Precious Blood Catholic Church (Chickasaw, Ohio)
Encyclopedia
Precious Blood Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic parish in Chickasaw
, Ohio
, United States
. Erected in 1903 and still an active parish
, the church historically owned two buildings constructed in its early years that have been designated as historic site
s.
at St. Sebastian's Church
, nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) to the northwest. In 1897, the Chickasaw members erected a small church in their village for use as a chapel of ease
during the week. Because the villagers typically did not own horses, they found it difficult to reach St. Sebastian's, and sympathy grew for attempting to form their own parish; accordingly, in January 1903, the parishioners from Chickasaw left the church and took their possessions with them. Little more than one week later, St. Sebastian's was destroyed by a fire (now seen as highly suspicious), and parishioners were faced with the decision of rebuilding the church. Ultimately, the parish was split into two parts: the remnant members of St. Sebastian's rebuilt their church, while the chapel in Chickasaw became the parish church
for the newly-formed Church of the Precious Blood
. Fifty-eight families composed the parish's charter membership.
The parishioners quickly began to expand their facilities. Before the end of 1903, the chapel had been expanded, and the following year saw the construction of a brick rectory
at a cost of about $4,000. Membership grew rapidly; by 1907, the congregation had grown from thirty-eight families to seventy. In 1908, the church decided to erect a parish school
, located across the street from its rectory.
Precious Blood Church is one of the youngest Catholic parishes in Mercer County; only Our Lady of Guadalupe
Church in Montezuma
and St. Theresa of the Infant Jesus Church in Rockford
are newer; Our Lady parish was only a mission when Precious Blood was established, and St. Theresa parish was created in 1936.
, the old building was strained to hold the increased number of worshippers, and plans were laid for a replacement structure. Ground was broken
for the new building in late 1965, and the structure was dedicated on February 23, 1967. This church is a brick structure built in the shape of a cross and equipped with a basement; its sanctuary
has room for over four hundred worshippers.
brick structure that is supported by a foundation of ashlar
. Built in the Italianate
style by the DeCurtins
brothers, it features a central square bell tower
that rises above the rest of the building. Individuals enter the building through double doors that are topped by an elliptical fanlight
.
Late in the 1950s, the Ohio General Assembly
enacted a law that provided for free high school education
for all Ohio students. Because of this law, Chickasaw's public school system merged with that of the surrounding Marion Township
, and the parish school closed. The parish has since sold the building; it is owned by a local organization of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
.
, the house is topped with a hip roof
that is pierced by dormer windows
on all four sides. Its front door is surrounded by a veranda
built with wooden columns and surrounded with a railing. Many parishes in the region built rectories in the early twentieth century in response to a directive issued by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati
, which provided that each parish should house its own pastor
. The Chickasaw rectory is typical of these structures, which predominantly are two-story rectangles with hip roofs and verandas. It is believed that this common design was influenced by the style made popular by the Sears Roebuck catalogue.
. Deemed historic because of their well-preserved architecture and their contributions to Ohio's history
, they were among over thirty different places in far western Ohio related to the Society of the Precious Blood
that were listed on the National Register together. Although most of these buildings were churches, several rectories and schools were included as well. The tall Gothic Revival
towers featured by many of these churches have become the namesake for this region of western Ohio, which is nicknamed the "Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches
."
in Maria Stein
, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
in Cassella
, St. Rose
in St. Rose, and St. Sebastian
in Sebastian
— to form the Marion Catholic Community. Two priests serve the cluster as pastors: Eugene Schnipke and Ken Alt. The entire cluster is part of the St. Marys Deanery
.
Chickasaw, Ohio
Chickasaw is a village in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The population was 364 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Chickasaw is located at ....
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Erected in 1903 and still an active parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
, the church historically owned two buildings constructed in its early years that have been designated as historic site
Historic site
A historic site is an official location where pieces of political, military or social history have been preserved. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have recognized with the official national historic site status...
s.
Early parish history
Chickasaw's first Catholics attended MassMass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
at St. Sebastian's Church
St. Sebastian's Catholic Church (Sebastian, Ohio)
St. Sebastian's Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio, United States. Located in the unincorporated community of Sebastian, it is the home of an active congregation and has been declared a historic site because of its well-preserved early...
, nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) to the northwest. In 1897, the Chickasaw members erected a small church in their village for use as a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
during the week. Because the villagers typically did not own horses, they found it difficult to reach St. Sebastian's, and sympathy grew for attempting to form their own parish; accordingly, in January 1903, the parishioners from Chickasaw left the church and took their possessions with them. Little more than one week later, St. Sebastian's was destroyed by a fire (now seen as highly suspicious), and parishioners were faced with the decision of rebuilding the church. Ultimately, the parish was split into two parts: the remnant members of St. Sebastian's rebuilt their church, while the chapel in Chickasaw became the parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
for the newly-formed Church of the Precious Blood
Blood of Christ
The Blood of Christ in Christian theology refers to the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomplished thereby; and the sacramental blood present in the Eucharist, which is considered by Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and...
. Fifty-eight families composed the parish's charter membership.
The parishioners quickly began to expand their facilities. Before the end of 1903, the chapel had been expanded, and the following year saw the construction of a brick rectory
Rectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
at a cost of about $4,000. Membership grew rapidly; by 1907, the congregation had grown from thirty-eight families to seventy. In 1908, the church decided to erect a parish school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
, located across the street from its rectory.
Precious Blood Church is one of the youngest Catholic parishes in Mercer County; only Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe , also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe is a celebrated Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary.According to tradition, on December 9, 1531 Juan Diego, a simple indigenous peasant, had a vision of a young woman while he was on a hill in the Tepeyac desert, near Mexico City. The lady...
Church in Montezuma
Montezuma, Ohio
Montezuma is a village in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The population was 191 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Montezuma is located at ....
and St. Theresa of the Infant Jesus Church in Rockford
Rockford, Ohio
Rockford is a village in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,126 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Rockford is located at ....
are newer; Our Lady parish was only a mission when Precious Blood was established, and St. Theresa parish was created in 1936.
Church
The first parish church building, originally a parish hall and then the chapel of ease, was built on a stone foundation in 1894 and 1895. Soon after the parish was established in 1903, a wooden addition was built onto the church; the reworked building was painted and new windows installed by early July of that year. As the parish's membership grew after World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the old building was strained to hold the increased number of worshippers, and plans were laid for a replacement structure. Ground was broken
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
for the new building in late 1965, and the structure was dedicated on February 23, 1967. This church is a brick structure built in the shape of a cross and equipped with a basement; its sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
has room for over four hundred worshippers.
School
The Precious Blood School is a two-storyStorey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
brick structure that is supported by a foundation of ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
. Built in the Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
style by the DeCurtins
DeCurtins
The DeCurtins family, sometimes written De Curtins, were involved in Midwestern U.S. church architecture. Anton De Curtins was a Swiss immigrant who lived in Carthagena, Ohio and designed several Gothic architecture churches in Mercer County, Ohio, as well as rectories, schools and residences...
brothers, it features a central square bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
that rises above the rest of the building. Individuals enter the building through double doors that are topped by an elliptical fanlight
Fanlight
A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...
.
Late in the 1950s, the Ohio General Assembly
Ohio General Assembly
The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate...
enacted a law that provided for free high school education
Secondary education in the United States
In most jurisdictions, secondary education in the United States refers to the last six or seven years of statutory formal education. Secondary education is generally split between junior high school or middle school, usually beginning with sixth or seventh grade , and high school, beginning with...
for all Ohio students. Because of this law, Chickasaw's public school system merged with that of the surrounding Marion Township
Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio
Marion Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 2,969 people in the township, 2,605 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
, and the parish school closed. The parish has since sold the building; it is owned by a local organization of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Veterans of Foreign Wars
The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is a congressionally chartered war veterans organization in the United States. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, VFW currently has 1.5 million members belonging to 7,644 posts, and is the largest American organization of combat...
.
Rectory
Like the school, the Precious Blood Rectory is a square two-story brick structure built on an ashlar foundation. Featuring more of a vernacular style of architectureVernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
, the house is topped with a hip roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
that is pierced by dormer windows
Dormer
A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...
on all four sides. Its front door is surrounded by a veranda
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
built with wooden columns and surrounded with a railing. Many parishes in the region built rectories in the early twentieth century in response to a directive issued by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati covers the southwest region of the U.S. state of Ohio, including the greater Cincinnati and Dayton metropolitan areas. The Archbishop of Cincinnati is Most Rev...
, which provided that each parish should house its own pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
. The Chickasaw rectory is typical of these structures, which predominantly are two-story rectangles with hip roofs and verandas. It is believed that this common design was influenced by the style made popular by the Sears Roebuck catalogue.
Historic recognition
In 1979, the rectory and the former school were listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. Deemed historic because of their well-preserved architecture and their contributions to Ohio's history
History of Ohio
The history of Ohio includes many thousands of years of human activity. What is now Ohio was probably first settled by Paleo-Indian peoples, who lived in the area as early as 13,000 BCE. Later ancestors of Native Americans were known as the Archaic peoples...
, they were among over thirty different places in far western Ohio related to the Society of the Precious Blood
Missionaries of the Precious Blood
The Missionaries of the Precious Blood form a community of priests and brothers within the Latin Church, one of the 23 sui iuris churches which make up the universal Catholic Church. The Society was founded by Saint Gaspar del Bufalo in 1815...
that were listed on the National Register together. Although most of these buildings were churches, several rectories and schools were included as well. The tall Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
towers featured by many of these churches have become the namesake for this region of western Ohio, which is nicknamed the "Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches
Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches
The Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches is a rural region in the western part of the U.S. state of Ohio, centered near Maria Stein in Mercer County. Its name is derived from the dense concentration of large Catholic churches that dominate the area's architecture...
."
Present status
Today, Precious Blood is an active parish of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. It is clustered with four other Marion Township parishes — St. John the BaptistSt. John the Baptist Catholic Church (Maria Stein, Ohio)
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio, United States. Located in the unincorporated community of Maria Stein, it is the home of an active congregation and has been recognized as a historic site because of its well-preserved...
in Maria Stein
Maria Stein, Ohio
Maria Stein is an unincorporated community in central Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The community and the Maria Stein Convent lie at the center of the area known as the Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches, where a missionary priest, Father Francis de Sales Brunner,...
, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church is a historic Catholic church in Cassella, an unincorporated community in Mercer County, Ohio, United States...
in Cassella
Cassella, Ohio
Cassella is an unincorporated community in Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio, United States. Located at , it lies at an elevation of 955 feet...
, St. Rose
St. Rose's Catholic Church (St. Rose, Ohio)
St. Rose's Catholic Church is a historic Catholic church in St. Rose, an unincorporated community in Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio, United States.-Parish history:Catholics near the community of St...
in St. Rose, and St. Sebastian
St. Sebastian's Catholic Church (Sebastian, Ohio)
St. Sebastian's Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio, United States. Located in the unincorporated community of Sebastian, it is the home of an active congregation and has been declared a historic site because of its well-preserved early...
in Sebastian
Sebastian, Ohio
Sebastian is an unincorporated community in northern Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio, United States. Its elevation is 932 feet , and it is located at...
— to form the Marion Catholic Community. Two priests serve the cluster as pastors: Eugene Schnipke and Ken Alt. The entire cluster is part of the St. Marys Deanery
Deanery
A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...
.