Week One Hundred and Two - Saint Bernard (Dayton, Kentucky)
4:00 Saturday afternoon mass, St. Bernard. A few weeks ago, when the current heat wave had just rolled in, I made a mental note to suck it up and stick to the suburban parishes I so often dread, only for their guarantee of air conditioning. Well, the scorching temperatures must have torched that mental note because, this week, I mindlessly struck out for St. Bernard Church in Dayton, Kentucky.
St. Bernard Church in Dayton, Kentucky, has no air conditioning.
My Husband the Heathen thought it was hotter than our visit to St. Lawrence Church in Price Hill last summer ("Sweatin' to the Oldies," July, 2010). I personally thought St. Lawrence was hotter, which isn't to say that I didn't think St. Bernard was hot because IT WAS. Even with fans blowing, the air was hot, humid, and stifling. The sweltering heat undoubtedly played a part in the low attendance at this mass. The few who were there clustered near the fans. I thought the heavily-vestmented priest would put the pedal to the metal on this one and speed things up, but no such luck. Multiple verses were sung of each hymn, no one seemed in a hurry, and unbelievably, after a deacon delivered a fairly wordy homily, he introduced a guest speaker, a Franciscan missionary sister, who spoke just as long. I was dying.
But, to the business at hand . . . The history of Dayton's St. Bernard parish is actually quite interesting. St. Bernard began as the Parish of Saint Francis of Assisi. Dedicated in 1854 as the "Roman Catholic German Church of Jamestown, Kentucky," St. Francis was built on a small plot of land on Third Avenue, charmingly nicknamed "God's Acre" but unfortunately located on the Ohio River. In 1884, a devastating flood ravaged the church nearly beyond repair, so in 1886, a new, larger church was erected. However, in 1907, two additional floods caused severe damage to that building. Interesting fact: "To provide temporary repairs, logging chains were placed around the foundation to provide the support required." Not sure if that would pass muster these days.
One year later, in 1908, the parish purchased a tract of land on Fifth Avenue. The cornerstone was laid, but due to monetary constraints, only the foundation work was completed. Meanwhile, back on Third Avenue, the existing St. Francis of Assisi Church was completely destroyed by two more major floods, forcing completion of the work at the Fifth Avenue location, with or without the funds. In 1914, the new - and current - church was dedicated as St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church, the patron of the pastor at the time.
By the 1960's, St. Bernard was a parish of more than 900 families. However, with no flood levee, the Ohio River, while miraculously not damaging St. Bernard's church and school, continued to wreak havoc on the area. Many people left Dayton, purchasing homes in neighboring, flood-free communities, and St. Bernard felt the loss. Years later, however, construction of a much-needed levee prompted new housing, and the number of people in the city - and in St. Bernard parish - began to grow. Sadly, it now looks like the times are a-changin' again: The parish website, last copyrighted in 2004, indicates a parish population of nearly 400 families, but this week's bulletin indicated a meager 89 registered households. 89 households. How do you even keep a church open with that number?
I'd like to say St. Bernard is one of those grand old churches that so many overlook, a diamond in the rough . . . but I can't. Some might call the architecture beautiful, but I don't think I'm one of them. St. Bernard looks . . . dingy, like it's been through the wash too many times, and given its location, maybe it has. Both the interior and the exterior just seemed sad to me, as if the planners were really trying to attain a certain ornate beauty but could never quite get there. Everything seemed to have been given only a half-hearted attempt . . . with one exception - the windows.
The beautiful stained glass windows in the church were designed and made in Munich, Germany. They are reported to be hand-crafted and made of antique glass. The windows behind the altar were purchased in 1919 at an amazing-by-today's-standards total cost of $600.00. Each of the side windows in the body of the church portray one of the eight Beatitudes, these eight purchased in 1932 at a cost of $850.00 each, a little steeper than the first set of windows but oh-so-worth it. Today, all of the stained glass windows at St. Bernard are insured for more than a half million dollars but are considered priceless and irreplaceable. Once you see them, you'll understand why.
With the exception of those windows, it was a weird visit to St. Bernard. Disappointing, boring, trying - those all work. The most interesting part of the trip was what we found outside of the church. First, I was impressed by "Historic Bellevue." When my daughter and I visited Sacred Heart in the area a few months ago, we didn't go very far into Bellevue. This week, my husband and I did and were delighted to find a wonderful section of town, housing tea shops, coffee shops, boutiques, and vintage stores. I can't wait to return to check it out. In addition, after mass, I suggested that we stop at The Party Source. I had read an article in Cincinnati magazine about "growlers," which happen to be sold at The Party Source, and thought it was something the mister would get a kick out of. Until reading the article, neither my husband nor myself knew what a growler was. Social hermits that we are, apparently, we were the only ones who didn't know, as quite a few customers in the store were chatting about growlers as well as buying them. If you don't know what a growler is, you'll have to do your homework and find out. We bought our growler and brought it home, secretly beaming to be cool again - and I don't just mean the temperature.
ATTENDANCE: Almost non-existent
DURATION: Too long
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