Mass at Old St. Mary's, Detroit (Greektown)

Описание: #oldstmarys #mass #detroitchurches

Mass at Old St. Mary's, Detroit
-------------------------------------------------
St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, formally the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is in the third oldest Roman Catholic parish in Detroit, Michigan.

It is often called "Old St. Mary's Church" to avoid confusion with other St. Mary's parishes: in the Redford neighborhood of Detroit, or in nearby Royal Oak, Monroe, or Wayne.

The former church was built in 1841. The school, built in 1868, was the first of the new buildings of the current complex. The rectory (1876); new church (1884-1885), and convent, completed in 1922, comprised the remainder. The convent was demolished in the early 2000s and replaced with a community center designed to resemble the 1841 church building.

St. Mary Parish has been staffed by the Spiritans or Holy Ghost Fathers since 1893. It was previously administered by the Franciscan Fathers (1872–1893) and the Redemptorist Fathers (1847–1872).

The parish was founded in 1834 by Father Martin Kundig to serve the German-speaking Catholic immigrants who settled in this part of the city. The first church was constructed in 1841 at this site on land sold to Bishop Peter Paul LeFevere for one dollar by Antoine and Monica Beaubien, two of the area's early ethnic French settlers. The materials for the church cost an additional $239. The Beaubiens also donated four bells for the new church.

the early twentieth century, Father Joseph Wuest, Pastor of Old St. Mary's, had three grottos constructed at the rear of the church. One is the Baptistry on the Epistle side of the building. It depicts the scene described in the Canonical Gospels of the Baptism of Jesus. Next to the Baptistry is a replica of the Shrine of Lourdes. Within this grotto is an altar where weekly mass is celebrated. Older members of the church say that Father Wuest collected the rocks he used in the construction during a trip to Lourdes, France. On the opposite side of the church is the third grotto, which depicts the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion of Jesus.

St. Mary's school opened in 1844 with lay teachers. The Christian Brothers began teaching male upperclassmen in 1852, and the School Sisters of Notre Dame assuming responsibility for teaching the girls and younger boys. The building was replaced in 1855 and the current building, designed by Pius Daubner, was erected in 1868. The school operated until 1966.

The church, school and rectory were listed as Michigan Historic Sites in 1979 and markers were erected at all three.

A striking feature of the church interior are the ten polished granite columns that divide the main and side aisles. The columns are each cut from a single piece of granite. They were originally intended for the Michigan State Capitol building then under construction in Lansing. For unknown reasons, the columns were not used in the Capitol. The church purchased all ten for only $4,625, bringing the total construction cost to $81,210