About St. Michael's

Founded by German Catholics and once considered the "great German parish," St. Michael's today dominates the skyline of a burgeoning Hispanic community.

The history of St. Michael's leads one through a neighborhood's transformation. From the 19th century into the 20th, the neighborhood was known as "Butterhole," the home of the German dairy community. By the middle part of the 20th century, 1964-74, it was an area in upheaval. Today, it is still an area finding itself and one that is now predominantly Hispanic. The German population has all but left. Some second- and third-generation German descendants remain members of St. Michael's parish, though they have moved elsewhere.

The first Spanish Mass was said at St. Michael's in 1967. The school closed in 1973, after 99 years of operation. The nuns left the convent that year, and, in 1974, missionary nuns from Guadeloupe, Mexico, came to work with the growing Hispanic community.

Today, North Clinton Avenue serves New York State's second largest Hispanic population. It also houses many Hispanic organizations and is the home of the diocese's Spanish Apostolate, an outreach arm doing advocate work in the Spanish community.

The large church, with its five major buildings, has reflected the changes in the neighborhood. Today, the convent has been renamed Melita House, "place for refuge." It is a home for unwed mothers run by the Sisters of Mercy. The annex to the parish hall, once the popular St. Michael's Club with bowling alleys and bar, is now an ETA-funded woodshop involved in training low-income youths in carpentry skills. The parish hall serves a nutrition center for the elderly.

"With all of these changes, St. Michael's remains the dominant structure on North Clinton Avenue. Rising in the distance like a European cathedral, it continues its mission into its 111th year" (Upstate magazine, September 25, 1983).

One hundred nine years after its construction, the grace and elegance of St. Michael's Church still towers over the 7th Ward. The feeling and character of the site of St. Michael's is unique. The complex is the sole remaining example of an entirely 19th-century religious campus in Rochester. The church, convent, parish hall, rectory, and former school were all constructed prior to 1900 and have all been preserved into the current millennium.

Exterior of the Church

"This one is beautiful! Really quite handsome with its verticality. A red."

--The Landmark Society

The exterior of the church is made of Lockport sandstone with Ohio stone trimmings; the base is made of brown Medina stone. The length of the church, vestry included, is 200 feet; width of transept, 92 feet; of nave, 72 feet; height of ridge pole, 96 feet; of middle arch of auditorium, 62 feet. The most prominent feature of the structure is the grand tower, crowned with a gilt-metal cross, 225 feet from the ground (the tallest spire in the area). A copper statue of St. Michael is situated above the center gable in front of the tower. This striking specimen of art represents the saint trampling on Satan and driving him into hell.

The gables are decorated with original wrought-iron crosses with filigree designs and decorative wrought-iron brackets. There is a graceful secondary tower of copper construction on the ridge of the roof above the transept.

The tons of Lockport sandstone and Medina brownstone were hauled by barge down the Erie Canal, then onto horse and wagon, and affixed to gin poles with slings and pulleys.

The building was designed to seat 1,100 parishioners. The 15 large stained-glass windows show scenes of the Old and New Testaments in brilliant red, blue, green, and gold hues.

The church yard is still surrounded on the north side by its original 19th-century wrought-iron fence, which lends character to the site.

Interior

"The interior of the church is of such architectural beauty that visitors express for it the utmost admiration."

--John DeVoy, History of the City of Rochester, 1895

"For size and daring and aesthetic interest, St. Michael's tops."

--Reverend Robert McNamara, diocesan historian

The interior of the church reflects the medieval concept that a church isn't mere architecture, but truly the house of God, constructed with a kind of mystical vision. Upon walking through the massive front doors of St. Michael's, one's eyes are drawn immediately to a slender gold crucifix over the altar.

The main altar is of richly carved oak, executed by a German woodcarver, Anton Halstrick. Five spires rise from the altar, each highlighted with gold leaf. Two scenes of Christ's life are carved in bas relief on either side of the altar; one shows Jesus as a child; the other, later in his life teaching children. The interior walls are frescos in red and gold borders with the fathers of the Roman Catholic Church overhead. The original pulpit from which sermons were delivered is designed with an unusual canopy behind and slightly above it. In the shape of a cloud, the canopy features a painting of a white dove, symbolizing God in the form of the Holy Ghost, on a sky-blue background (Upstate, 9/25/83). (The interior wall stenciling was executed in the 1930s.) Ten 80-foot monolith granite columns impart an appearance of solidity to the interior that is in keeping with the entire work.

Stained-Glass Windows
The 15 large stained-glass windows show scenes of the Old and New Testaments in brilliant red, blue, green, and gold hues. Ten of the windows give light to the nave and transept. The semi-circular sanctuary contains five more. They represent the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael; the angel appearing to St. Joseph; and the guardian angel protecting the child Jesus.

Among the windows outside the sanctuary, purchased from Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria, there is one that is of special importance. The firm which manufactured them wished to exhibit a specimen of its art at the World's Fair in Chicago in the 1890s and asked if it would be allowed to send one of the windows in this church as a sample of their work. Permission was granted, and the window was sent away on May 1. Father Pascalar and several members of the parish saw the window on exhibition at the Fair and remarked that it was placed in a very poor position so that its beauty could not be seen to good advantage. Nevertheless, news was received that the window had been judged worthy of first prize in ecclesiastical art. The window thus honored represents Daniel in the Lion's Den, as related in the book of Daniel.

Another window depicts in color the scene of the Nativity. Upon close observation, one can notice that one of the figures presenting gifts to the Christ Child is none other than Bishop McQuaid, which caused much controversy when the window was installed.

Most prominent of the windows in the sanctuary is the figure of St. Michael, the Archangel, directly above the High Altar. In his right hand is the lance with which he overcomes the rebellious Lucifer and hurls him into the flaming abyss.

Gothic encasements hold each of the windows to make one harmonious exterior and interior. Every window in the church, with the exception of one, has a scene with an angel represented.

The Organ
The magnificent organ was built by the J. W. Steere and Son Organ Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, and was dedicated in 1903. It has 33 speaking stops and 25 mechanical stops, pistons, pedal movements, etc. There are a total of 2,169 pipes. The organ was installed at that time for $3,400. Today its replacement would cost well over $100,000.

The church has had only two organists during its history: Frederick Pohl from 1893 to 1940 and Lillian Karnes, who has been organist for the past 35 years.

The Bells/Chimes
Originally, the present tower contained the two bells that were moved from the tower of the original church structure when the new church was completed in 1890.

Early in 1903, the parishioners of St. Michael's decided to raise, by popular subscription, a sum sufficient to purchase a "chime of bells, a new pipe organ, and a belfry clock" and have them installed prior to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the ordination of their pastor, Reverend M. J. Hargather.

The new chime of bells cost $8,000 in 1903, and to this day they are considered "the finest in the state." (Today it would cost $140,000 to replace them.) Thirteen bells comprise the chimes, and these were blessed on Sunday, July 26, 1903. The largest bell weighs 4,800 pounds; the smallest bell, 127 pounds. They were cast by the McShane Bell Foundry of Baltimore, Maryland.

Of the thirteen bells, eight are stationary and comprise the full octave of C, a sharp fourth, a flat seventh, and three notes above the scale. The five swinging bells are also played regularly and can produce a much greater volume of sound than the stationary chime bells.

As is customary with bells in churches, all of the bells have names, ranging from "Johannes," the great bell, to "St. Anthony," "St. Leo," "St. Andrew," "St. Francis," "St. Michael," "St. George," and "St. Luke," as well as the Sacred Heart bell and the Blessed Mother's bell.

The chimes are played from a keyboard adjacent to the organ; the five swinging bells are played by ropes that are located in a room at the base of the tower.

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