Take Me to the River

Week Thirty-Two - Saint Rose

7:00 Saturday evening mass, St. Rose. I'll say it straight out - I can't wait to go back to St. Rose. This week's outing was near perfect in every way. The history, the view, the aesthetics of the church, the efficiency of the mass. Oh, where to start . . .

St. Rose, located on the river in the East End, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. While the exterior isn't much to see (except for the flood marker on the back of the church - see photo below), the interior ranks right up there with the best of them. There's a lot to look at inside of the not-so-very-big St. Rose Church. A few of the impressively oversized stations of the cross are inaccessible simply due to the high volume of . . . stuff. I counted almost twenty statues at one point (with the girls in a narrow lead in the statue battle of the sexes). Gargoyle-like angels kept watch over everyone, set between tall stained glass windows, one of which, according to My Husband the Heathen, included a profile pic of "Jesus on a t-shirt". Sigh.

At the front of the center aisle, the hardwood floor included an inlaid wooden picture of a rose. Nice. The dome above the altar mimicked a starry night. Very cool. There was also a painting above the altar of a thimble with two needles and thread, symbols of Saint Rose. I didn't know that, of course, until I got home and looked into it. That bit of research led to further reading about Saint Rose that left me a bit disturbed - I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say, she was . . . umm . . . extreme. Yikes.

Okay, so here we have a historic church, built in 1867, embodying anything and everything of a traditional Catholic church. Would someone then please explain to me the marquee lights outlining each and every arch over each and every altar? There were lights outlining crosses. There were lights around the tabernacle. There were even lights outlining the halo on the statue of Mary. There were so many lights. Clearly a feature unique to St. Rose, I can't say I disliked them though. On the contrary, I actually liked them. Tacky? Maybe, but they were pretty. I had read about the lights at St. Rose and knew they were coming, but, as a St. Rose newcomer, they still catch you off-guard and grab your attention when they're first turned on.

Had it not been for the gospel reading of the Passion (Palm Sunday), this mass would have been over fairly quickly. With organ accompaniment, only an opening and closing song were sung. Efficiency in everything was obvious. Perhaps that's part of the draw to St. Rose because this mass was very crowded and left several individuals standing when the pews had filled. On the other hand, I also sensed a certain "cool factor" being at St. Rose. The only locals here were the locals from the pricey new riverside condos down the street. The yuppies, the preppies, the Burberry - they were all here. It was a nice crowd though and a mixed one really - families, seniors, the whole gamut.

Bottom line - St. Rose is now my new favorite church. Hmm, wonder if I can convince the family to hit up the Easter Vigil at St. Rose next Saturday?

ATTENDANCE: Crowded

DURATION: 55 minutes (with a lengthy gospel)