Tag: Monasteries

  • St. Paul of the Cross Monastery, South Side Slopes

    St. Paul of the Cross Monastery

    St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists, was an Italian, and the architect John T. Comès gave the Passionists on the Slopes a bit of Italy to live in.

    Colonnade

    A Passionist monastery is called a “retreat,” but the neighbors just call this one a monastery: the streets around it are Monastery Street, Monastery Place, and Monastery Avenue.

    St. Paul of the Cross Monastery
    Monastery
    Porch
    Cemetery and monastery

    A later addition is in quite a different style.

    Retreat house
    Cross and inscription: “St. Paul of the Cross Retreat House”

    Cameras: Kodak EasyShare Z1285; Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

  • St. Paul of the Cross Monastery Church, South Side Slopes

    St. Paul of the Cross Monastery Church

    Charles F. Bartberger designed this magnificent church, one of only a very few large churches in this area still standing from before the Civil War (it was built in 1854). It is not that we had no large churches; it is only that the ensuing age of prosperity made most of the large ones even larger—or kicked them out of the way to make room for skyscrapers, as happened with the old St. Paul’s Cathedral downtown, also designed by Bartberger, which was bought and demolished by Henry Frick.

    Monastery Avenue

    This one has had good luck. It belongs to a still-active monastery in a neighborhood that, by its topographic nature, will probably never become prosperous enough to displace the church. It dominates the view up Monastery Street and Monastery Avenue.

    Side of the church

    A relief of Christ stumbling on the way to Calvary is over the main door.

    St. Paul of the Cross

    St. Paul of the Cross reminds us that our way to God lies through the passion of Christ. He wears a benevolent expression, but he is a ferocious terror to pigeons.

    St. Paul of the Cross
    St. Paul of the Cross Monastery Church

    Cameras: Canon PowerShot SX150 IS; Kodak EasyShare Z1285.