Toledo Visitation

Sisters of the Visitation Monastery

St. Francis de Sales

St. Jane de Chantal

You can see videos of their Novena to the Sacred Heart on Facebook.

Fr. Paulinus Trost painting of St. Joseph

 

Painting of the "Flight Into Egypt" at Bellevue's Sorrowful Mother Shrine, painted by Precious Blood Fr. Paulinus Trost.  

Rosary Cathedral, Toledo

 Beautiful views of Rosary Cathedral in this report:

Rosary Cathedral prepares for Holy Week in-person services (13abc.com)

Sorrowful Mother Shrine on Fox 8 News

Searching for Fr. Scollen's Manuscript

 

A request for information from a reader of this blog:

For over 25 years, I have been conducting a search for a missing unpublished manuscript. The last possible known connection with it was Fr Frederick A.Houck who was long associated with your church in Toledo. He died in Toledo in 1954.

Fr Fred and his brother, Msgr. George F Houck, also an Ohio priest grew up in Tiffin, Seneca Co., Ohio in a mainly German/Austrian community in the mid 1800s. Quite a few of the young Catholic men there joined the priesthood and one was their friend, Fr Anthony S Siebenfeurcher who became parish priest in Kenton, Ohio. They all remained life-long friends. 

One of his friend's was an Irish born priest, Fr Constantine M Scollen who had spent many years living and working among the native people of Alberta, Canada, mainly the Blackfoot, before moving down into the USA where he continued to work amongst the native peoples before ending his days in Ohio. He died in Dayton in 1902 and is buried in the Calvary cemetery, there. I created a Wikipedia page of his extraordinary life.

On his death, his personal papers journals and the unpublished manuscript were passed into the care of Fr Siebenfeurcher. He died in 1911, also in Dayton and it is thought that his papers including those of Father Scollen were passed on to George Houck and then again to Frederick.

I live in County Durham, in North East England which is where Fr Scollen was raised and I am surrounded by many of his family. I am hoping that the papers have survived and are lying on a dusty shelf somewhere in Toledo or Ohio just waiting to be rediscovered. It would be lovely to successfully conclude my search because I am now no spring chicken.

Thank you for reading this and for any potential assistance.
Best wishes
Ian Fletcher
Seaham, Co. Durham, England. SR70ER

You can read more about Fr. Scollen HERE and HERE.

Henry J. Harks, Architect

 

St. Anthony's School

Cleveland architect Henry J. Harks designed several schools and buildings in Toledo around 1900.  These include St. Anthony's School, St. Michael's school, St. Ann's School (now Gallagher Hall) and the former Notre Dame convent. He had two brothers who were priests serving in the area, and two sisters who were Sisters of Notre Dame.  The Basilica of St. Adalbert in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was his design as well.

A biography and list of his works can be found HERE.

Thanks to Chip Valleriano for passing along this information.

Our Lady of Consolation Videos

From the "Finding Sacred Spaces" channel on Youtube, a series of three videos of the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio.  Drone footage featured of the Shrine Park. 
Link to Video 2. 
Link to Video 3.

Maria Stein, Shrine of Holy Relics

Just south of the border of the Diocese of Toledo, Maria Stein features a large collection of saintly relics, an adoration chapel, a museum exploring the history of German Catholics in western Ohio, and beautiful outdoor courtyards.  According to their website, all areas of the shrine have reopened.  More information HERE.

Johann Anton Goehr, Architect & Builder

Johann Anton Goehr, of Minster, Ohio, was part of a family of German immigrants who built many Catholic churches in western Ohio.  In the Toledo Diocese, he assisted in building Ss. Peter & Paul in Ottawa, St. Augustine in Napoleon, St. John in Delphos, and St. John in Defiance.  (Some of these may be previous churches, not the ones currently standing.)  Read more about his life HERE.

Our Lady of Consolation, Carey

Stations of the Cross in the upper basilica.

Sorrowful Mother Shrine, Bellevue

Grounds are open dawn to dusk.  Website HERE.

Statue of St. Gaspar del Bufalo in chapel.

Agony in the Garden Mural, Rosary Cathedral

Painted by Jan de Rosen.  Bishop Thomas has videos of prayers at Rosary Cathedral at his Facebook page HERE.

Shrine Park, Carey

Our Lady of Consolation, Carey

Ave Maris Stella, from Nathan Singer's Mass of Consolation.

Stations of the Cross in the Shrine Park.

Sorrowful Mother Shrine - Drone Video

A beautiful view of Sorrowful Mother Shrine in Bellevue.  Click HERE.  The shrine also has a newly updated website HERE.   (A good place for Stations of the Cross with Social Distancing!)

St. Rose, Perrysburg

Stations of the Cross.

Same Architect & Artist as Rosary Cathedral

Carlow University in Pittsburgh has announced plans to tear down its St. Agnes Center (formerly a parish.)    This building was designed by John T. Comes, initial architect of Rosary Cathedral, and features murals by Felix Lieftuchter, who did a great deal of work in Rosary Cathedral as well.

Update 2024:  It looks like plans were changed, and the church is still intact:

https://www.carlow.edu/students-take-a-procession-through-history-at-carlow-day-2024/

Pope Francis Names Ste. Anne in Detroit a Minor Basilica

On March 1, 2020, Pope Francis granted the title of "minor basilica" to Ste. Anne church in Detroit.
In 1823, Fr. Gabriel Richard of that parish traveled to the Fremont, Ohio, area to minister to French Catholics.  You can read more details HERE.

St. Joseph, Maumee

St. Mary, Tiffin

Angels in the center dome, with St. Michael at the lower area.

St. Gaspar del Bufalo, Marywood

Galion St. Patrick's School, 1909

Spotted on Ebay, a photo post card of students at St. Patrick's school in Galion; the card was mailed in 1909.  St. Patrick's parish existed from 1871 until 1953 -- it was the English speaking parish formed from then-German speaking St. Joseph's. If you click HERE, you can see the back of the post card and the message from a sister who apparently taught there.  The building above matches up with an additional postcard:

Many thanks to David and Judy for permission to use the photo.  Check out their many post cards HERE -- if you search their store for "Ohio Church", you can see many more. 

Gesu Church, Toledo

Gesu parish is celebrating its 100 Anniversary in 2020.

Painting and relic of St. Ignatius Loyola.

Korean Madonna & Child

Statue at St. Wendelin church, Fostoria.

St. Wendelin, Fostoria

Our Lady of Consolation, Carey

After Christmas Midnight Mass, 2019.

Panoramic Views of Rosary Cathedral

Incredible panoramic photos of Rosary Cathedral, by Quinn Olinger.  Click HERE and HERE.  You can zoom in / out within the images.

Tiffin St. Joseph, from Above

Some nice drone photos of St. Joseph Church in Tiffin -- click HERE.

Book of Church Artists in America 1860-1920 - New Edition Available

The sixth edition of Delma Tallerico's “Ecclesiastical Architects, Artists and Artisans in America: 1860-1920" is now available.  Delma has researched the visual history of Catholic churches in the United States for many years, and each edition of her book has new details about the people who produced so many wonderful places to worship.  For more information and a preview of the book, click HERE.  

Sadly, Delma passed away in 2020; her obituary can be seen HERE. 

Mansfield St. Peter - Restoration Project Video from 2018

Video of Carey Shrine: Iraqis gather in U.S. for Mary

Images in Time Photo Database - Toledo Library

For old Toledo photos (and a few beyond Toledo), be sure to check out the Toledo / Lucas County Library's "Images in Time" database.  Searchable by keyword or address.  Click HERE.

St. Joseph, Fremont

From a centennial history of St. Joseph, Fremont.

Bell Tower at St. Mary's, Sandusky

Good photos looking inside the bell tower, and showing the views from the bell tower, in the Sandusky Register.  Click HERE.

Mary Manse Documentary

WGTE has produced a documentary about Mary Manse College, the Catholic women's college formerly in Toledo's Old West End.  You can watch it HERE.

St. Wendelin, Fostoria

St. Gaspar, Marywood

Main altar, St. Gaspar del Bufalo (founder of Society of the Precious Blood) in the middle, flanked by St. Francis of Assisi and St. Anthony of Padua.

McBride Studios

1913 ad from McBride Studios.  McBride also produced the altars at Our Lady of Consolation in Carey.

St. Joseph Crestline Lithograph

A vintage lithograph of St. Joseph, Crestline church interior -- I believe it's the building prior to the current church.  This is from a collection of lithographs from Packard, Butler & Partridge of Philadelphia.  You can see more, including Delphos, Fremont, and Fostoria at the link HERE.  Thanks to James Richardson for passing along!

Pioneers of SS. Peter & Paul Parish, Toledo - 1917

A reader of a previous post asked for some information about SS. Peter & Paul parish in Toledo.  The photo above is from a souvenir booklet from 1917, the 50th Jubilee of the parish and the dedication of its second (and current) church.  Toledo Public Library also has a history book of the parish published in 1967 -- see details HERE.

St. Sebastian Demolition

After years of fighting for preservation and transfer of ownership by the community, the demolition of St. Sebastian in Bismark is nearly complete. What a sad and needless loss of yet another Catholic church, and a very historical one at that. One of the oldest in the Diocese, predating the Civil War by decades.

I've heard from some people that the bell tower may remain, but this is only hearsay. The stained glass, pews, paintings, and other objects from the church have been saved by the community, hopefully to be reused in some way. The organ was moved to another Catholic church in Ohio.

I took this picture just a few weeks ago.

Once the crews are done at St. Sebastian, they will head over to Reed Assumption to do the same. 

See this page in the Norwalk Reflector for some pictures of the demolition:   

http://norwalkreflector.com/gallery/St-Sebastian-Catholic-Church-torn-down?ci=stream&lp=1&p=1

With the way things are going, it's only going to get worse. If this irks you, step up and fight for preservation in your communities!

Video Tour of Sorrowful Mother Shrine, Bellevue

Holy Spirit stained glass from Reed Assumption church

The stained glass window of the Holy Spirit, formerly at Reed Assumption Church, has found a new home in the visitors center building at Sorrowful Mother Shrine.  

Stations of the Cross at St. John XXIII in Perrysburg

Sculpture at St. John XXIII, Perrysburg

Artist Timothy Schmaltz is sculpting many pieces for the new St. John XXIII parish in Perrysburg.  Details in article HERE.

St. Mary, Edgerton

Triptych of the Sorrowful Mysteries by Jan de Rosen.  Image is borrowed from the parish website; links to more of the church HERE.

U.S. Catholic Almanacs - 1839 - 1864

Full text of these documents:  Click HERE.

Arabic Heritage Music in Carey, Ohio

During the celebration of the Feast of the Assumption at Our Lady of Consolation shrine, there will also be a reunion of Arabic heritage musicians in nearby Waterworks Park, details above.
For a schedule of events at the Shrine, click HERE.

Mary Manse College / Collingwood Arts Center

The former Mary Manse College of the Ursuline Sisters, now the Collingwood Arts Center.  More posts on its history HERE.