Page 6 - GC-Nov-Dec-21

German places you should know about: St. Mary Redemptorist Church in Buffalo

by Martin Ederer So many of the men of the Polish at St. Michael’s (German)
his year marks the 40th anni- parish who attended weekday Church on Washington Street. That
Tversary of the closing of St. Mass were loggers that St. Mary gathering of Buffalo’s Poles into a
Mary Redemptorist Church in Buf- got called the “Holzhacker faith community eventually led to
falo and the 35th anniversary of its Kirche” or the “woodchoppers’ the founding of St. Stanislaus
destruction. One of the most historic Church.
German churches of Buffalo, St. church,” a nickname reinforced Then there was the role St. Mary
Mary traced its origins to the year by all the saws and axes the played in developing Black Catholic
1842, when some Germans from St. woodchoppers propped up apostolate in Buffalo. In 1930, Rev.
Louis Church, tired of ongoing against the church wall outside Thomas Galvin went to Lackawan-
trusteeship strife there with the bish- before they entered for Mass. na where he converted hundreds of
op, wished to establish a new parish. African-Americans to Catholicism.
As relations deteriorated be- Galvin died before the bishop decid-
1903 the whole church interior was
tween the St. Louis parish trustees renovated, supervised by Rev. Adel- ed to entrust St. Augustine Negro
and Bishop John Hughes of New Mission in Buffalo to the Redemp-
bert Frank. Granite columns re-
York (there was no Buffalo Diocese placed the brick-and-mortar pillars. torists in 1935, but Galvin’s success
yet) over financial and legal control undoubtedly helped to influence the
By 1904, the constant growth
of the parish, Hughes invited the that had become so much a part of bishop’s decision. The Redemptor-
Redemptorists to Buffalo, evidently ists were so successful at St. Augus-
life at St. Mary leveled off. In some
to establish a rival German parish to respects, that was to be expected. tine that they opened a second
St. Louis and its troubles. Besides mission in 1937, St. Peter Claver.
Despite plenty of apparent vigor and
the strife at St. Louis, the number of That mission won 800 converts to
activity, the Redemptorists still
German Catholics settled around the Church. Meanwhile at St. Au-
found some trends troubling. They
Buffalo had grown large enough to gustine, the Redemptorists got a
feared decline as the parish books
warrant a second parish anyway, school up and running in 1940.
showed fewer baptisms and more
and Hughes had no German-speak- St. Mary ultimately fell victim to
mixed marriages.
ing diocesan priests to spare. more crises than it could withstand
Rev. Francis Parr tried to find a
Rev. Benedict Bayer, C.SS.R. by the 1960s. The traditionally Ger-
way out of the perceived crisis. He
came to Buffalo from Rochester, man core of the parish had left, first
repaired the church and school in
staying at (Irish) Old St. Patrick to other parts of the city, and from
1907, and in 1909 he began work on
Church at Batavia Street (Broad- St. Mary Redemptorist Catholic Church as it looked in 1914, viewed a large lyceum and gymnasium that the 1960s onward to the suburbs. St.
way) and Ellicott Street. From there from the corner of Broadway and Pine Street. The Sisters of St. still stands. But fears lingered. The Mary found itself on the front lines
he organized a new congregation in anniversary book for the centenary amidst changing demographics,
1843, offering Mass for them in the Francis Convent is at right. St. Mary's Lyceum, not depicted, would of the parish in 1944 publicly la- growing social unrest and a rising
basement of St. Patrick. The small be off the margin of the picture, to the right of the convent. mented the fact that St. Mary was in crime rate, its neighborhood strug-
congregation began to gather funds. Lady Immaculate,” and Mass was as much rural as it was urban. Bata- trouble, the author citing the drop in gling.
In late 1843, Rev. Matthias Alig, celebrated there for the first time on via Street was still a dirt path, and numbers of baptisms at the parish. The Redemptorists closed St.
Bayer’s successor, bought land in May 12, 1844. The parish grew rap- cornfields surrounded the church. Was the assessment overly pessi- Mary in 1981 after an unsuccessful
what were the wilderness fringes of idly from 600 in 1844 to 4000 in Forests and swampland dominated mistic? attempt to offer it to the Diocese of
Buffalo at the corner of Batavia 1847. St. Mary’s first school was the landscape further north and east. One possible solution was to Buffalo, which was not eager to take
Street and Pine Street. Through the established in spring 1845 in two So many of the men of the parish reach out to the broader community. on the same problems the Redemp-
winter months of early 1844, the rented houses. Lay teachers taught who attended weekday Mass were Rev. Bernard Licking, pastor from torists had faced. At the time of its
first church – by every account un- 150 students until the School Sisters loggers that St. Mary got called the 1921-1927, made St. Mary a major closing, St. Mary was the oldest
attractive – took shape. It was long of Notre Dame took over the teach- “Holzhacker Kirche” or the “wood- devotional destination, offering nu- standing Catholic church building in
and narrow and low, which earned it ing in 1849. choppers’ church,” a nickname rein- merous novena services and conve- Buffalo. Attempts from the Buffalo
the name “the bowling alley.” St. Mary’s phenomenal growth forced by all the saws and axes the nient confession schedules. Licking Common Council and from an ad
The new church was dedicated still did not hide the fact that it was woodchoppers propped up against also again renovated the interior of hoc preservation group to save it
to St. Mary under the title of “Our the church wall outside before they the church, adding lovely murals. bore no fruit.
entered for Mass. During Rev. Francis Fischer’s pas- An auction was held to sell the
Bayer returned in Fall 1845 to torate from 1927-1933 the lyceum church’s contents, many recognized
as treasures for the first time, most
replace Alig, this time to formally and gymnasium, which never fully
notably the William Mohr pipe or-
establish a Redemptorist house in achieved their potential as a youth
gan. Mohr was reputedly a relative
Buffalo and to preach a mission to center, was repurposed for class-
of Josef Mohr, who wrote the lyrics
win more converts and parishioners. room space, eventually for St.
for the Christmas carol “Silent
Finally, he laid plans for a more Mary’s famous Business School,
Night,” in Oberndorf, Austria in
permanent church, and Bishop John which functioned from 1930-1970.
Timon, Buffalo’s first bishop (ap- As German as St. Mary was, it 1818. The means by which the auc-
pointed 1847) could not be more played a significant role in the histo- tion crassly dispensed with St.
Mary’s artifacts created scandal,
thrilled. Timon laid the cornerstone ries of many other of Buffalo’s eth-
and provided a good example of
for a grey stone church – local On- nic groups. An Italian-language
how not to end the life of a church.
ondaga Limestone – on April 24, mission was held for the first time at
A private concern bought the com-
1848. It was only slightly longer St. Mary in 1936, a recognition that
plex, and it sat empty for four more
than “the bowling alley,” but it by the 1930s there was a sizeable
years.
looked like a real church. Timon percentage of Italians attending at
A spectacular fire finally de-
dedicated it in 1850. It was paid for least occasionally, thanks to the
stroyed the church in December
by 1859 and consecrated that year. shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual
1986. Miraculously, most of the
By that time the parish had also built Help there.
– and enthusiastically supported – a St. Mary also played a promi- Buffalo-made Frohe windows sur-
proper school. nent role in the founding of Buffa- vived. They were removed and
In 1852 the Redemptorists had lo’s Polish mother church, St. placed under the care of the Buffalo
Historical Society. Rev. John
also established an orphan asylum, Stanislaus, in 1873. Many of the
Gabalski of St. Stanislaus Church,
a response to the recurring cholera earliest Polish immigrants in Buffa-
recognizing his parish’s roots at St.
epidemics of the 1850s. That or- lo lived near St. Mary and conse-
Mary, had some of St. Mary’s
phanage remained in operation until quently attended Mass there. The
stones collected to make a small
1874 when the German Orphan Redemptorists of St. Mary arranged
Marian grotto beneath the east tow-
Asylum was established on Dodge a dedicated Sunday Mass for the
Street. The premier German-Lan- er of St. Stanislaus Church.
guage newspaper in Buffalo, the
Buffalo Volksfreund, also owed its
success in large part to the Redemp-
torists at St. Mary.
During the 1880s Rev. George
Sniet installed a six-bell peal in the
steeple. Even more significantly,
Sniet arranged for a picture of Our
Lady of Perpetual Help to be en-
shrined in the church. That made the
church a shrine and pilgrimage des-
tination as well as a parish church.
As St. Mary continued to grow,
it adapted. In 1899, English sermons
were introduced, alternating Sun-
days with German. In 1900, Rev.
Albert Stern redecorated the sanctu-
ary, adding a beautiful high altar. In