Saint Rose (Cincinnati, OH) #87/100

Rose image laid into the floor in front of the Altar

 Last night, Sarah and I attended 7 PM Saturday evening Mass at Saint Rose along the Ohio river on the East side of Cincinnati.

This is a Church many in Cincinnati know for it's highly visible location. From Eden Park, from the property of Immaculata Church in Mt Adams, and even from across the river at the parking lot of Saint Bernard Church in Dayton, KY (Not Ohio. There's another Dayton) you can quickly pick out the iconic riverside red Church.

I think most people who attend Church here drive and park in the back. It's along Riverside Drive, just below Route 50 in a neighborhood that doesn't appear to be very walkable today.

The first thing I noticed as I got out of the car to walk into the Church were lines painted against the back of the Church marking the high water marks of several different floods since 1800. This is a pretty cool piece of Cincinnati history right there and plays well with the Riverside nature of the Church.

Additionally, at the end of the night Sarah noted to me that she didn't realize the Church was painted to look red instead of just having a red brick exterior. I think it's actually painted with this muted red tone to look rose and not to look like it has a red brick exterior.

Exterior picture taken from Wikipedia.

I actually think the exterior reminds me a lot Old Saint Mary downtown, the oldest Catholic Church in Cincinnati. Those familiar with it know that Old Saint Mary is white instead of Red, but I think they're very similar looking architecture. Additionally, I didn't take any stained glass pictures at Saint Rose, but the style of the Stained Glass reminded me a lot of Old Saint Mary as well. 

The most noticeable quirk of the Church to me as I walked in was the lighting up front. Light bulbs lined many parts of the Altar as well as the Mary and Joseph Altars. I personally found it a tad harsh on the eyes after an hour at Mass, but I imagine if you go in the day time with more light coming in through the windows this alleviates a bit of the strain from the exposed bulbs at the front of the Church.

I think this is a really cool feature. It kind of gives vibes of like Old Theatre lighting. A short drive away you might go up to Clifton and see the Esquire Theatre or over to Oakley and see 20th Century Theatre with the bulb lighting on the exterior. I'm a big believer in using contemporary materials to beautify your worship space. A more recent example of this would be something like Visitation Church in Eaton, Ohio. There are parts of the white walls in the Church that they illuminate with colored LED lights based on the time of the Church Calendar we are in. I've only ever seen the Green for ordinary time, but I bet walking in to see the purple lights now for Lent would be very cool. There's probably some people who read this and find that idea off putting, but I think it works super well, and if you have a chance to step into Church there, I highly recommend it.

Above the Altar are symbols often associated with Saint Rose, a thimble and needles as well as two anchors in a crown of thorns. In life, she made money by sewing. 

I'll also call attention to the smaller icons of saints below the Mary and Joseph Altars. I think this is pretty unique. From left to right in the below pictures are Saint Monica, Saint Cecilia, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Saint Theresa on the Saint Mary Altar and Saint Benedict, Saint Vincent De Paul, Saint Francis Xavier, and Saint Jude on the Saint Joseph Altar. There are many more Saintly icons in the Church and information is readily available on the Church website.

I think my favorite item in the Church is the Holy Spirit sculpture above the pulpit. I, unfortunately, did not get a high resolution photo of that sculpture, but here's a photo of Sarah with the whole pulpit.

It was a treat to see this gorgeous pulpit used in the Mass. Father Jeremy Stubbs was our Priest for this Mass. I don't think I've seen him celebrate a Mass before, but I do know that he's filled in as a guest Priest at Holy Name Church in Mt Auburn, which is part of the Parish Family with Annunciation, in Clifton (my Parish), so I appreciate him for that. 

I like to write down little quotes from homilies sometimes in my note book and eventually they get laminated and thrown into a bucket with some prayer cards and some quotes from other sources I come across, so that I can reflect on them later. I'll probably write a blog post about my prayer/reflection bucket at some point in time, because I think it's something cool to share. Getting back to my point though, the quote I wrote into my pocket notebook from last night is "The Devil is always on our side." I'm pretty sure Father Jeremy said this is part of a Father Fulton Sheen quote. The point he was making is that when we're struggling in life is when the Devil makes it easiest for us to sin. The temptation to sin can often appear as a brief respite for whatever it is that we are struggling with and the Devil may offer us that brief relief, but once we give in, we will regret and reap the punishment of that sin. That is when the Devil turns on us. I thought it was a great Homily. It really spoke to me. I hope if Father Jeremy reads this, he finds that I've accurately articulated his points on this. The Homily was on Luke 4:1-13, here for anyone to read. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day/2025/03/09.html

Leaving the Church, the last things Sarah and I looked over the Stations and the organ. The stenciling on the organ is absolutely gorgeous. I may ask to be allowed upstairs in the future to get a better picture for this blog post, but for now I'll share this picture below. It doesn't do justice to the organ.

I took a few closer pictures of the Stations. I actually think these might be my favorite Stations in the city. I think this affect where the creases are given a darker color than the rest of the wood work is achieved by staining the whole piece, then sanding off a lot of the stain. That leaves behind those dark spots that imitate shadow.

Saint Rose is very well known for their Christmas concerts, so if you'd like to visit this Church and see it for yourself, looking for information on that next winter might be the way to go. I've never been, but Sarah has spoken very highly of the event to me.