A Look Inside the New St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Wisconsin Dells

"The present glory of this house shall be greater than the former."

- Haggai 2:9

(Referenced in Father Eric Sternberg's Letter within the Solemn Mass of Dedication Program, August 28, 2016)

Sunday, August 28th marked a landmark moment for the Wisconsin Dells Catholic community. After fifteen months without a proper church building, St. Cecilia Parish opened its wonderful new church to the public. To mark the occasion, the Parish held a Solemn Mass of Dedication, followed by a festival and tours of the church.

To stem the inevitable rush of Mass-goers to claim seats in the building, the doors were kept shut until an hour before Mass. Thanks to the willingness of Father Sternberg and the Parish Development Committee, I was able to take a self-guided tour just before the doors were unlocked. The photos in this post come from that visit.

The new St. Cecilia's church building replaces a smaller century-old building that stood on the same site. In a slight nod toward post-Modernism, and a greater nod towards Parish history, a number of elements from the previous building are visible with the new church. Last year, I published a series of posts detailing the old St. Cecilia Catholic Church, which can be visited for comparison:

Post 1 (Interior photos)

Post 2 (Exterior and Parish grounds)

Post 3 (Windows)

“Novam ecclesiam Sancta Caecilia, XVIII Aug MMXVI

Lux luceat in tenebris”

“New church of Saint Cecilia, 18 August, 2016

The light shines in the darkness”

This was my first look inside the nave. First off, the spaciousness comes to the forefront. For years, St. Cecilia's has held weekend Mass in its old school gymnasium during the summer months to fit the vacationing crowds. The expanded seating in the nave and transepts should keep seating more manageable, with room for over 1,000 souls_[1].

To my eyes, the restoration and adaptation of the statuary, altar works, and windows from the old church building are an instant treasure. Practically every statue and stained glass window from the former building has made its way inside the new church. The high altar represents a creative and tasteful update from the previous high altar. 

The St. Cecilia and Sacred Heart of Jesus statues were each given their own side altar space and are positioned under the large windows on opposite transepts near the front of the church.

Detail: St. Cecilia side altar

Detail: Stained glass window depicting the angel approaching the shepherds the night of Jesus' Nativity

Stations of the Cross

Detail: Sacred Heart of Jesus side altar

This Parish, whose patron saint doubles as a patron saint of sacred music, has a well-supplied music section in the south transept. Their performance at the Dedication Mass was magnificent.

 

 

Recognizing the importance of culture in the local faith, pictures of Our Lady of Częstochowa and Our Lady of Guadalupe hang in the transepts. Wisconsin Dells is a small, but historic outpost for Polish Catholics, and a Polish language Mass is held in town on a monthly basis. Weekly Spanish Mass is also a fixture at this Parish.

Windows from the old church line the nave.

St. Cecilia Catholic Church

603 Oak Street, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965
http://www.dellscatholic.com/

Weekend Mass Times

Saturdays: 5 p.m.

Sundays: 8 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 5 p.m.

Spanish Sunday Mass: 6:30 p.m.

Polish Sunday Mass: 3 p.m., first Sunday of the month

Additional Sources
[1] http://www.wiscnews.com/wisconsindellsevents/news/local/article_e7b37864-ee25-5687-9c4c-631de976ed3a.html

Out-and-Around Old St. Cecilia's

A little walk around the old St. Cecilia's church building used to lead visitors to a few landmarks of note for the local Catholic scene in the Wisconsin Dells. Perhaps most notable is this elegant shrine the the Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of the Dells.

A church bell dating from 1904. It reads: "Purchased from the McShane Bell Foundry Balto. MD. by St. Cecilia's Congregation during the pastorate of Rev. O. Kolbe, A.D. 1904."

The parish hall and former school building, which has hosted summer masses for years now to handle the overflow from the old church building. It is being used as the regular worship space until the new St. Cecilia's is complete.

St. Cecilia Catholic Church

603 Oak Street, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965

http://www.dellscatholic.com/

Old St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Wisconsin Dells, A Last Inside Look

St. Cecilia's Catholic Church, the Wisconsin Dells lone parish, closed its 1902 church building with a final Mass and "Roots in Faith" party on Sunday, May 17th. I wasn't able to catch the final Mass which filled the church and forced overflow seating space outside the building. However, I did get to spend a few hours the weekend before walking about the church and capturing the soon-departed scenery.

I had visited the church on one other occasion, and what stuck me the most on that visit was the high altar. Modest in its proportions, the altar is sharp in its detail and, common throughout the church that day, remarkably clean for a building that was soon to be emptied. The scene of the Last Supper is more prominent here than on many altars I've seen, situated at eye-level.

Detail from the high altar.

At the foot of the Cross, high altar detail.

With distinguishing features like this high altar, it is worthy to note that the general plans for the new church building call for many of the old decorative elements to either be included in the new church or for their replacements to be largely inspired by these originals.

The more modern altar is no slouch in appearance either. It was still the Easter season when I visited, so the seasonal flower display quickly caught the visitor's eye.

Lamb of God, detail from the altar.

Detail from the communion rail.

Left: Side altar devoted to St. Joseph with the tabernacle.

Right: Side altar featuring St. Mary fronted by the baptismal font.

"Jesus I trust in you"

Depiction of the Image of the Divine Mercy, the original of which came into being through the appearance of Jesus Christ to St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun _[1]. St. Cecilia Catholic Church, and the Dells in general represent a small, but significant center for Polish heritage. Polka festivals are an annual occurrence in town to this day.

Sacred Heart of Jesus statue.

Tabernacle lamp.

St. Cecilia, patron of the church. An early martyr for Christianity, she is also considered a patron saint of religious music. Many St. Cecilia statues feature her carrying a small organ or other instrument.

"Domum dei Decet Sacntitudo." (Latin for"The House of God Holiness.")

"St. Caecilia's Church 1902" (Caecilia is Latin for Cecilia)

While suffering from structural problems over a century after being built, the old St. Cecilia Church building still looked admirable as its closing approached.

St. Cecilia Catholic Church

603 Oak Street, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965

http://www.dellscatholic.com/

Additional Sources:

[1] https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/mercy/

"Roots in Faith" Party and Final Mass at the circa 1902 St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Wisconsin Dells

St. Cecilia Catholic Church is on the verge of building a new church to host its parishioners and the droves of guests that frequent the Wisconsin Dells. A necessary part of this process involves taking down the current church building, built in the early 1900s. The last Mass at the old church will be celebrated at 5pm on Sunday, May 17th, with a "Roots in Faith" party afterward. At that gathering, historic photos will be on display, hogs will be roasted, and a celebration of the faith history in the Dells should ensue. If you are connected to St. Cecilia's in some way or are otherwise interested in the event, check out the parish's announcement here.

In anticipation of this project, I stopped at the church last weekend to take photos, a couple of which are included in this post. Fr. Eric Sternberg, who granted approval of my photo shoot, and the parish have made an effort to keep the glow of Easter season decor alive in the church up to the day that the last Mass is given. I hope to share highlights of my visit soon.

St. Cecilia Catholic Church

603 Oak Street, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965

http://www.dellscatholic.com/

Veiled in Lent at St. Mary's, Pine Bluff

Veiled in Lent?  What does this mean?  One does not simply cloak themselves literally with a liturgical season.  Heck, how often does the average person hear the term "liturgical season?"  

Take a closer look at the altars folks.  Where are the statues?  Aha!  Cloaked in purple, the representative color for the Lenten season.  Not every church follows this tradition.  In fact, I have only heard of a few. However, just fifteen miles west of downtown Madison, St. Mary's in Pine Bluff puts their statuary under wraps for the last weeks of Lent.

I do not know the history of St. Mary's yet, but the set of vintage-looking Gothic Revival altars look like they could be quite new.  From a smattering of blog posts I've run into, this parish community seems very active in its religious life, including in their care of the sanctuary.

These impressive altars should be getting all the more attention from the parishioners as the commonplace "table altar" is absent.  At St. Mary's, Mass is offered ad orientum, with the priest facing "liturgical east" (towards the high altar).  This is definitely a step toward older traditions in the Catholic Church, mostly before the Vatican II council of the early 1960s.

   

            

Left: Side altar featuring St. Mary under the larger veil.

Right: Detail from the base of St. Mary's side altar.

The tradition of veiling statues and other artwork within churches late in Lent appears to have murky origins possibly tied to the Lenten veils^[1] which have been used in some Old World churches as far back as the 7th Century^[2].  The sources I have included at the end of the post offer more insight into the history behind the use of Lenten veils in St. Mary's and elsewhere.

St. Mary of Pine Bluff Catholic Parish

3673 County Highway P, Cross Plains, WI 53528

http://stmarypb.com/

Thanks to the parish priest and a few of the parishioners who let me take these photos and provided some context about the parish during my short visit.  Hopefully I can make another photo visit soon!

Additional Sources

[1] http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2012/03/lenten-veils.html#.U08k9_lkSSo

[2] http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-veil-cross-and-other-images-during.html

[3] https://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur72.htm

Ash Wednesday

A few days late for Ash Wednesday, but it is certainly Lent now, as the purple cloth on this communion rail implies.  From Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Madison.

Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Cathedral Parish

120 W. Johnson St.  Madison, WI 53703

http://www.isthmuscatholic.org/

St. Patrick Catholic Church, Janesville, Wisconsin

Detail of St. Patrick's stained glass window in the nave of Janesville's oldest parish.  Here St Patrick is shown driving snakes off the Emerald Isle, as the legend goes.  As is typical in St. Patrick artwork, he is dressed in bishop's clothes and wielding a crosier.

A full view of the window, as see from the opposite side of the nave.  The church is Janesville oldest standing Catholic church building, built in the 19th century.  From the words of a kind parishioner, this and the bulk of the other windows also date to that time period. 

A little insight regarding the funding or sponsorship for this window: "Donated by St. Patrick's Court W.C.O.F No. 318"

St. Patrick Parish
315 Cherry Street  Janesville, WI 53548
http://www.stpats.org/