The 'Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth' is shown in the central window of the chapel. A statue of Mary is below. Paul Woodroffe (1875-1954), an English artist/illustrator and stained-glass designer with a studio in Gloucestershire, England, designed the stained-glass windows after the cathedral at Chartres, France. They were made between 1927 and 1931. The chapel was donated to honor Eugene Kelly.
Eugene Kelly (b. 1806 Trillick, County Tyrone, Ireland – d. NYC 1894) was an Irish immigrant who started as a clerk and ended his days as a philanthropist and banker. In Ireland his family, originally from Galway, had two thirds of its property confiscated by the English. Kelly came to the United States in 1830 with 100 Irish pounds (proceeds from a sale of land his mother had given him). Before he left Ireland he'd been offered a job as a clerk with Donnelly Brothers, dry goods importers on South Williams Street in New York. He stayed with the company for seven years and then moved to Kentucky for the company.Later, he moved to St. Louis and went into business for himself. Back in New York, he married a sister of his former employer. His wife died in 1848. Kelly moved to San Francisco for the California Gold Rush and started a dry goods business, which he ran for 10 years. In 1861, he started a bank, Donohoe Ralston & Co. in San Francisco, and Kelly & Company in New York. The name was later changed to Donohoe & Kelly Banking Company. In New York he married Margaret Hughes, the niece of the late Archbishop John Hughes of New York. Kelly was an Irish patriot and gave money to Irish causes. He promised up to $130,000 on one occasion. Pope Leo XII conferred the honorary appointment 'Carmerier de Cape et d' Epee,' but Kelly declined it because he did not want to travel to Rome. He founded the Southern Bank of the State of Georgia and was a director of Emigrant Savings Bank, the Bank of New York, and Equitable Life Insurance Company. He was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a life member of the National Academy of Design and a member of the Geographical Society. He was a founder and director of the Catholic University of America, a trustee of Seton Hall, and he was on the committee to build the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Memorial Arch. He was buried at St. Patrick's Cathedral. When he died, he left a widow and five children. Members of his family are buried with him under Our Lady Chapel in St. Patrick's Cathedral.
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