Week One Hundred and Nine - Sacred Heart (Camp Washington)
5:30 Saturday afternoon mass, Sacred Heart. Our son, our youngest, is now at college. So far, he seems to be happy and having a good time, although I feel compelled to qualify my statement by adding that, at the time of this writing, classes hadn't started yet. Me? Suffice it to say that, if one more person tells me how much I'm going to love being an empty-nester, somebody's going to get hurt. Actually, I'm fine. It's just so . . . quiet. But now, to the task at hand . . .
As we moved our freshman into his dorm room last week, one of his roommates arrived at the same time. This young man came from New Jersey, and his mother epitomized all that is Jersey, not in a negative "Jersey Shore - Snookie" sort of way, but in a busy, talkative, Italian sort of way. It was the Italian part that got me thinking about ravioli, and ravioli got me thinking about Sacred Heart Church. I've been to Sacred Heart Church on several occasions - only once for mass but several times for food. More on the food later. First, the church . . .
I couldn't find any significant history of Sacred Heart Church, but I did find this: The church was originally built in 1870 for "immigrant Germans and their descendents." Germans? I had always thought of Sacred Heart as the "Italian church." Was I wrong? Not entirely. That small bit of history also noted that the German parishioners were later joined in 1969 by "immigrant Italians and their descendents," so my impressions were fairly accurate, but I was still surprised by the somewhat recent inclusion of the Italian demographic.
Sacred Heart is a beautiful church. I would assume that it's always been beautiful, although the parish website includes photos of a recent renovation/restoration project. Unfortunately, it doesn't include dates with the photos, so I'm not sure when the work was completed, but the results are impressive. Immense marble columns, mosaic borders around tall stained glass windows, brilliant, sparkling guilded moldings, countless paintings on the ceiling and around the dome above the altar - all beautiful. I especially like the numerous paintings of angels around the back of the altar. I think I counted 26 angels at one point. Above the tallest spire of the altar, there's a whole flock of them which I had a hard time taking my eyes off of. Speaking of which, the main altar and equally impressive side altars are really something. In My Husband the Heathen's words, "Where do you get something like that?"
Although the stained glass windows aren't particularly detailed and, other than a few flowers, depict no real pictures, I was particularly taken by them. I was charmed to realize mid-mass that each window had been designed in a "rainbow pattern" - the glass closest to the top including red and orange segments, the glass towards the bottom ending in aquas, blues, and purples. The sun shining through the windows created the sense of being inside a kaleidoscope. The soft multi-colored hues cast by the windows made up for a rather unfortunate choice when it came to the predominant color of the church - an odd, golden mustard yellow. That and the flooring - linoleum tiles - were really the only aesthetic faults I could find at Sacred Heart. A classic hardwood floor would have really cinched it. I can't hold either against Sacred Heart though. This church is pretty darn perfect.
The mass itself was standard, although there was a noticeable absence of the sign of peace. Not sure what's up with that, and frankly, I don't really care, but get this: As my husband and I sat in our pew waiting for mass to begin, we nearly jumped out of our skins when the organist started playing. Hallelujah! FINALLY, an organist who takes advantage of the magnificent instrument he has available to him! We weren't just at a mass - we were at a concert, and his performance was amazing! This organ was so big and so loud that vibrations could be felt and heard throughout the church! To make things even better, the same organist sang an a capella piece in Latin during the distribution of communion. Bravo!
I'm pretty sure I'll be returning to Sacred Heart very soon, if not for mass (or their Sunday Latin mass), for the food! Something of a Cincinnati institution, we've hauled our pots and pans down to Sacred Heart's Italian dinner several times now and waited in line for hours for a carry-out of the best ravioli in town, and yes, it is imperative that you bring your own pots - trust me, you'll be eating for days. Their next Italian dinner is sometime in October, and you can bet that if it's a nice day with nothing else going on, my husband and I will be there. Of course, that should be easy, now that we have all this "free time" on our hands, right? Grrrrrr . . .
ATTENDANCE: About one-third fullAs we moved our freshman into his dorm room last week, one of his roommates arrived at the same time. This young man came from New Jersey, and his mother epitomized all that is Jersey, not in a negative "Jersey Shore - Snookie" sort of way, but in a busy, talkative, Italian sort of way. It was the Italian part that got me thinking about ravioli, and ravioli got me thinking about Sacred Heart Church. I've been to Sacred Heart Church on several occasions - only once for mass but several times for food. More on the food later. First, the church . . .
I couldn't find any significant history of Sacred Heart Church, but I did find this: The church was originally built in 1870 for "immigrant Germans and their descendents." Germans? I had always thought of Sacred Heart as the "Italian church." Was I wrong? Not entirely. That small bit of history also noted that the German parishioners were later joined in 1969 by "immigrant Italians and their descendents," so my impressions were fairly accurate, but I was still surprised by the somewhat recent inclusion of the Italian demographic.
Sacred Heart is a beautiful church. I would assume that it's always been beautiful, although the parish website includes photos of a recent renovation/restoration project. Unfortunately, it doesn't include dates with the photos, so I'm not sure when the work was completed, but the results are impressive. Immense marble columns, mosaic borders around tall stained glass windows, brilliant, sparkling guilded moldings, countless paintings on the ceiling and around the dome above the altar - all beautiful. I especially like the numerous paintings of angels around the back of the altar. I think I counted 26 angels at one point. Above the tallest spire of the altar, there's a whole flock of them which I had a hard time taking my eyes off of. Speaking of which, the main altar and equally impressive side altars are really something. In My Husband the Heathen's words, "Where do you get something like that?"
Although the stained glass windows aren't particularly detailed and, other than a few flowers, depict no real pictures, I was particularly taken by them. I was charmed to realize mid-mass that each window had been designed in a "rainbow pattern" - the glass closest to the top including red and orange segments, the glass towards the bottom ending in aquas, blues, and purples. The sun shining through the windows created the sense of being inside a kaleidoscope. The soft multi-colored hues cast by the windows made up for a rather unfortunate choice when it came to the predominant color of the church - an odd, golden mustard yellow. That and the flooring - linoleum tiles - were really the only aesthetic faults I could find at Sacred Heart. A classic hardwood floor would have really cinched it. I can't hold either against Sacred Heart though. This church is pretty darn perfect.
The mass itself was standard, although there was a noticeable absence of the sign of peace. Not sure what's up with that, and frankly, I don't really care, but get this: As my husband and I sat in our pew waiting for mass to begin, we nearly jumped out of our skins when the organist started playing. Hallelujah! FINALLY, an organist who takes advantage of the magnificent instrument he has available to him! We weren't just at a mass - we were at a concert, and his performance was amazing! This organ was so big and so loud that vibrations could be felt and heard throughout the church! To make things even better, the same organist sang an a capella piece in Latin during the distribution of communion. Bravo!
I'm pretty sure I'll be returning to Sacred Heart very soon, if not for mass (or their Sunday Latin mass), for the food! Something of a Cincinnati institution, we've hauled our pots and pans down to Sacred Heart's Italian dinner several times now and waited in line for hours for a carry-out of the best ravioli in town, and yes, it is imperative that you bring your own pots - trust me, you'll be eating for days. Their next Italian dinner is sometime in October, and you can bet that if it's a nice day with nothing else going on, my husband and I will be there. Of course, that should be easy, now that we have all this "free time" on our hands, right? Grrrrrr . . .
DURATION: 45 minutes
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