Cleveland Mass Mob XXXI — St. Philomena

Cleveland Mass Mob XXXI

St. Philomena — East Cleveland

13824 Euclid Avenue 

10 a.m. Sunday 31 March 2019

Fr. Thomas Mahon was pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas Cleveland. Glenville (which then was outside of Cleveland) wanted a parish. Fr. Mahon would also become pastor at the new parish of St. Aloysius. People in East Cleveland asked Fr. Mahon to organise another parish, which became St. Philomena in 1902. St. Philomena is still in East Cleveland on Euclid Avenue. At the time, there were no Catholic churches on Euclid Avenue inside the city of Cleveland. That part of Euclid was Millionaires' Row, and no Catholic churches were allowed. On the parallel Superior Avenue there were several, St. Thomas Aquinas being the furthest east.

Since 2009, St. Philomena and St. Ann (Cleveland Heights) are part of the new combined parish of Communion of Saints. The closed Christ the King (East Cleveland), and closed St. Louis (Cleveland Heights) were merged into the new parish.

An open door is an invite.

Cleveland Mass Mob XXX — Saint Stanislaus

Cleveland Mass Mob XXX

Saint Stanislaus

11.30 a.m. 7 October 2018

East 65th & Forman

This will be a second mobbing, four years after the first.

The parish of St. Stanislaus was formed in 1873, and at first worshipped at St. Mary's of the Flats (the first Catholic church and later cathedral in Cleveland). In 1879 they moved to the Franciscan St. Joseph on Woodland. In 1881 a new church was built in South Broadway area of Newburgh called Warszawa. The present church was built from 1886 to 1891. St. Stan's exterior was built in Gothic revival style. Of the Catholic churches in the US, built in that style, only St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan is larger.  The church was 232 feet high, with two steeples. St. Michael the Archangel, on the west side, had its taller steeple at 232 feet also. At the time, these were the two tallest buildings in Cleveland. A tornado struck on 21 April of 1909, the twin steeples toppled, and a child was killed. The steeple on St. Wenceslas on Broadway also fell. St. Stan's was rebuilt to a height 122 feet high.

St. Stanislaus is gothic on the outside, on the inside it is baroque, it is the most rococo church in Cleveland. During the year, it is often well garlanded with plants and other decorations. In addition to being a parish church, it is also a shrine church, and the co-cathedral of Cleveland. The shrine is that of St. Stanislaus Szczepanowski (Bishop and Martyr). Above is a window depicting King Boleslaus II the Bold murdering Stanislaus. Stanislaus was bishop of Krakow, a successor to the office was Karol Wojtyla (St. John Paul II), there are items of his in the church.

Saint Stanislaus is a Polish parish church, and the architectural style is loosely called the Polish Cathedral Style in America. Many such parish churches across the country were built on a large scale. Cleveland has a few of them, and we have mobbed them.

Cleveland Mass Mob XXIX — Our Lady of Good Counsel

Cleveland Mass Mob XXIX
Our Lady of Good Counsel
11 a.m. Sunday 5 August 2018
4423 Pearl Road

Under canon law, a parish's name can be changed, but the name of the church stays the same. In 2010 the parishes of Corpus Christi and Our Lady of Good Counsel were merged as Mary Queen of Peace. 

In the XIXth century Old Brooklyn was not a part of Cleveland. South Brooklyn was annexed in 1905, and other parts of the township between 1915 and 1917. A Catholic mission, Sacred Heart of Mary, began in 1873 and was German; in 1894 elevation to a parish and the arrival of the Sanguinists [Society of the Most Precious Blood]. In 1917 the parish became Our Lady of Good Counsel, and the new church is the present church.

Cleveland Mass Mob XXVIII — Saint Patrick, Ohio City

Cleveland Mass Mob XXVIII 

Saint Patrick, Ohio City

11 o'clock a.m. Sunday 24 June 2018 

3602 Bridge Avenue

When St. Patrick's was founded in 1853 it was in the town of Ohio City, a rival of the town across the river. The next year, Cleveland absorbed Ohio City. The present building is the second church, and began building in 1871. The stone, Sandusky blue limestone, was carried in wagons from the quarry weekly for two years. Limestone is sedimentary, and you will see fossils on the outside walls.

The building process was not quick. The interior was completed in 1881, the tower in 1902, and the church was enlarged in 1913. St. Patrick is not the oldest St. Patrick's in Cleveland, but it is the oldest Irish parish in Cleveland.

Cleveland Mass Mob XXVII — Saint John Nepomucene

Cleveland Mass Mob XXVII
St. John Nepomucene
Pentecost Sunday
9 o'clock 20 May 2018

Fleet Avenue & East 50th

John Nepomucene is not easy for everyone to say, the Czech version is Jan Nepomuk. He is the patron of the seal of confession. John *c.1345, 1393† was thrown into the Vltava River (which runs through the capital city, Prague) by the order of the king, Wenceslaus IV[not the one in the carol]. Wenceslaus wanted to know the confession of his queen. This is why the iconography has John holding a finger to his lips. His feast day is the 16th of May. 

It is common when people have settled in America to have parishes named after national patrons. Irish parishes in towns and cities across the land have SS. Bridget, Patrick, Colman, Columbkille, Brendan, Malachy. Polish parishes have SS. Stanislaus, Casimir, Hedwig, Adalbert, Josaphat, Our Lady of Czestochowa. Hungarians named parishes after saints Elizabeth, and Stephen. Everyone names parishes after Mary, and often Saints Joseph, Peter and Paul.

Bohemia is the largest Czech province, and in Cleveland (and elsewhere) Bohemian was synonymous with Czech. The other two provinces are Moravia, and Silesia. The Czechs named parishes after SS. Wenceslaus, John Nepomuk, and Adalbert (some saints are patrons to more than one nation).

Cleveland has three remaining parishes founded by Czechs: St. John Nepomucene, and Our Lady of Lourdes (both in what was Newburgh, and now is called Slavic Village); and St. Adalbert (ClevelandMassMob III). Until recently, the west side had St. Procop, and Maple Heights had St. Wenceslaus. Earlier, there had been a St. Wenceslaus on Broadway. The highways took that parish, and St. Martin. Holy Family was also on the east side and closed in the 1990s.

Cleveland Mass Mob XXVI — Saint Augustine

Cleveland Mass Mob XXVI  

 Saint Augustine

10 a.m. Sunday 15 April 2018

2486 West 14th Street

 

Cleveland Mass Mob has been asked to return for another season. We will first revisit Saint Augustine's. Saint Augustine's is well known for its Christian ministries to the poor.  The ten o'clock Mass will have American Sign Language. It must be remembered that each celebration of Mass is not an indistinguishable, interchangeable clone of every other Mass. Each parish has its own personality and chrism. If you have not participated at a Mass for the Deaf, you cannot appreciate its beauty, and sincerity.

The local press has for many years visited St. Augustine's dining room to show the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Saint Augustine feeds the hungry every day, and does many other acts of charity (remember 'charity' is another word for love of others). People need to eat more than twice a year, and St. Augustine always needs help. If you can aid, it will be welcomed.