Hijuelos, Oscar. Mr. Ives’ Christmas. New York: HarperPerennial, 1996. Print.
“The History of the New York Foundling.” The New York Foundling. 2008. New York
are/history>
“Identity, Adaptation, and The ‘Cuban Success Story’.” The Columbia History of Latinos in the
United States Since 1960. Ed. David G. Gutierrez. New York: Columbia University
Press, 2004. 169-176. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 18 November 2010.
Keane, James Thomas. “Bridging the Racial Gap: John Lafarge and the Catholic Interracial
Lutz, Nancy E. “1924 Bklyn, NY HOMES & ASYLUMS.” Brooklyn Genealogy Information
/Orphan/1924.Homes.Asylum.html>
McCauley, Bernadette. “Apart and Among: Sisters in the Lives of Catholic New Yorkers.”
McNamara, Patrick J. “A People Set Apart: The Church Grows in Brooklyn… and Queens.”
Morris, Charles R. American Catholic: The Saints and Sinners Who Built America’s Most