The CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF POMPEII was built for a congregation of Italian-American immigrants and its design was based on a Southern Italian model.  The chapel to this church opened in 1892, but the current church was not dedicated until 1928 (from 1897 to 1926 the congregation met at another church). The site was once the Abyssinian Baptist Church, a prominent Black church for free slaves who lived in this Village neighborhood.  MOTHER CABRINI (Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini), an Italian immigrant and America’s first saint – the patron saint of immigrants, worshipped here.