"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/

Good Friday

From St. Joseph Catholic Church, Waukesha, Wisconsin.

St. Joseph Parish

818 N. East Avenue, Waukesha, WI 53186-4888

http://www.catholic4waukesha.org/stjoseph-home.cfm

Septuagesima Sunday (A Housekeeping Post)

"Ascend Mortals To This Mountain Top For Here Through Mary All Shall Obtain Salvation.

Our Lady Of Czestochowa, Pray For Us."

From St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Milwaukee.

Now that I have finally posted all of my "Advent" photos and caught up with the Doors Open Milwaukee posts, I now have a little bit of time to take stock in what is going on with Roamin' Catholic Churches.  First, websites like this don't matter much at all without interest from readers who take the time to read, share, and hopefully be entertained by these posts.  In the fast few weeks especially, a number of fine folks have taken a look at the site and shared some of the last few posts or a link to the blog homepage.  For these things, I thank you all!

To my understanding, the sites below have shared a link, photo, or article snippet.  They each post a lot of interesting content in their own right, depending on where your interests lie, and they are all worth least a look.  

The Badger Catholic - (Mostly) Wisconsin Catholicism, also has church photos.: http://badgercatholic.blogspot.com/

Imprisoned In My Bones - Various Catholic topics, focus on the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.: http://annebender.blogspot.com/

Catholic Architecture and History of Toledo, Ohio - Church architecture and artwork blog focused on the Diocese of Toledo.: http://catholictoledo.blogspot.com/

Dumb Ox Writings - "Commentary and so forth from a Catholic in Milwaukee.": http://latinandabeer.blogspot.com/

St. Stanislaus Oratory's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ststanislausmilwaukee

I have to make some updates to the blog itself (not the content) soon, and I hope that I get the manuscript and photos ready for the next bigger blog post going soon.  Stay tuned!

Also, from the encouragement of a friend and blog reader, I am adding basic credits to the photos for now.  Then again, I still am not that thrilled with my own photography.  In the event that you do want to use any of these photos beyond blog posts, please email me at roamincatholicchurches@gmail.com and we will work something out.

St. Stanislaus Oratory

524 W. Historic Mitchell Street Milwaukee, WI 53204

http://www.institute-christ-king.org/milwaukee/

Feast Day of St. Frances de Sales

From St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee.

St. Francis de Sales Seminary

3257 S. Lake Drive, Saint Francis, WI 53235
http://www.sfs.edu/SFSHome

Epiphany Sunday, Blessing the Chalk

Chalk awaiting distribution among parishioners and visitors at St. John Cantius Catholic Church in Chicago from the 2013 Christmas season.  It is common custom among many Catholics to take the blessed chalk after Epiphany and mark the entryways of their homes as a blessing throughout the year.

St. John Cantius Parish

825 N. Carpenter Street, Chicago, IL 60642

http://www.cantius.org/

Solomon Juneau, Founder of Milwaukee

From Calvary Cemetery during Doors Open Milwaukee 2014.  Juneau was a fur trader who settled a eventually subdivided the first modern lots in the City of Milwaukee in the 1830s.  The Juneautown part of Downtown made up these first lots, anchored by his cabin site near the Milwaukee River.  He also served as a Mayor for the City.

Solomon and his wife, Josette were known as Catholics, so it comes as little surprise that a memorial stands in Milwaukee's best-known Catholic cemetery.  November 14th marked the 158 years since his passing.  Today marks 159 years since Josette's passing.

Little known fact, in his later years, Solomon moved to and founded the much smaller community of Theresa, about 45 miles northwest of Milwaukee in Dodge County.

Calvary Cemetery

5503 W. Bluemound Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53208

Friends of Calvary Cemetery: http://www.friendsofcalvarycemetery.org/

Coming Out of Slumber...Sort Of

 

Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church & School Building, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

It's been a long time since I've posted, but I haven't put this blog to bed!  Late in the spring and into the summer, my travels took me not only to Washington, DC (see previous post), but also to Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota to take church photos.  The latter half of the summer and fall so far has seen me intently following my brother's final high school football season and balancing an unusual workload in my regular artistic medium (Cartography).  

With the holidays fast approaching, and more travels to match, I am planning on getting more photos online, both from upcoming church visits and ones that I took last Christmas season just as the blog was starting.

I'm also preparing to launch extensions of this site into other social networks, so if you have Instagram, look out for a handle name from me!  I also mentioned this site to the team over at The Badger Catholic (blog) who graciously posted one of my church visits to their site and added Roamin' Catholic Churches to their "Fellow Sconnie Bloggers" blogroll.  Thanks guys!  If you are into the more political and current events-focused part of Catholicism (especially in Wisconsin) The Badger Catholic is worth a gander.

Looking forward to sharing more churches and their stories with you soon!

- The Roamin' Catholic

Ss. Cyril & Methodius Parish

822 New Jersey Avenue, Sheboygan, WI 53081

http://www.archmil.org/Parishes/Ss.CyrilandMethodiusSheboyganJ13.htm

Feast Day of St. Margaret of Scotland

Another impressive church from the Gateway City, St. Margaret of Scotland is a fixture in the Shaw neighborhood on the south side.  In over two and a half years of living near St. Louis, I only visited this church once, on a Saturday afternoon well before Mass.  To add insult to injury, all the lights were off, really limiting the photo ops.

A quick consultation of Butler's Lives of the Saints states that St. Margaret (d. 1093) was instrumental in having churches and monasteries built while Queen of Scotland.  In a position full of pomp and prestige, the Queen also devoted herself to a life of piety, influencing her husband and children to do the same.^[1]

This is another church that is better-covered in the blog Rome of the West.  That post can be found here.

St. Margaret of Scotland Parish

3854 Flad Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63110
http://www.stmargaretstl.org/

Additional Sources
[1] Butler, Fr. Alban. Lives of the Saints, Charlotte, NC: TAN Books, 1995 reprint of 1955 edition, 217 - 218.

The Month of Ma(r)y and Explaining a Really Long Rosary

Take a look at the photo above. The character in the statue is carrying what looks like a Rosary, right?  There is a crucifix, the first few beads for the opening prayers, and beads in groups of ten for each decade of the Rosary.  Here's where it get's fishy.  A typical Rosary has five of these decades, but clearly there are a lot more here.  I counted fifteen decades.  That's 150 Hail Marys!

Yes, there are people who are devoted to prayer, but how many folks really do 150 Hail Marys in a sitting?  What could this super-long Rosary mean?  Is it maybe just a Paul Bunyan-esque gimmick so people in the back of church can see it?  

Ok, it isn't anything too superfluous.  This statue is a representation of Our Lady of the Rosary.  The long Rosary she is carrying represents the fifteen different decades of the Rosary grouped by what the Church calls the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries.  Pope (now Saint) John Paul II added a fourth set of mysteries, the Luminous, late in his Pontificate.  If Our Lady's Rosary were up-to-date, it would have twenty mysteries and over 200 prayer beads!

Today marks the last day of May, often referred to by the Catholic Church as "The Month of Mary."  On my visit to St. Peter's in Stevens Point last month, I noticed this statue of St. Mary and the Christ Child and was surprised to see this huge Rosary.  A little explanation from the young seminarian at the parish and a bit of intuition clarified its purpose.

St. Peter's Parish

800 4th Avenue, Stevens Point, WI 54481
http://www.saintpetercatholic.com/

Holy Thursday Night - Agony in the Garden

From St. Mary of the Angels, Chicago.

St. Mary of the Angels Parish

1850 N. Hermitage Avenue Chicago, IL 60622
http://www.sma-church.org

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. Agatha Catholic Church, St. Louis, Missouri

With today being St.Agatha's feast day, here is a trio of photos from St. Agatha Catholic Church in St. Louis, Missouri.  This Gothic Revival church building is one of many noteworthy churches in The Gateway City. 

The initials of St. Agatha sit above the main doors into the church.  As with many Gothic churches, buttresses are prevalent.  These ones are projecting somewhat unusually from the steeple in a diagonal fashion.

St. Agatha sits just a few blocks south of the Anheuser-Busch (that's Budweiser folks) brewery in the historic Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis.  Largely cut off from the more vibrant areas of the neighborhood's bar and restaurant scene, nineteenth century homes are still prevalent around the parish, making for a pleasant walking environment.  St. Agatha serves as the parish for Polish-language masses in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

St. Louis' historic wealth of impressive neighborhood catholic churches earned the city a noteworthy moniker as "Rome of the West."  Today, a lovely blog, Rome of the West, has a lovely photo set and description of St. Agatha's which you can visit here.  The author of Rome of the West has done a fine job of photographing churches in and around the St. Louis metro area and his site is definitely worth a visit!

St. Agatha Church

3239 S. 9th St.  St. Louis, MO 63118

http://www.polishchurchstlouis.org/

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

From Old St. Mary's Catholic Church in Milwaukee.

Old St. Mary Parish

836 N. Broadway  Milwaukee, WI 53202
http://oldsaintmary.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/

Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Madison, Wisconsin

This is Holy Redeemer Church, part of Madison's Cathedral Parish.  Built in the 1860s, it originally served Madison's German Catholics.  Today it serves a diverse congregation, with Masses offered in Spanish, Latin, and English each weekend.  Located only a block from the famous State Street and between the State Capitol and University of Wisconsin campus, its patina-touched steeple is a familiar sight to many.

Beyond the church is the former Holy Redeemer school building.  Closed for many years, it is currently being repurposed for student housing in cooperation with St. Paul's University Catholic Center on State Street.  The Lumen House, as it is named, is scheduled to open for students for the Fall 2014 semester.

Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Cathedral Parish

120 W. Johnson St.  Madison, WI 53703

http://www.isthmuscatholic.org/