CINCINNATI

Easter in Cincinnati.  Here is a reprint from 2018 - edited for clarity.  Sadly this tradition was suspended this year. 

4/01/2018

CINCINNATI

TRADITIONS.  Mileposts on our journey through life.  A mirror to what was and what is.  Here is a Cincinnati tradition  and how it began. 

  In 1848, Bishop Purcell purchased land on Mt. Adams for the purpose of building an additional church there.  Holy Cross Church was on the pinnacle of the mount and it served well the early Irish settlers who populated 'the hill'.  

My father was the son of Irish immigrants who settled on Mt. Adams and raised a dozen children there.  They all attended Holy Cross parish and school - as did all the Irish. 

But, Mt. Adams had become a popular neighborhood and German immigrants began to move there.  Sadly, the German and Irish immigrants were not always hospitable to each other.

  So, in 1859, Archbishop Purcell laid the cornerstone for a new church to be built on 'the hill' overlooking the Ohio River and called it the Church of the Immaculate Conception - known as Immaculata.  He had wooden steps built so that people could easily walk to the church up a steep hill from the south side of  the neighborhood.  In thanksgiving, the parishioners began saying prayers on each step as they rose to the new church.  There were about 96 steps.  In remembrance, large crowds came each year on Good Friday and said a prayer on each of these steps.

  In 1911, the City of Cincinnati replaced the original wooden steps with concrete ones.  The tradition of saying prayers on each step up to the church continued and increased.  

In 1970, Holy Cross Church closed and it's St. Patrick statue was 'stolen' and moved to Immaculata.  With the closing of Holy Cross school, monastery and church, the one remaining Catholic church is now officially called Holy Cross-Immaculata but all the locals just say Immaculata. 

 The praying of the steps up to Immaculata on Good Friday is a Cincinnati tradition that continues today; rain or shine the crowds are enormous.
🙏