Week One Hundred and Twenty-Two - Holy Family (Price Hill)
4:00 Saturday afternoon mass, Holy Family. Until I started this little project, I had never even heard of Holy Family Church, but this weekend, I pointed the mighty Honda Odyssey towards Price Hill and was delighted to discover a real treasure. This is a church truly unlike any other I've been in.
You won't find Holy Family Church on any of the main drags in Price Hill, that is, not on Glenway or Warsaw Avenues. The church, the parish school, the rectory, and the gym encompass an entire block bordered by Hawthorne, West Eighth, Price, and Grand in a fairly residential neighborhood. The original Holy Family Church was dedicated in 1884. The current church, however, was built in 1916 at a cost of $175,000. You won't believe what 175 grand got you a hundred years ago. The building itself is impressive, but the artwork within is beyond comparison.
In the dome above the altar, four stained glass windows represent the "four great sacrifices of the Old Testament" - Abel, Noah, Isaac by Abraham, and Melchizedek (I didn't know either) . Additional windows in the church depict the five joyful mysteries of the rosary as well as other events in the life of the holy family. Artwork completed eight years later, in 1924, includes an incredible series of paintings and trompe l'oeil - almost all of it on the huge dome above the main body of the church. It was amazing just to sit beneath the dome. Paintings of the twelve apostles along with the Apostles' Creed surround Christ the King at the center. Between the center dome's columns, the eight beatitudes are included above portraits of eight additional saints. Beautiful.
I couldn't help but admire just about everything here. The marble columns are adorned with gilded cherub faces looking down on the congregation. There are symbols and references to countless doctrines and practices of the church everywhere you look. The online history of Holy Family describes several things that I missed - the four cardinal virtues depicted at the corners of the center dome, the seven sacraments over the sanctuary dome, and paintings of the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension around the altar. Two paintings at the front of the church have me stumped, however - one of a ship and one of what looked like . . . well . . . Alcatraz. Curious. The altar itself, although beautiful with its traditional white spires, was almost dwarfed by the magnificence of the rest of the church.
The crowd at Holy Family was a mixed bunch as was the "choir." One young girl, a few older women, a middle-aged man or two, and a white-haired senior gentleman provided adequate leadership for the hymns but a more notable amount of enthusiasm. Judging by her animated singing, for one of the choir ladies, this was clearly the highlight of her week. When the organist added her own personal touch to the closing song, "making it her own," it was both funny enough to make my daughter and me laugh but charming enough to keep us smiling. We kept reenacting it for the rest of the night.
I couldn't be more sincere when I say, if you have a chance to visit Holy Family, do so because it really is something. My Husband the Heathen hesitated about joining me for mass this weekend, but I promised him that it would most likely be "an oldie and a goodie." We weren't disappointed.
ATTENDANCE: One-fourth fullYou won't find Holy Family Church on any of the main drags in Price Hill, that is, not on Glenway or Warsaw Avenues. The church, the parish school, the rectory, and the gym encompass an entire block bordered by Hawthorne, West Eighth, Price, and Grand in a fairly residential neighborhood. The original Holy Family Church was dedicated in 1884. The current church, however, was built in 1916 at a cost of $175,000. You won't believe what 175 grand got you a hundred years ago. The building itself is impressive, but the artwork within is beyond comparison.
In the dome above the altar, four stained glass windows represent the "four great sacrifices of the Old Testament" - Abel, Noah, Isaac by Abraham, and Melchizedek (I didn't know either) . Additional windows in the church depict the five joyful mysteries of the rosary as well as other events in the life of the holy family. Artwork completed eight years later, in 1924, includes an incredible series of paintings and trompe l'oeil - almost all of it on the huge dome above the main body of the church. It was amazing just to sit beneath the dome. Paintings of the twelve apostles along with the Apostles' Creed surround Christ the King at the center. Between the center dome's columns, the eight beatitudes are included above portraits of eight additional saints. Beautiful.
I couldn't help but admire just about everything here. The marble columns are adorned with gilded cherub faces looking down on the congregation. There are symbols and references to countless doctrines and practices of the church everywhere you look. The online history of Holy Family describes several things that I missed - the four cardinal virtues depicted at the corners of the center dome, the seven sacraments over the sanctuary dome, and paintings of the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension around the altar. Two paintings at the front of the church have me stumped, however - one of a ship and one of what looked like . . . well . . . Alcatraz. Curious. The altar itself, although beautiful with its traditional white spires, was almost dwarfed by the magnificence of the rest of the church.
The crowd at Holy Family was a mixed bunch as was the "choir." One young girl, a few older women, a middle-aged man or two, and a white-haired senior gentleman provided adequate leadership for the hymns but a more notable amount of enthusiasm. Judging by her animated singing, for one of the choir ladies, this was clearly the highlight of her week. When the organist added her own personal touch to the closing song, "making it her own," it was both funny enough to make my daughter and me laugh but charming enough to keep us smiling. We kept reenacting it for the rest of the night.
I couldn't be more sincere when I say, if you have a chance to visit Holy Family, do so because it really is something. My Husband the Heathen hesitated about joining me for mass this weekend, but I promised him that it would most likely be "an oldie and a goodie." We weren't disappointed.
DURATION: 50 minutes
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