On the corner of Fordham Road and University Avenue this past Sunday, colorful balloons danced in the wind and sunshine. Tethered to railings, the balloons dotted the path up to one of the Bronx’s oldest churches, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, where the doors were wide open for a celebration.

A year and a half earlier, on a similarly lovely day in March, someone set fire to Tolentine’s vestibule, including its doors, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and an unquantifiable amount of heartache for the church’s parishioners.

Despite the act of arson committed that day, Father Joseph Girone, the head priest at Tolentine, said the church never wavered in its commitment to keeping its doors open to the public, as it always had.

“After what happened, we could have said we’re closing our doors, but we didn’t,” Girone said. “That was important for us.”

Tolentine usually holds three Masses on Sundays — one in English, one in Spanish and one in Vietnamese. But on this day celebrating the re-opening of the church’s brand new (and many say, improved) vestibule, all of Tolentine’s congregants came together for one giant service.

Much of the multi-lingual talk from the pulpit was about the symbolism of doors.

“The theme of the doors is that they represent us,” Girone said. “People come in through those doors searching for God. They carry only their burdens, their joys and their sadness.” When they emerge, Girone said, “they leave transformed through the celebration of the sacraments.”

Tolentine’s massive sanctuary was left mostly unharmed by the fire, but the reconstruction of the vestibule was an enormous undertaking that wasn’t completely covered by insurance.

Parishioners and other donors chipped in what they could to help finish the job. The extra funds, Girone said, allowed the church to install a new chandelier in the vestibule and also to take the burnt-out doors and re-fashion them into shrines for St. Augustine and St. Jude.

The new space is a stunning mix of stone and dark wood. Church members raved about the transformation.

“For me, it’s more beautiful than walking into St. Patrick’s Cathedral, to be honest with you,” said Camille Luke, a Tolentine member for more than a decade.

“It’s even more beautiful than before,” said Maria Torres. “Beautiful work.”

Carlos Cortez, a longtime parishioner who was married inside Tolentine years earlier, said the fire helped bring the congregation together and re-energize its membership.

“After the fire, it was a message to people,” Cortez said. “Wake up and smell the coffee. I think it rejuvenated people, made them more tight.”

In the aftermath of the fire, church business didn’t miss a beat. Tolentine continued to hold service in the church school’s gymnasium until the sanctuary became accessible through a side door. New member Emeka Enu said he went through the whole confirmation process while the vestibule was being worked on.

“The fire didn’t stop us,” Enu said, after pointing out the new flat-screen television installed on one of the vestibule walls. “We still did everything.”

Though the arsonist was never caught, Girone said the church’s doors will remain open every weekday, from about 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Saturdays, from around 7 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. and Sundays, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Keeping those doors open, Girone said, gives everyone outside a glimpse of the beauty within the church, including the shiny new entrance hall. He says keeping the doors closed would go against the very meaning of the church.

“The beauty of the church,” Girone said, “is a sign of hope.”