symbols and humour

 

a trinitarian symbol as a subtle foliate man? on a former Lutheran church 1895, east side Cleveland O. 

For some centuries before the Modern Age, stone carvings of a face surrounded by leaves, and/or vines were sculpted onto churches. There is no real evidence of why such a decorative motif. There also were many grotesques, and chimeras. An article by Julia Somerset in 1939 has her conjecture, which many have picked up. He is the green man, a symbol of pagan, vegetable fertility. Some hippies, and later new agers have ran with the ball she put on the field. But what others know, is that these artists had a sense of humour, and their little jests were frequent.

from the House on Clifton for St. Valentine's Day 

Taking lawn decorations beyond a clothed cement goose. First, i saw this lawn decorated for Hallowe'en. It has been set for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and now i see for Valentines. Perhaps there are other occasions coming.

Immanuel Lutheran Cleveland

serpent in the Garden of Eden 

I am quite fond of stained glass, and pleased to see fine ones. The Immanuel Lutheran church building was started in 1879, and is the daughter congregation of Trinity Lutheran they began worship in 1880. Most of the windows were tall, but interrupted by a mezzanine level of pews, so the middle of the windows are not visible. This came in 1885.

an holocaust, sacrifice wholly burned in fire

Die Heilige Schrift (The Holy Scriptures) 

There are only a few windows in Cleveland that are German in language.

Sei getreu bis in den Tod (Be faithful unto death)

Gott ist meine Zuversicht und Stärke (God is my confidence and strength)

They are very proud of their 1964 Friedrich Weissenborn mechanical organ with 26 stops and 39 ranks, it is very valuable. Shane Brandes is the organist.

The Lieder board, Lieder is German for songs. English language worship did not begin until after World War One.

Mozart (Brian Skoog) and Salieri (Jason Fuh), and two members of Cleveland Opera

Camera decided to focus on the pulpit.

Pushkin wrote a verse play, Mozart and Salieri (1830),  Rimsky-Korsakov made it into an opera in 1897.  Peter Schaffer made it into the play, Amadeus (1987), a movie followed in 1984. In these fictive stories, Salieri's jealousy/envy led him to poison Mozart.

 

Also, to-day is the tenth anniversary of the day three Cleveland girls were released from their captivity. The house where they were held is on the same street. In church before the opera, there was a short prayer service for the three women. Further up the street, a public demonstration was also held.

around University Circle and elsewhere

St. Elias' Day just passed on the 20th. As i have mentioned, i like stained glass. Parma Lutheran Church has a few large windows with Christian symbols in the expanse of colored glass. Here is a minimalist (and effective) display of he fiery chariot that took Elias (Elijah) to heaven.

One of the great spots to stroll with the hounds is in front of Cleveland Art Museum. Often people are posing for fotos. Here is one for a group think.

Fenway Hall (1923) is the last of five hotels on what was Doan's Corners (Euclid Avenue E. 105-7).

Cathedral Latin was a Catholic High School that was closed in 1979. The cornerstone was laid in 1917. John Farrelly was bishop, and he planned to have a new cathedral in University Circle. A boys high school was to be modelled after Boston Latin School. The Marianists staffed the school from 1922. Cleveland Diocese sold the property to the state, the school was demolished in 1981. The property became the site of W.O. Walker Industrial Rehabilitation during 1984-9, which became C building of Cleveland Clinic (and University Hospital) in 1995. The entrance arch has been in the lobby since its opening.

22 July 1796 Moses Cleaveland debarked at the Cuyahoga. In 1946 to celebrate the anniversary, a survey of trees were made of trees alive when Cleaveland landed. Some 22 are still up and hearty, about half are white oaks. This one is on Torrington in Parma.

 

German murals

Above the altar of Zion Lutheran Cleveland is a five part mural in German. This was completed after 1900, but before America's involvement in the European War [World War I]. At that time, German churches in the United States usually had services in German. Materials were in German. Words were inscribed, painted, written in German. Gravestones were in German. Signs in neighbourhood stores were in German. Newspapers were in German. Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus were over a third German in population. St. Louis, and Milwaukee were heavily German too. The United States was more German speaking in the second half of the nineteenth century, than it is Spanish speaking to-day. 

In the 1850s, the American Party [better known, and aptly called, the Know Nothings] had agitated against, and physically attacked immigrants [both Irish and German]. But with the War to Save the Union, that bigotry was overcome so as to recruit and fight the war. The World War came to America, and a programme of Americanising to eliminate German everything came to be. New Berlin became North Canton. Ohio's Ake Law forbid teaching German before grade eight. Many Germans changed their names [Schneider became Taylor, Schmidt became Smith]. Family gravestones begun in German, are written in English after 1916. One can see the change cut into individual stones, Vater geboren...Mother died...

Das ist mein Leib. Das ist mein Blut.

This is my Body. This is my Blood. — from Luke xxii. 19-20.

Words of Jesus instituting the Eucharist.

  Gottes Wort und Luther’s Lehr

Vergehen nun und nimmer mehr

  God's Word and Luther's Teaching

Pass away now and never 

—Words on a Luther monument 

Luther's coat of arms, with Luther's rose

Des Christen Hertz auf Rosen geht, wenn’s mitten unter’m Kreuze steht.

 The heart of a Christian walks upon roses, even when it stands under the cross.

Lasse dich taufen und ahwaschen deine Sünde

Be baptised and wash away thy sins—from Acts xxii. 16.

The vulning pelican, is a symbol of Jesus and the Eucharist [not Baptism]

2019 Miscellany #6

on 4th of July this sign was still being painted

 day lilies at Franklin Conservatory, Columbus Ohio

 that transitional color between yellow and green

Ω☨ “Vive la Rêsistance”

 Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (*1811, 1887☨)

I was in Cleveland's Zion Lutheran on 30th & Prospect, and this portrait was on a window next to a similar portrait of Martin Luther. He looked like a 19th century geezer on an advertising label, I 'googled' the name of an early pastor of the church, and that man's photograph came up, and two fotos of this guy.

Walther was one of the Lutheran Germans who left Germany because the denomination was not strict enough. He became the first president of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. He believed, wrote, and taught all other denominations of Christianity were of lesser character than his own.

Zion

 Jesus and Mary Magdalen Easter [L], Supper at Emmaus [R] 

Cleveland's German Evangelical Lutheran Church started in 1843, and in 1852 joined the Missouri Synod as Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. Zion is a popular church name for some denominations, the temple in Jerusalem was on Mount Zion. The current building was their fourth and built in 1903.

The congregation had become famous when the pastor, Heinrich Schwann, brought in and decorated an evergreen tree on Christmas Eve 1851. This was the first church in America to have a Tannenbaum. The Yankee/English of Cleveland were upset with the Tannenbaum. The next year, other people had Christmas trees too.

 altar with Jesus and the four Evangelists

 Ecce Home [top], Good Shepherd [center] flanked by the Evangelists symbols

 Der Gerechte wird seines Glaubens leben. [from Romans i. 17]

 The just man liveth by faith

To-day, in "conservative" America, many people are upset with the use of a language other than English. Many Lutheran, and other German American congregations, spoke German in services until the first world war. The highest percentage of Americans have German ancestry. Not many speak German to-day. The United States has had xenophobia, and prejudice against the foreign born, and foreign speaking for many generations.

Ihr [aber] seid das auserwählte Geschlecht [from 2 Peter ii. 9]

But you are a chosen generation

______________

postscriptum: I noticed a couple of hours after i posted this, that there must have been a 'hiccough', most of the post repeated itself.

2019 Miscellany #4 church

Messiah Lutheran. Fairview Park Ohio. Winterich Studio. 1987. 

In their main worship space they have seven large windows that follow the liturgical year. Here is the bottom portion of their Lent window, which symbolises the Eucharist. The Pelican is Jesus who offered his Body and Blood.
I am interested in stained glass, and churches are the usual place to find it. Much contemporary glass is uninspiring, this glass, and their huge 1999 lobby glass is worth seeing.

part of the lobby glass

Thistles are a symbol of Scotland. Church of the Covenant Presbyterian Cleveland

Church of the Covenant Presbyterian Cleveland

 

  Church of the Covenant Presbyterian Cleveland

Church of the Covenant Presbyterian Cleveland

Pilgrim Congregational U.C.C. Cleveland

Ch...who?

 Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church. Lakewood. Choir Window. 1949?

Representational Protestant and Catholic stain glass are often different. I find something new in some Protestant churches. Different denominations will put their particular history's leaders and heroes on glass, so Francis Asbury might appear in a Methodist church, and not much elsewhere. People would ask who is he? Most of the Old Testament is recognised by Protestants, and Old Testament personages are more often represented in Protestant churches than in Catholic ones. Sometimes, the person is obscure. There are a lot of names in the Old Testament, and some are not familiar to 99+% of people. Some names sound like Old Testament names, even if they are not familiar.

Catholic churches often have a St. Cecilia window, or painting in the choir loft. King David is sometimes found, angels more often. The window, supra, is entitled "O come let us sing unto the Lord". There is David with crown and harp, king and psalmist—familiar. Choir director, Chenaniah? The picture tells the story. Of all the passages in the Bible, who remembers this one?

And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was for song: he instructed about the song, because he was skilful. — 1 Chronicles xv. 22. KJV

And Chonenias chief of the Levites, presided over the prophecy, to give out the tunes: for he was very skillful. — 1 Chronicles xv. 22. Douay-Rheims 1899 America

Gambling during Crucifixion

 "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..." ― John Donne 1624

stained glass at St. Colman Cleveland

We are "involved in mankind".  We are a community, all the people on earth.  We do not address everything, because there is too much; but on occasion we mention some other matters.

A friend, John, has written the management of the casino in what was Higbee's at the Terminal Tower on Cleveland's Public Square. He requested that certain sensibilities and respect toward people's concerns be shown. What in English is called 'Good' Friday has the most solemn hours of the Christian year, the three hours (noon to three) that Jesus hung on the cross.

railing at Trinity Lutheran Cleveland

The quotation from another John says: "They said then one to another: Let us not cut it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled, saying: They have parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they have cast lot.  And the soldiers indeed did these things." 

Will they refrain from gambling during that time, and allow all staff the free option of not working those afternoon hours? "Shooting craps" (casting dice) on Good Friday strikes a nerve amongst a segment of the community.

Should not all gambling have a moratorium during these few hours? A once a year break, a few hours of stillness in activity?

There used to be a segment of the working population who would not work these hours. I did not work those hours, some did not like that choice; but i belonged to a union, a brotherhood, and although this was not in the contract, it was understood that yeah...there were guys in the past that would do this. So there was a precedent, and so few fellows exercise it; that to deny it would have been odd.


John wrote to:
Horseshoe Cleveland
Marcus Glover
100 Public Square
Cleveland, Ohio 44113

Trinity organs

Trinity Lutheran

Cleveland has some good stuff. Part of the reason is that in the past, it was relatively much higher in national rank of population (one time #5). In that population it was not ethnically homogenous. There was cultural diversity, and some academic institutions of note. I have not explored enough to give you a full accounting. Cleveland has an Institute of Music in University Circle, and suburban Baldwin Wallace [now University], and a few miles way, Oberlin College have music conservatories. At one time Standard Oil had a passel of millionaires, they and others on occasion funded these institutions.

Big organs of great quality are somewhat few. One place where they are found is in churches. Cleveland has two churches that have music concerts in the noon hour on Wednesdays, both named Trinity. Trinity Lutheran is on the near west side, and has one from Hamburg (Beckerath 1956) which they are quite proud of. They have two resident organists. They and guests perform every Wednesday, and have for over twenty years. The Anglicans have their cathedral in downtown Cleveland, and their concerts are various, but not each week. Looking at their present four month schedule, only two look to be organ alone. They have a beautiful Dutch organ (Flentrop 1977) from Zaandam that resounds wonderfully in the naked stone of the cathedral. Their millionaire of iron ore and lake freighters assembled pieces from the world to build an ecclesial museum. The organ came after him. It is gorgeous and it complements the whole.

Trinity Anglican

 Saint Catharine Catholic. September 23, 2011.

We have abandoned churches where the organ is left for demolition. Part of a rank of the longest diapason flue pipes are making a final descent; from the left, water flows from a hose to keep the dust down.

gold window

 inside and out

Grace Lutheran. Cleveland Heights Ohio.

This is the only stained glass window, i think, in town that is far more interesting viewed from the outside. I have put up a lot of fotos of stained glass. I like stained glass, and have seen much about town. This may, or may not be the gold standard; but i do not see putting up another post on local glass.

Willet was the first, perhaps only, artist and studio to create sculptured gold windows. The first in 1948-9, the first one in a church was across the street from UCLA in 1951 [and i have not seen a picture of either].  By repoussage, pushing up (with punches and hammers) on a sheet of lead and forming a bas relief sculpture an overlay (with gold leaf applied) is created to be placed over stained glass.

I would like to find out if anyone at the church, now, has details. The church was completed in 1927. The congregation began in Hough, and followed a streetcar line out of town.

The inside [or the back of the sculpture] has an initially jarring color palate, but after repeated viewing, one gets used it; and perhaps it does have a charm too. What the lead on top of the glass does has to effect the color, it is not a foto negative, i don't think it is a hue or shade shift; chemical reaction?