Return to Holy Family

 

In the early 1900s, immigrants from Sicily and southern Italy settled in Detroit. They began to worship at a chapel within Sts. Peter & Paul but, in 1907, Father Giovanni Boschi arrived from Italy and sought to establish an Italian-American parish. On December 7 of that year, Fr. Boschi and 30 laymen formed a committee to begin the process of starting a new parish, at the same time they also formed the Fraternal Order of San Giuseppe.

In 1908, Bishop Foley gave permission to form the new parish of La Chiesa Della Sacra Famiglia or the Church of the Holy Family. A church was designed by architects Edward  A. Schilling. Construction began the next year on an Italian Baroque-style church, two blocks northeast of the parent parish. At that time, the street in front of the church was Hastings, long before I-375 was paved.


The brick exterior was originally painted gray but now is beige with white trim. The facade was modeled after two Italian churches: Santa Susanna in Rome and San Marco in Florence. 

Santa Susanna, Rome (source)

San Marco, Florence (source)

The small church stands just southeast of Greektown, nestled between the Blue Cross-Blue Shield offices and I-375. Over the main entrance, a segmented pediment frames a limestone medallion. The building is capped by a triangular pediment and a rounded-arched belfry.

 

A bust of Madonna della Lacrime or, literally, Madonna of the Tears, in the vestibule. A side altar to the Blessed Virgin.

The church includes five altars, four of which depict the Blessed Virgin Mary with symbols of Sicilian towns.

An Immaculate Heart of Mary statue is seated with Child Jesus.

All windows are original to the building; the nave windows show several popular, Italian saints. The clerestory windows show scenes from the life of Christ.

In the clerestory, each window is flanked by an angel on one side and a saint on the other.

Compared to nearby churches, Holy Family is very small and reflects the size of the Italian migration to Detroit. The 1910 Census enumerated just over 6,000 residents with Italy or Sicily as their country of birth. That same year, there were more than eight times as many immigrants born in Germany.

As you might expect, the Holy Family is depicted on the top of the high altar.

Holy Family was added to the Michigan Registry of Historic Sites in 1989 and a plaque was mounted the next year. More than a century after its founding, Holy Family is still heavily identified as Italian. Its one of only two AOD parishes with regularly-scheduled Mass in Italian. The pastor, Fr. Giuseppe Licciardi, is a native of Sicily. Sunday Mass is at 9:30am (Latin) and 11:30am (Italian).

A book about the parish: Detroit's Holy Family Church: 100 Years of Sicilian Tradition
For more info: AOD.org, parish website, & Detroit1701.org
For more photos: Flickr & AOD Film Services
Previous blog post: December 2010

Assumption Church (Windsor)

In 1748, Fr. Armand De La Richardie, S.J., came from Quebec to establish a mission church serving Native converts living in modern-day Windsor. It became known as "The Mission of Our Lady of the Assumption among the Hurons of Detroit."

In 1765, sixty French families petitioned for their own parish nearby. Instead of segregating the two groups, they were combined under the Parish of Our Lady of the Assumption. A new church measuring 60' x 30' was built to replace the 1749 chapel which was falling into ruins. In June of 1801, nearly 500 converts were confirmed at the parish.

Fr. Potier, a Jesuit missionary, became the first pastor and served in the capacity until his death 32 years later. The parish used two more churches before the cornerstone of the present edifice was laid July 7, 1842 and opened three years later. 

In 1870, Basilian Fathers from Toronto were invited to the parish. They accepted and have been there since. In 1874, the belltower and sanctuary were added to the church. At the same time, stained glass windows were installed in the sanctuary and apse. The brilliant windows in the nave were added in 1882.

While Our Lady of Assumption Church is in Windsor, it is barely across the river, and stands alongside the Ambassador Bridge. It is also the oldest continuous parish in Ontario. In the metro Detroit area, only the parish of Ste. Anne de Detroit is older. It is also the oldest extant church in the region and three years older than S.S. Peter & Paul (Jesuit).


The nearby Rosary chapel used for private prayer and daily Mass.

 

Built by French Canadians, the French language appears on the Stations of the Cross and throughout the church.

 

The Salve Regina is inscribed around the perimeter of the sanctuary.

The Sacred Heart side altar and nearby Infant of Prague.

The beginning of the Asperges Me is inscribed in the holy water fonts.

 

Pairs of angels are found in the ceiling of the nave.

A statue of the Canadian martyrs stands in one corner of the narthex;  St. Anthony stands in the opposite corner.

For the past six years, Assumption Church has hosted the St. Benedict Tridentine Community and celebrated a regularly-scheduled Tridentine Mass.

The church has a laundry list of needed repairs, totalling $10 million, which the parish currently cannot afford. The church has deficiencies with its roof, foundation, masonry, ceiling, floor tiles, and much more. Because of these issues, the church is currently closed until necessary funds are raised.

 

Currently, the parish is NOT accepting donations. However, they will accept pledges. In the meantime, the St. Benedict Tridentine Community will celebrate EF Mass at Holy Name of Mary (Windsor) at 7:00pm every Tuesday and at 2:00pm on the first Sunday of each month. All other Sundays, 2:00pm Mass will be at St. Alphonsus Church (Windsor).

 

More info: parish website
More photos: here and here