The Franciscan Church of the Assumption – Syracuse, New York

The Franciscan Church
of the Assumption

On August 5, 2012, Chris and I wrote a post about the Shrine and Museum of Saint Marianne Cope (you can find it here).  I won’t re-tell the story about what she did that is so famous (you will have to go back to the original post and read about it!) but I will tell you that she was officially canonized, making her a saint on October 21, 2012 and yes, we got a little ahead of ourselves by calling her a saint in August.  But anyways, when we were at the Shrine of Saint Marianne Cope in Syracuse, New York, we met a member of the laity to the existing Franciscan convent named Jean Anne.  Jean Anne explained to us then that the church of the Franciscans, known as the Franciscan Church of the Assumption, was just around the corner and that we should definitely check it out.  After we left the Shrine, Chris and I actually did go drive by the Franciscan Church but due to it being late in the day and simply being tired, Chris and I took a rain check.

                Almost a year later, Chris and I made plans to return to the Syracuse area during the New York Landmarks Conservancy Sacred Sites program in order to see what Chris wrote about last week (found here).  We originally did not even plan on going to see the Franciscan Church of the Assumption because we felt like we may not be able to do it justice since we felt like we had a busy day.  Plus, we also learned that the Franciscan Church was not even participating in the Sacred Sites program.  However, not to be put off by Chris feeling “too busy” or by the lack of participation in the Sacred Sites program, I called ahead and after several phone calls back and forth, I was able to schedule us an exclusive tour of the place when it is not usually open.

Guest Blog: The Relic of Pope John Paul II at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church – Rochester, NY

Early in the days of this blog we visited St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Rochester, NY–a beautiful work of art in what was once the Polish neighborhood of the city. The church itself is fantastic, and its history rich, and within the last few years became home to a pretty special piece that holds a history all of its own. Kathleen Urbanic is a historian for the church as well as a member. Furthermore, she’s a published author who has written Shoulder to Shoulder, the story of Polish Americans in Rochester, NY 1890-2000. We knew there was no better person to tell the story of the relic at St. Stan’s of Pope John Paul II. Many, many thanks to Kathy for sharing her knowledge here with us, and for being our very first guest author on the blog!

St. Adalbert’s Basilica – Buffalo, NY

St. Adalbert’s Basilica

A little less than a year ago, Chris and I had plans to go make the day of it in Buffalo, New York and to tour St. Adalbert’s Basilica, amongst other places. I had previously randomly posted a message to St. Adalbert’s Facebook page asking if they ever gave tours and much to my surprise, Charles responded to my request. After going back and forth a bit, everything was settled and we were scheduled to go some weekend at the end of August 2012…then my baby daughter was born. Even though Chris and I go to great lengths sometimes to see specific places, even I draw that line that being there for the birth of my daughter was a little more important that seeing an old church.

St. Mary’s Church – Rochester, NY

If you’ve been reading along on the blog, you’ll know that we’ve begun to learn a bit about stained glass windows. Last fall, the Memorial Art Gallery hosted a lecture on Louis Comfort Tiffany during the ‘In Company with Angels’ exhibit that featured seven windows that were at one time thought to be lost forever. Luke and I attended a lecture and took every advantage of the opportunity to learn more about the windows that are located in our area. Many people might not realize that this area actually has an incredible selection of Tiffany windows that represent all different aspects of the styles that Tiffany developed. As if that weren’t enough, a student of Tiffany’s, William Pike founded Pike Stained Glass right here in Rochester in 1908 and in doing so, ensured that our area would continue to have a spectacular collection of stained glass windows (in the places where congregations could afford it at least!). Pike continues to operate now by installing new windows and maintaining older ones and is owned by William Pike’s great niece.  In touring around Upstate NY and visiting sacred places, we’ve managed to see quite a few of the Tiffany stained glass that exists today, and quite a bit of Pike as well.

St. Mary’s Church

Many places we visit often provide public tours and we’ve been looking at the website for St. Mary’s Church for nearly a year now waiting for a public tour to be posted on their calendar (which they advertise as something that is done from time to time). After we got sick of waiting, we reached out and were able to set up a personal tour. It turns out, it’s usually led by a team of volunteers who trade off discussing each aspect of the church according to their area of expertise. Luke and I had a chance to spend a couple hours with two of those volunteers and learning about one of the most prized Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass windows in possibly all of Western NY.

Our Lady of Victory National Shrine & Basilica – Buffalo, NY

Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica

The Our Lady of Victory (OLV) Basilica has been on our ‘exploring the burned over district bucket list’ for quite some time and for various reasons we have been unable to go…until now.  The Basilica is technically in Lackawanna, New York, which today has more or less been usurped by Buffalo; however, there was a time that Lackawanna itself was its own distinct entity, which I will explain more about later on.  Because Chris and I had been exploring other sites in Buffalo proper that day, we drove south to get to Lackawanna.  This is relevant because for any of you that have not seen the OLV Basilica, I recommend you get there the same way we did, which is driving south on Route 62 (South Park Avenue).  If you go this way, as you head south, you will begin to see the spires and copper dome of the Basilica creeping up on the horizon and let me tell you, it is quite a site to see.  The size and enormity of the Our Lady of Victory Basilica is simply amazing!

Our Lady of Seneca Street Shrine – Buffalo, NY

Our Lady of Seneca Street Buffalo, NY

What’s always been intriguing to me, is how humans assign a spiritual value to a particular geographical location. A place like the North American Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville, NY has become a place of pilgrimage to Catholics because of the events that took place on the land and the role it played in the future of Catholicism in New York State. Each summer Mormons flock by the thousands daily to the geographic origins of their beliefs in Palmyra. It has always raised the question in my head of ‘How does a place become spiritual in nature? How does one place become more important than another?’ This isn’t a philosophical blog though, or one intended to stir the pot of thought surrounding spirituality, it’s really just to share with you all some really interesting places that we’ve encountered while we explore and their history. Most of the places we’ve shared with you are places where people go to engage in other like minded believers to solidify and practice their brand of faith. Over the last year we kind of hemmed and hawed and over-thought and smoked many cigars while discussing the process of whether the interest of sharing would win over the interest of trying to maintain a consistent criteria for what can be defined as a place of worship. It’s probably safe to say that if you find a place to be important, and you connect it with your brand of faith, then it’s a spiritual place. We probably won’t be visiting the ‘Bathtub Marys’ of your backyard, but this shrine was awfully unique, and we felt it warranted passing along the story.

Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church – Buffalo, NY

Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church

In the interest of full disclosure, while what you are reading is our first post of 2013, Chris and I actually visited this site in 2012.  If you read the D&C article about us, then you are already aware that Chris and I are obsessive list makers and the sites on our “To See List” is starting to become dominated by sites outside of Rochester, and is currently heavy with things to see in Buffalo, New York.  Buffalo has some incredibly beautiful and ornate houses of worship and unfortunately, many of them already have been or are in the process of being closed, particularly Catholic churches.  Fortunately for us and our readers, the Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church is not and we took the opportunity to see it as soon as possible, which happened to be two days before Christmas 2012.

Looking at the front of Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church

We had contacted Blessed Trinity a few weeks prior and inquired about a tour, which is something the church does occasionally and even mentioned they wished to do more of.  However, on the day we were requesting to come, we were told that because it was two days before Christmas, it would be too hard to coordinate a tour.  However, we were also told that we were more than free to visit on our own and take a self-guided tour ourselves with a pamphlet the church has printed as a guide.  Chris and I have done self-guided tour several times before, and because we were going to Buffalo to also see two additional religious sites, we did not hesitate to agree to this idea.

Holy Cross Catholic Church

Chris and I have been on a bit of a hiatus for a while, mainly due to the birth of my baby daughter.  To all of our loyal followers, thank you for your patience, but most of all I’d like to thank Chris for his support to me and my family over the last several weeks.  Chris, you have been a good friend.

Chris and I seem to share a bit of intrigue and curiosity about the Charlotte area of Rochester, NY and the history of the surrounding area.  Therefore, it was only logical that we would someday visit Holy Cross Catholic Church at 4492 Lake Avenue.  Holy Cross was originally established in 1863 as a mission church for Our Mother of Sorrows Church which itself had been built in 1832 on Paddy Hill in the Town of Greece, New York.  It is important to remember that when Holy Cross was established, Charlotte was actually a village in the Town of Greece.

Holy Cross Catholic Church (with a bit of a sun glare)

Holy Cross Catholic Church

The Port of the Genesee, as the area was originally called, started becoming settled in 1788 when a 12-mile parcel of land, referred to as the Mill Yard Tract, was purchased by white settlers from the Seneca Indians along the banks of the Genesee River.  Rochesterville (former name) started to be settled by High Falls off of modern day Lake Avenue, and Colonel Robert Troup bought some land closer to the Port and named his new town Charlottesburgh, named after his daughter.  (Side note…if the village was named after a guy’s daughter, I’m assuming it was pronounced “Shar-let” as in Charlotte, North Carolina…so why today do we call it “Shar-lot?”).  By 1811, Charlottesburgh was eventually shortened to Charlotte.  The first church of Charlotte was actually built in 1852, the second in 1853 and Holy Cross then became the third church in 1863, but also the first Catholic Church in the village.  Charlotte remained its own village for quite some time, but in 1869 Charlotte became incorporated as a village in the Town of Greece.  For a little while, Charlotte was booming as the sole area of trade due to its proximity on Lake Ontario and appeared to be the logical choice of where a new city would emerge; however as Rochester began to become a leading producer of flour, people began to travel past Charlotte to destinations further up river.  Charlotte re-emerged as a summer resort area after the Civil War, especially due to the new railroads and increase in ferry service for Canadians to visit (you thought the Fast Ferry was the first ferry?).  However, again travelers found reason to not stop in Charlotte by using other means of transportation, this time with the emergence of the Erie Canal.  Eventually, in an effort to increase Charlotte’s importance and population, the City of Rochester annexed Charlotte in 1916; however the Great Depression eventually took its toll and investment in Charlotte did not happen.  So as you now may be able to realize, investment in the Port of Rochester (re-named after the annexation) has been an on-going debate ever since Charlotte was identified on a map.

The National Shrine of the North American Martyrs

The Coliseum Church at the Shrine for the North American Martyrs. Just in front is the Sacred Garden.

Just a few miles east on Route 5 from Fonda, NY where the Shrine to Kateri Tekakwitha is, you’ll find another pretty amazing shrine. Auriesville, NY is located in the Mohawk Valley region of Upstate NY and is home to the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs. It’s a Roman Catholic homage to a history that is burdened with civilization displacement, religious missionaries, bloodshed and an overall general misunderstanding among cultures. Luke and I had already spent the morning in Fonda, so we had previously learned part of the story of the Martyrs shrine, but I think we both weren’t prepared for how large the grounds were that the shrine exists on. With all the places we’ve been thus far on our journey, this was by far the largest and has one of the oldest histories of Catholic importance in the region. In fact, it has even been called ‘the holiest ground in America’ and it is believed that these very grounds are the birthplace of Catholicism in New York state.

Statue of Saint Isaac Jogues out front of the shrine just about 30 feet back from Route 5S.

Route 5 is one of the very cool surface highways of NY that runs parallel just a few miles from Interstate 90 and in this particular stretch it also runs along the Mohawk River. On the east side of Auriesville right off Route 5S, you’ll come upon a street that turns south and heads uphill toward the shrine property. On each side of County Road 164 there are ominous stone remains of a former entrance to the castle that once existed on the hill. (Remember: the term ‘castle’ is really just the closest translation from Native American language that we can get. It really is more of a ‘village’ and I’ll use that term from here on.)  Statues of the martyrs stand atop mountains of river rocks and look out in to the Mohawk Valley and the remnants of a stone wall remain as if they once welcomed visitors.

We snapped some photos and drove to the top of the hill to the visitor center which is on the west side of County Road 164. The visitor center very much has an American-side-of-Niagara-Falls-gift shop feel to it. It has every imaginable Catholic item you could think of from keychains to Bibles, statues, sweatshirts, Saint medallions and books.  There are rows and rows of tables available for eating to accomodate the bus loads of people on pilgrimage and a small snack shop looking out a wall of two story high windows that overlook the valley. Most importantly, it also has maps available of the entire shrine so we grabbed one and got on our way.

National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

As Chris explained back on August 5, this October two women from Upstate, NY are being canonized, one of which Chris already shared with you, being Saint Marianne Cope.  The other woman who he shared shared very little about will additionally be the first Native American to ever be canonized as well.  We had the pleasure of visiting the site where Tekakwitha took the name Kateri, and on October 21, 2012 will forever be now known as Saint Kateri Tekakwitha.  Before this time, Kateri Tekakwith was simply known by her Native American name of Tekakwitha, but gained the name Kateri, which derives from the French Catherine, when she was formally baptized into the Catholic faith.

               Site of the National Shrine of the                Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

This site of Kateri’s baptism (and another site that Chris and I visited the same which Chris will soon write about) is easily the farthest Chris and I have ever traveled for the purposes of this blog.  Kateri Tekakwitha is venerated in a shrine off of Rt.5 in Fonda, New York, which is only approximately 45 minutes west of Albany.  Fonda is in the Mohawk River Valley, and the River itself is named after the Native American tribe which once inhabited the lands and tribe which Kateri was a member of.  One must realize that during the lifetime of Kateri, America was not yet a country and the Mohawk River Valley was completely wilderness, with the river as the sole means of transportation.  Increasing competition between the British and the French in Canada for the lands in the Great Lakes area was at its peak.  As a means of slowly winning the “hearts and minds” of the Native Americans to their side (which actually did end up working), the French began to send Jesuit missionaries down through Lake Champlain to the Hudson River, and ultimately to the Mohawk River Valley, where the Jesuits began to slowly acculturate themselves with the Native Americans, and eventually the Native Americans to Catholicism.

Also at the time of Kateri, the Mohawk Indian tribe was now a founding member of the Iroquois Nation, also known as the Haudenosaunee or “People of the Longhouse,” which encompassed four other tribes (Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca… the Tuscarora would join later) within it at the time.  While part of a greater body, each tribe also remained semi-autonomous; which was very evident in the dealings with Jesuit missionaries.  While The Onondagas and Senecas welcomed the Jesuits or “black-robes,” the Mohawks not only were unwelcoming, but at times are reported to have indiscriminately killed and even tortured small parties of Jesuits who they randomly encountered.  The Jesuits eventually stopped sending missionaries, but after the Iroquois tribal council intervened and basically ordered the Mohawks to relent, the Jesuits eventually returned.