Who knew that a freed Haitian slave was a prime benefactor of Old St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC? That the librettist of three of Mozart's most beloved operas ended up a greengrocer and the first professor of Italian Language at Columbia University?

This documentary was made, it appears, as an introductory piece for PBS's airing of a recreation of the first New York concert of Italian-style "operatic" singing in 1826: an oratorio assembled by Lorenzo da Ponte (Mozart's librettist).

Old St. Patrick's (on Mulberry St.) is Martin Scorsese's childhood church, and Scorsese interviews (and clips from his films featuring the church) are scattered throughout, with information about the neighborhood and the Church's importance to the texture of his Little Italy. Jim Gaffigan's family still worships there, and he and his wife have some brief interview clips that talk about the current congregation.

But much of the documentary is information about Da Ponte's remarkable life, Pierre Toussaint (the Haitian ex-slave mentioned earlier),the history of Old St. Pat's itself.

This is not a slick eye-candy documentary but it's packed full of fascinating information and left me shaking my head in amazement several times.

If you've ever walked by the walled yard of Old St. Pat's and wondered how it got that way, this explains it -- again with an important bit of NYC history.

A good way to spend an hour.