Saint Francis De Sales Catholic Church (Cincinnati, Ohio)

	St. Francis De Sales Church Historic District
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. Historic district
	Cincinnati Local Historic Landmark
	Front of the church
Location	Woodburn Ave. and Madison Rd., Cincinnati, Ohio
Coordinates	39°7′48″N 84°28′35″W / 39.13000°N 84.47639°W
Area	18 acres (73,000 m2)
Built	1879
Architect	Francis G. Himpler
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.	74001512
Added to NRHP	March 1, 1974

Saint Francis De Sales Catholic Church is located at 2900 Woodburn Avenue in the East Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.

The congregation was organized in 1849, and its first building was dedicated on November 3, 1850. The parish patron is Saint Francis de Sales. The cornerstone was laid June 30, 1878, by Archbishop John Baptist Purcell, in the presence of nearly 10,000 persons.^[2] The edifice was dedicated December 20, 1879. The interior contains one of the finest altars in the United States, costing $20,000. The parent parishes were St. Mary's Church in Over-the-Rhine and St. Paul Church in Pendleton. The original congregation was mostly German.

The main altar at St. Francis de Sales was consecrated by Archbishop W.H. Elder on April 27, 1887. It was a gift of Joseph Kleine and his wife Agnes Kleine, and was sculpted by Fred and Henry Schroeder of Cincinnati from designs by A. Kloster of New York. The altar of pure white Rutland marble and the white marble floor cost $20,000. The altar's onyx pillars and delicate Gothic spires are flanked by statues of SS. Joseph and Agnes in honor of the donors' patron saints.

The church is home to Joseph, aka "Big Joe", which is the largest swinging bell ever cast in the United States. VanDuzen Company (formerly Buckeye Bell Foundry) at Second and Broadway downtown. The bell measures 9 by 7 feet (2.7 m × 2.1 m) in diameter and height respectively; it weighs 35,000 pounds (16,000 kg), including a 640 pounds (290 kg) clapper. Named for the parishioner whose donation to the bell fund was the largest, the bell reputedly could be heard 15 miles (24 km) away when first rung, rattling nearby buildings and loosening stone & mortar. It was soon decided to immobilize the bell, and for more than a century "Big Joe" has relied on a foot hammer striking its rim.

In early 1974, the church, its parish school, and its rectory were declared a historic district, the "St. Francis De Sales Church Historic District", and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[1]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
^ Picturesque Cincinnati. John Shillito Company. 1883. pp. 199.

External links[edit]

Media related to St. Francis de Sales Church (Cincinnati, Ohio) at Wikimedia Commons

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.

[2] Picturesque Cincinnati. John Shillito Company. 1883. pp. 199.

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v t e Churches in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Cathedral	Cathedral Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains
Parishes	Cincinnati Church of the Annunciation Immaculata Church Old St. Mary's Church St. Aloysius on the Ohio St. Francis De Sales Church Saint Francis Seraph Church St. Francis Xavier Church St. Lawrence Church St. Pius X Church St. Rose Church Dayton Holy Cross Church Sacred Heart Church St. Adalbert Church St. Mary's Church Springfield St. Joseph's Church St. Raphael's Church Other Immaculate Conception Church, Botkins St. Aloysius Church, Carthagena Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Cassella Immaculate Conception Church, Celina Precious Blood Church, Chickasaw Our Lady of Victory Church, Delhi Township St. Joseph's Church, Egypt Holy Family Church, Frenchtown St. John's Church, Fryburg St. Patrick's Church, Glynwood St. John the Baptist Church, Maria Stein Sacred Heart Church, McCartyville St. Michael's Church, Mechanicsburg St. Augustine's Church, Minster St. Louis Church, North Star St. Nicholas Church, Osgood St. Anthony's Church, Padua St. Remy's Church, Russia St. Henry's Church, St. Henry Holy Rosary Church, St. Marys St. Rose's Church, St. Rose St. Sebastian's Church, Sebastian St. Joseph's Church, Wapakoneta
Former parishes	All Saints Church, Cincinnati Holy Trinity Church, Cincinnati St. Augustine Church, Cincinnati St. George's Church, Cincinnati St. Michael the Archangel Church, Cincinnati St. Paul Church, Cincinnati St. Philomena's Church, Cincinnati St. Patrick's Church, St. Patrick
Shrine	Shrine of the Holy Relics