When "Syrian Catholics", Maronite and Melkites, first arrived, there were no Arabic-speaking priests and no chapels dedicated to their faiths. Both sects attended St. Peter's Catholic Church on Barclay Street, just outside the Syrian neighborhood. When the Maronites' priest arrived in 1890, they were able to fit out a chapel on Washington Street. The Melkite priest, who had arrived even earlier, unable to raise the needed funds for a chapel, continued to deliver the liturgy in the basement of St. Peter's.