Downtown Express photo by Jefferson Siegel

Friars and firefighters memorial

After a special Mass last Sunday, Father Joseph Lorenzo, above left, led parishoners from St. Anthony of Padua Church on Sullivan St. to Father Fagan Park at Sixth Ave. and Prince St. There they placed a wreath and held a brief service commemorating the 70th anniversary of the death of Father Richard Fagan, a Franciscan friar and St. Anthony’s associate pastor. On Nov. 4, 1938, Fagan, 27, died while trying to help fellow friars trapped by a fire at the church’s Thompson St. rectory. Also remembered were two others who lost their lives in that fire, Brother John Chiazza and friary cook Julius Tapperio. The service additionally paid tribute to three firefighters who perished in a blaze on Watts St. on March 28, 1994 — Captain John Drennan, James F. Young and Christopher J. Siedenburg — who are also memorialized in the park.