Tridentine Community News - Detroit's Great Church Architects of the 20th Century - Part 2 of 2; Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (January 27, 2019):

January 27, 2019 – Third Sunday After Epiphany

Detroit’s Great Church Architects of the 20th Century - Part 2 of 2


Donaldson & Meier was Detroit’s most prolific church architectural firm. Also known for designing secular landmarks including the David Stott Building and the lower rise 1905 wing of the Penobscot Building in downtown Detroit, Donaldson & Meier designed St. Hyacinth, St. Elizabeth, St. Agnes, Holy Redeemer [pictured, above], St. Anthony, Annunciation/Our Lady of Sorrows, St. Augustine – St. Monica, and the tri-level St. Aloysius [pictured, immediately below] in Detroit; St. Benedict in Highland Park; and St. Vincent de Paul in Pontiac. They also designed Sacred Heart Seminary and the former chancery building at 1234 Washington Blvd.


Peter Dederichs was a parishioner of Old St. Mary’s who designed their current church as well as Assumption Grotto, St. Bonaventure Monastery, St. Charles Borromeo, and Sacred Heart Church in Detroit.


Henrik Kohner designed Holy Cross Hungarian Church in Detroit [photo by Diane Dawson Wilks, immediately above].

Detroit’s master church historian Fr. Mark Borkowski brought to our attention that Henry Englebert, though based in New York, designed St. Albertus and St. Francis d’Assisi in Detroit, as well as the massive Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica in Chicago, featured in several previous editions of this column. Englebert’s design for the now-demolished St. Casimir Church in Detroit was virtually duplicated for the still extant St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church in Chicago.

Fr. Borkowski also pointed out that Harry J. Rill, mentioned in last week’s column, also designed Our Lady of the Scapular (originally called Our Lady of Mount Carmel) Church in Wyandotte. We also learned that Rill additionally designed Detroit’s St. Hedwig and St. Stanislaus Churches.

It’s important to keep in mind that technology affords us better design tools and construction techniques today than our ancestors ever had. It’s not a lack of ability that prevents traditional churches from being built, but a lack of will and demand from parishes, and sometimes a lack of permission from church authorities. Thankfully the tide is changing on this front, as new churches are increasingly being built according to timeless standards by a new generation of classically-trained architects. Priests’, parishioners’, and chancery staff’s awareness and understanding of longstanding Catholic architectural norms are growing, thanks to publications such as Sacred Architecture magazine and educational web sites such as New Liturgical Movement. Let us pray that metro Detroit and Windsor become home to a new generation of enduringly inspirational church designs.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Tue. 01/28 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. Francis de Sales, Bishop, Confessor, & Doctor)
• Fri. 02/01 7:00 PM: High Mass at Old St. Mary’s (St. Ignatius, Bishop & Martyr) – Choir will sing Mass of the Holy Cross by Alois Bartschmid. Devotions to the Sacred Heart precede Mass. Reception after Mass.
• Sat. 02/02 8:00 AM: High Mass at Our Lady of the Scapular (Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
• Sat. 02/02 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
• Sat. 02/02 7:00 PM: High Mass at Old St. Patrick, Ann Arbor (Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary) – Blessing of candles and procession at 6:30 PM

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for January 27, 2019. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]