Overview:
One of our most popular stories last year was about where to find the famed Tiffany glass in Cleveland. But Tiffany isn't the only stained glass game in town. Thanks for following along with our weekly series this winter highlighting stained glass in Cleveland. In our final installment before spring, in a nod to St. Patrick’s Day, we reference the lyrics to the famous Irish song “Danny Boy.”
At 9 a.m. today, Holy Name Church will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a special Mass. In Slavic Village, far from downtown, where the annual parade kicks off at 1:04 p.m.
The church, near where the road (Harvard Avenue, that is) rises to meet Broadway, has deep roots in the Irish-American community and is the proud owner of one of only 300 or so stained glass windows given to churches by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish Catholic fraternal organization.
Rev. Msgr. Richard Antall, pastor of Holy Name, told Signal Cleveland that his church was dedicated in May of 1887 to serve Irish immigrants, many of whom were working in steel mills in what at the time was known as Newburgh (click the link to learn about malaria and wolves in Cleveland – no kidding.)
In the luminous Ancient Order of Hibernians window, St. Patrick, holding his staff (a form of shillelagh, perhaps?), looks upon the congregation as he engages in the proverbial wearin’ of the green. Next to him is St. Cecelia, a Roman Christian martyred in the 3rd century and the patron saint of music. She carries a set of musical pipes (“the pipes, the pipes are calling…”).
Smaller windows below these read: “The gift of the A.O.H.”
The Ancient Order of Hibernians
Ancient Order of Hibernians researchers have authenticated windows in cities stretching from Rutland, Vermont, to Seattle, Washington. In Ohio, AOH windows can be found in St. Mary Church in Chillicothe and St. Lawrence O’Toole Church in Ironton. St. Edward Church at East 69th Street and Woodland Avenue had the other Hibernian window in Cleveland, but the building was demolished in 1976.
According to the Hibernians’ website, as the U.S. Catholic Church expanded in the 19th century, the group donated stained glass windows to churches with Irish congregations. The organization says the windows, donated from 1870 to 1920, roughly track America’s expansion west.
The windows at Holy Name
Directly across from the Hibernian window at Holy Name is one depicting the Irish saints Columbkille and Brigid. No Irish eyes are smiling here. This window was given to the church by the Fr. Mathew Total Abstinence and Benevolence Society, which encouraged Catholics to abstain from using alcohol.
Antall said the Rev. Joseph Gallagher, who oversaw construction of Holy Name Church, strongly supported the temperance movement. He said Gallagher on occasion took an axe to Newburgh taverns to keep his parishioners from frequenting them.
Antall said no records exist about when the Hibernian and Fr. Mathew windows were installed at Holy Name.
John O’Brien Jr., publisher of iIrish newsmagazine, said Cleveland currently has two AOH divisions, one on the East Side and one on the West. At Holy Name, he said, “the window’s significance casts back to the … Hibernian desire to leave a lasting legacy of their faith while supporting their church.”
Every time the sun shines
That legacy is visible every time the sun shines. Colleen Kenney Roach of Westlake stopped to see the windows after attending a recent parish fish fry.
“It’s amazing that after so many years the colors of the stained glass still light up the church,” Roach said.
Holy Name is still an active parish and continues to operate a K-8 school. That school has existed, under a few different names, since 1863. (Holy Name High School moved to Parma Heights in 1978 and is not affiliated with the parish.)
Want to see the windows? The church at 8328 Broadway Ave. is open Monday through Saturday for 8 a.m. Mass. Other Mass times are 4 p.m. Saturday and 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday.
