The Newtown Pentacle

Tuesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A humble narrator was craving a pint of Guinness, which isn’t as commonly found on tap in Pittsburgh’s bars as it is in NYC. That instituted a short walk from HQ in the Dormont section to an Irish joint in the neighboring town of Mt. Lebanon. One has been passing the Roman Catholic Church pictured above, dubbed St. Bernard’s, and curiosity about the grand structure of the place has been growing.

To start, St. Bernard was known in life as Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153AD), and amongst other accomplishments he was a co founder of the Knights Templar. He was a Benedictine in Norman France, and was involved in the war of succession between Pope Innocent II and the Antipope Anacletus II. Bernard was the hype man for the Second Crusade, as well. You can read all about him here.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

St. Bernard’s, in modernity, is home to the St. Michael the Archangel Parish outfit. As I understand it, the local Catholic Diocese was founded in 1843, although the Frenchers had brought Catholic priests along with them during the French and Indian war in 1754, so that predates the modern setup.

The number of congregants served by the Diocese declined in the late 20th century, part of the demographic collapse experienced by Pittsburgh when the steel industry began abandoning the place. The Bishops found themselves maintaining hundreds of empty churches and other buildings, which led them into financial hard times. The Diocese reacted by combining and compressing its congregations and parish structures together, and they sold off many of the churches and other real estate holdings which it had acquired in the first half of the 20th century. You can read all about that, right here. Currently, there’s 61 parishes under their administration.

I’ve observed several old churches with ‘For Sale’ signs out front, and many of these facilities have been taken over by other flavors of god worshippers – Evangelicals, Charismatics, etc. – whereas others have passed into secular usage.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The St. Bernard’s church is actually a complex of several buildings, with a school and offices. After quaffing a couple of pints of the Guinness draft I was craving, a homeward bound humble narrator noticed that the doors of St. Bernard’s were open, and thereby I decided to peek inside the chapel building…

Hey, I’m not the first guy to drink a couple of Guinness Pints and then stop off at a church on his way home to the missus, Y’know…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Built between 1933 and 1947, the Gothic Revival style St. Bernard’s RC Chuch was designed by architect William Richard Perry, of the firm Comes, Perry and McMullen. Jan Henryk de Rosen provided the murals, and the stained glass is by Alfred Fisher and A. Leo Pitassi.

It was completely and utterly unoccupied except for myself, so I whipped a little tabletop tripod I always carry with me and got busy. Magnificent sacred space, this one.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One of the things I’ve learned about Pittsburgh is that its religious buildings are built like battleships. If the enemy is invading, or the storm winds are blowing, the point of retreat seems to be – by design – the local church. Within, there’s splendor.

I don’t know why this church isn’t called a cathedral. It’s easily the size of Old St. Patrick’s in Manhattan. What qualifies something as a Cathedral, versus a church?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Pretty magnificent, huh?

Research on this post revealed that the Bishop at the top of the Diocese organization here in Pittsburgh allows the old Tridentine Latin mass to be conducted at St. Bernard’s, much to the chagrin of the current Papal orthodoxy in Rome. There’s a schism forming over this practice in the Catholic universe, I’ve read, and that the current Pope is at odds with several extremely conservative and “old guard” members of the American Synod, including those here in Pittsburgh.

Back tomorrow with something different.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

Buy a book!

“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.