St. Mary of the Angels, Chicago, Illinois - Christmas in Chicago Advent Series, Part 2

St. Mary of the Angels is certainly one of the most iconic of Chicago's Catholic Churches.  Most people see its proud dome and twin towers while speeding by (or while being caught in traffic) on the nearby Kennedy Expressway (I-94) northwest of the Loop in Downtown Chicago.  At a closer level, finer details emerge, like these angels lining the main roof of the church.

Side note (a proper post will describe this later): Roamin' Catholic Churches is on Instagram!  I started taking photos while on a trip last month.  I bring it up here because my first Instagram post came from this church!

The layout inside the church, with the large done and barrel vaulting, along with the largely light-toned interior give St. Mary of the Angels a very elegant look.  A seminarian from a neighboring parish described the interior as being like "Angel Food Cake."  I think it's easy to see why.

"Gloria in excelsis deo..."  (Latin)

"Glory to God in the highest," for those you you who just sing the line at Christmastime (like me).

Fairly dramatic (and pretty) window display.  There is a dedication near the bottom of the middle window, "Parafia Sw. Stanisława Kostki," or the Parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka, the mother church of all Chicago's Polish parishes.  With that is seems safe to assume we have the Virgin and Child facing St. Stanislaus Kostka, who is in the left window.

St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei.  Opus Dei (Latin for "God's work") priests have administered the parish since 1991, as St. Mary of the Angels was on the brink of meeting the wrecking ball [1][2][3].  Restorations in the years since have helped pull the church from the cliff of destruction and are helping cement the church as an icon of the Bucktown neighborhood.

        

Left: St. Mary as Mother of the Fairest Love and Child.
Right: Depiction of the Pietà.

"Jezus upada po raz pierwszy.  Oddz Sw. Barbary."  (Polish)

"Jesus falls the first time.  Branch of St. Barbara/" (English)

"Congregatio a  resurrectione domini nostri jesu christi"  (Latin)

"Congregation of  the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ" (English)

Jesus & the Sacred Heart, with more Latin to translate above if you are a little ambitious.

'Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus." (Latin)

"Holy, holy, holy." (English)

The Assumption of St. Mary is the focal point of the dome above the altar.

Look closely above the columns (or click on the image to see a larger version), you can see a papal tiara in the terra cotta among other religious insigniia. 

It is safe to say the exterior of St. Mary of the Angels deserves it's own blog post.  Angel statues, the towers, the dome, the significance of this building to the gentrifying Bucktown neighborhood...there are lots of ways to talk about this church.

St. Mary of the Angels Parish

1850 N. Hermitage Avenue Chicago, IL 60622

http://www.sma-church.org

Additional Posts on St. Mary of the Angels:

Holy Thursday Night - Agony in the Garden  http://roamincatholicchurches.blogspot.com/2014/04/holy-thursday-night-agony-in-garden.html

Additional Sources

[1] http://www.sma-church.org

[2] http://www.josemariaescriva.info/section/biographical-profile

[3] http://www.opusdei.org/en-us/

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

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

Two Basilicas in One Day, Part 1 - Holy Hill

To tour both of Wisconsin's basilicas while Christmas shopping is no mean feat.  They are simply too nice to sprint through!  Alas, here are a few photos from the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians at Holy Hill.

Holy Hill's namesake comes from its position in Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine region.  Holy Hill is southeast Wisconsin's highest point.  On a clear day, a visitor near the main entrance to the basilica can see the skyscrapers of downtown Milwaukee, 25 miles away.

The altar, cloaked in purple for the advent season.  These photos were taken on the vigil of the second Sunday of Advent.  On the high altar there are reredos of eight doctors of the Catholic Church.  To the right of the altar is an umbrellino, Latin for umbrella, which is a customary icon in basilicas.

A lectern and the advent wreath sit in front of a mosaic of St. John of the Cross.  St. John of the Cross (1542 -1591), co-founded the order of Discalced Carmelites, the religious order who operate Holy Hill. 

Stained glass window depicting the Annunciation.

Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians at Holy Hill

1525 Carmel Road  Hubertus, WI 53033
https://holyhill.com/

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/