Part 1: Indiana State Sanatarium Haunting Beauty

Haunting Beauty

In 2021 we began seeing reports that the Indiana State Sanatarium which had been closed in 2011 was opening to the public for paranormal investigations. Meg and I were excited at the opportunity to investigate a location which had only just recently been opened and so reached out to book a date in early 2022. 

The History of the Indiana State Sanatarium in Rockville Indiana.

Long before European settlers came to America the area now known as Rockville, Indiana was inhabited by the Piankeshaw Indian tribe a subgroup of the Miami Tribe. Once a thriving community by the 1800s their numbers were falling as hostilities between the Tribe and the new settlers as well as harsh winter followed by draught took its toll. In 1805 the Piankeshaw were forced to cede their properties in Indiana and move West to Missouri joining with other Native Tribes. 

In 1821 Parke County was formed with the Wabash River serving as its western boundary. Three years later Rockville was laid out and the following year it became the county seat. In July of 1854 the citizens voted to incorporate the town. 

Property records show that the land where the Indiana State Sanatarium would eventually be built was registered to Jonathan Garrison on March 12, 1831. It would then change hands multiple times. At some point there was a distillery on the property, the furnaces were found while building the administration building, however the name and owner of the distillery is unknown though it is believed to date to the 1830s. 

What is known is that in 1907 Parke County began looking for a property to build a sanatarium due to the rising number of tuberculosis cases. They had a list of demands for the property ranging from access to railroads, height above sea level, and landscaping. This helped narrow the choices down to a few properties. On October 9th, 1907 the committee tasked with finding a suitable property came to visit Rockville. For its part the town and residents of Rockville did everything they could to show why they should be selected. They saw the addition of the Sanatarium to their community as a great opportunity to sell their farm fresh goods like eggs, milk, and meat. The building of such a large building would also provide a boost to the economy as jobs both in construction and eventually healthcare would become available. Their efforts paid off and the local paper on May 6, 1908 declared that the Little Raccoon site, named for the river that ran through it, was selected by the Hospital Commission and Governor. 

Before construction could begin the property had to be purchased. The entire tract was divided between seven different land owners: Edgar Adams owned 130 acres, Gary Connelly owned 126 acres, John Adams owned 80 acres, Theodore Jessup owned 49 acres,  William and Charles Bullion owned 44 acres, Claude Kent owned 41 acres, and James Myers owned 39 acres. Either the Bullions never wanted the Sanatarium or they soured on it after the fact but their property was eventually marked condemned as they would not agree to the proposed sale price. Finally in 1909 the first cornerstone of the multi-building facility was set and construction continued over the next two years. 

On April 1st 1911 the Sanatarium opened as The Indiana State Tuberculosis Hospital and began receiving patients. At first the mortality rate was very high but within just a few years it lowered. For example in 1914 the annual report showed 53 deaths, in 1915 there were 24 deaths, in 1916 there were 30 deaths, and in 1917 there were 31 deaths. The staff worked to keep patients highly educated and involved about the disease and their treatment offering lectures 3 to 4 times a year about the disease, phases, symptoms, and treatments to help people understand and prepare for the duration of their stay. Some who recovered would help care for others. In fact the Sanatarium itself was self-sustaining with farmland, orchards, a hen house, and dairy to also help provide food for the residents.

In 1919 the name was changed to the Indiana State Sanatarium which would remain its name until 1968. 

The property consisted of the Administration Building which had doctor's offices, exam rooms, the surgery, and all records. On either side of the Administration Building connected by an enclosed passageway was a tuberculosis ward, one for men and one for women. The wards consisted of long open hallways to allow fresh air and sunlight, two of the main treatments for tuberculosis at the time, to fill the patients' rooms. Originally each ward was built to house 140 each however that number increased and eventually they also had a waiting list of over 400. 

Credit: Indiana State Historical Society

In 1913 the State Sanatarium Bridge was added over the Little Raccoon creek to help aid in travel to the hospital. The bridge is a Kingpost Truss Burr Arch structure spanning 154 feet designed by Joseph A. Britton. 

Unfortunately the tuberculosis wards no longer remain because they were removed and repurposed to build the nursing home. Only the tunnels below them used to access the steam pipes remain. Those steam pipes were heated by the coal burning power plant built on site to power the Sanatarium. As we drove around the area it was the smoke stack of the power plant that told us we were getting close, which makes me sad to know the stack is being removed due to structural issues.

 

As time passed more buildings were added including a children's ward and schoolhouse that at its height served 100 children. 

Indiana Historical Society

A five story building, Adams Hall, was also added in the 50s as staff housing and that building still remains having been repurposed over the years.

Around 1922 the Superintendent's Residence was added to the property. This two story structure had multiple entrances indicating that it may have been split between multiple families/staff. 

In the late 1800s and early 1900s many large facilities like the Indiana State Sanatarium opened throughout the country. Tuberculosis was a rising disease that had a lot of fear surrounding it because little was understood about it and treatment was very limited. For the majority of patients that came to Rockville the main prescription was clean air, sanitary conditions, and good food. However there were other treatments that today seem cruel. For example in 1914 they injected nitrogen between the chest wall and lungs in order to collapse the lung and allow it to "rest" and slow the spread of tuberculosis. In five of those they also removed the ribs to help collapse the lung. According to the Superintendent W.A. Geckler "[n]o patients are subject to [surgery] who have any possible chance of recovery without it. Surgery in diseases of the lung is and must remain a last resort." For the doctors and staff at the time I imagine the balance between  "do no harm" and also trying to save and preserve life weighed heavy on their minds. 

With the development of streptomycin to treat tuberculosis in 1943 by Selman Waksman, Elizabeth Bugie, and Albert Schatz large Sanatariums like the one at Rockville began to empty. The property was taken over by a conglomerate and renamed Lee Alan Bryant Healthcare Center. The five story building originally used to house staff became Adams Hall, a mental institution. On the first and second floor coed patients were housed, the third floor was reserved for woman, the fourth floor for men, and the fifth floor supposedly housed more dangerous patients. Between Adams Hall and the original Administration building a single story cross shaped 120 bed nursing home was added. 

Unfortunately as good as the Indiana State Sanatarium was at treating its patients Lee Alan Bryant was bad. There are allegations of abuse, suicides, escapes, and a murder suicide. There are reports of patients running away in the middle of the night and dying from exposure in the surrounding woods. There are stories of a woman who ran away and climbed to the top of the water tower. She was found frozen the next day. Some patients would be lost in the woods their remains found days or more later. Looking back now it looks like the whole situation was out of control for patients and staff. There are reports of attacks between patients and patients and staff. There was a murder suicide between two employees near the power plant with multiple stories about the dispute whether it was over a promotion, raise, drugs, or something else we are not sure. Throughout the building there are passive aggressive notes hanging on the walls warning staff and patients about acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. In 2012 after multiple complaints the state came to Lee Alan Bryant and shut it down. Patients were released or moved to other facilities. Staff were sent away. 

Today nature has worked hard at reclaiming the buildings. Vines grow through the windows and birds nest in the vents. Suitcases, personal belongings, pay slips, and hospital equipment remain. Drywall has fallen down and paint peels from the walls. 

Part 2 Coming Soon.

An Overdue Roadtrip

 It had been awhile since we hit the road and took a drive so it felt nice this weekend to get up at 4am and put the finishing touches on house chores and loading the car. 

The real reason for the trip was an overnight investigation at the Haunted Indiana State Sanatorium in Rockville, Indiana. I will have a blog about that later once we go through the 90 plus hours of audio recording, 40 plus hours of video recording, and over 900 photos. 

We left from Nashville on I-65 heading towards Louisville and made good time as traffic moved well through Tennessee and Kentucky. In Louisville we jumped off I-65 quick to drive through downtown and avoid the toll bridge because tolls are silly.

A few hours later of smooth sailing with the exception of Indianapolis and the highway being closed due to construction we made it to our first stop in Crawfordsville, Indiana. 

The rotary jail was a strange phase in jail building in the midwest where the cells actually rotate to the opening rather than having individual doors that open. The design came from architect William Brown and was built by an iron foundry company in Indianapolis, Indiana. Brown explained in the patent:

"The object of our inventions is to produce a jail in which prisoners can be controlled without the necessity of personal contact between them and the jailer or guard... it consists, first, of a circular cell structure of considerable size divided into several cells capable of being rotated, surrounded by a grating in close proximity thereto, which has only such number opening as is necessary for the convenient handling of prisoners."

The design was not a success and many of the jails were very quickly retrofitted with doors and the rotating mechanism was disabled. The exception to this was the rotating jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa which we stumbled across during a previous road trip. This rotating jail was the last to close in the 1960s. As of now only four are still standing though none are jails. Most have been turned into museums like this one in Indiana. In fact this is the only one where the rotary mechanism still functions.  

Our next location was a spot I had saved ever since our massive amount of road trips in 2020 (Drive the 48) 

The ball is the work of Mike Carmichael and his family. On January 1, 1977 Mike and his son put the first layer of paint on a baseball. His wife would also join in putting coats of paint on the baseball. They would paint it multiple times when it was small. Today it hangs from a suspension system in a specially built barn beside their house. Meg and I got to add layer 27,765. Mike had it primed and when we pulled up. We chose a nice light blue color and for a period of time we were World Record holders. As we painted the ball he told us about the history of the ball, the fact that this wasn't his first ball of paint, and how the barn was built for the over 8,000 pound ball.

If you would like to visit the Largest Ball of Paint check out Mike's website Largest Ball of Paint

Next was a mad dash down several dirt roads as we made our way to to Terre Haute, Indiana. That was where we were spending the night but also it was Ash Wednesday and I had found a Catholic Church there and the goal was to arrive in time for 6pm mass. 

After mass we checked into our Laquinta and then went looking for dinner. First we stopped at Terre Haute Brewing but they did not have food. So we purchased a flight to try several beers and pick a growler before going down the road to M Mogger's Restaurant. Both buildings are on the property of the original Terra Haute Brewing Company which opened in 1837 and around the turn of the century it became the seventh largest brewery in the USA and its flagship beer Champagne Velvet spread in popularity. The brewery compound covered several blocks and had multiple buildings including a wood shop where they would custom make bars for locations selling their Champagne Velvet. Despite Prohibition and a series of ownership changes the brewery has persevered. They no longer make Champagne Velvet and the current brewery is housed in just one of the original buildings. The taproom is welcoming and when we entered there was live music just finishing up their last set. The growler we chose was their Crossroads beer, a nod to Indiana calling itself the "Crossroad of America".

The next day we left the hotel a little earlier than originally intended and went to Highland Lawn Cemetery. We had used the website Find a Grave to look up notable people buried there and planned to spend some time exploring the cemetery that was opened in 1884 and placed on the National Registry in 1991.

The first stop we made in the cemetery was the mausoleum of M.A. and S.C Sheets. As the urban legend goes Martin Alonzo Sheets had a fear of being buried alive and so had a telephone installed in his mausoleum. He also was buried with a bottle of whiskey so that if he woke up he could call a taxi and have a drink while he waited. Of course there are stories of phantom phone rings and when Susan passed away in 1929 it is said that she was found at home clutching her telephone. 

Next we stopped at the tomb of Chauncy Rose. He was a businessman and philanthropist in Terre Haute. Through his success in business and especially in the railroad industry he was able to fund several projects like the Providence Hospital, the Rose Orphan Asylum, and the Rose Polytechnic Institute (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology). 

The next grave we stopped at is the grave of Eva Mozes Kor, a Holocaust survivor and truly inspiring woman. Born in 1934 in Romania her and her twin sister Miriam were held at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp and subject to cruel torture and experimentation by Josef Mengele. In 1984 she founded CANDLES (Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors). The goal of the organization is to educate others about the Holocaust and the power of forgiveness. A 2006 documentary "Forgiving Dr. Mengele" was made about her and her story focusing on her use of forgiveness as a path to self healing. In 2015 she traveled to Germany to testify at the trial of Oskar Groning where she thanked him for testifying to the events. Her story has been told through several documentaries like "Voices of Auschwitz" and "Incredible Survivors" and recorded  for the University of Southern California's new "Dimensions in Testimony Project." Just the fact that she survived these experiences is inspiring but her ability to survive and share that experience with others to help educate them is amazing and her ability to forgive those who tortured her is truly amazing. Despite her early life to me she has a connection to humanity that goes beyond most. 

The cemetery was well cared for which is why as we were driving when Meg saw several graves covered in moss it stood out. 

On the way out we noticed a pyramid and stopped to see whose tomb that was. It belongs to Anna White who is a musician, pilot, and archeologist and also very much still alive. 

After leaving the cemetery we stopped at the Vigo County Museum. The side wall was painted with a large mural showcasing the connection Terre Haute has to Coca Cola. Apparently the glass bottle made famous by Coca Cola was made in Terre Haute by the Root Glass Company.

From there it was time to prepare for an overnight Paranormal Investigation at the Indiana State Sanatorium in Rockville Indiana. I'll say here it was an amazing investigation with slamming doors and disembodied voices throughout the night. As we finish our review of over 90 hours of audio recording, 40 hours of video recording, and over 900 photos I will make another blog post with more about it. 

On the way home we had two more stops. The first was Upland Brewing because they now own the rights to Terre Haute Brewing's Champagne Velvet beer. We stopped in at their brewery for a delicious lunch and two flights of beer to taste 8 different beers. 

Then we stopped in Mitchell, Indiana the birthplace of Astronaut Gus Grissom. Grissom took part in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. In 1961 he became the second American to fly into space twice. I read that Gus Grissom was nearly disqualified from the exclusive NASA program due to Hay Fever however after arguing that it would not be an issue due to the lack of ragweed pollen in space he was allowed to continue. He passed away January 27, 1967 during a pre-launch for Apollo One along with Ed White and Roger Chaffey due to a fire started by faulty wiring. There are several memorials to Grissom and we stopped at one that was a recreation of a rocket. Around the base was a description of Grissom's life and accomplishments including his early life in Indiana, military service, and participation in the early space programs. 

There is also a museum but with several hours left to drive and after being up most the night investigating we had to keep moving. 

We got home around 8pm and went straight to sleep because the next morning we had to get up early to help with a town clean up project. 

7 Churches in 7 States Year 2 Part 1

Church One: Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine in Florida.

This is one of the furthest Churches we were going to. I went here first because I have wanted to go for a long time and finally had the reason and motivation to go. Way back in college I did an extended study on the works of St. Augustine's philosophical writings. I realized while I was at the Church that I knew a lot about St. Augustine's early life due to his work The Confessions and his writings on the Church and how they pertained to philosophy but I knew very little about any miracles attributed to him or his process of Beatification and Sainthood.

It was at the end of sophomore year when we declared our majors; the school, Thomas More College, was a very small Liberal Arts school in New Hampshire. I remember talking to other classmates and especially my sister trying to figure out what major I wanted to choose. There were four options Political Science, Literature, Philosophy, and Biology. I had always been terrible at science so that was easily disqualified. I was very much interested in humanity and human experience. As I was coming to a decision I began narrowing the disciplines by reasoning that Political Science would tell me what humans had done throughout history, literature showed the possibilities of what humans could do and experience, but philosophy was, in my mind, where I could learn why humans acted as they did. I decided on philosophy because I wanted to understand why people acted as they did. Now months later I was trying to choose who I would study so in depth that this person's work would stay with me throughout the rest of my academic life. Again I discussed this with my academic advisor and other classmates. What did I want to get out of this? What questions did I want to try and answer for myself? And I had one question that had interested me my entire life but in the last few years it dominated my thinking. How or why are humans capable of acting so horribly to each other, namely the question of human evil? I found an affinity to St. Augustine and the way he was always searching for answers to the questions of his time and he also had tackled the question of evil. So I read about his writings on free will, evil, and the mind body connection plus writings on many other subjects. I read his writings against the Manichaeans who he had been a member of and his later writings against the Pelagians. I read his works that have influenced Catholic and other forms of Christian doctrines. I studied his early life and the path of learning and questioning that brought him to Catholicism along with the dedication and unwavering love of St. Monica, Augustine's mother, who never gave up on her son and prayed for him to find his path to God.

St. Augustine Florida was so named by Don Pedro de Menéndez de Avilés when he and his exploration company saw land on August 28th 1565. The city changed hands several times which effected the Catholic population in  the town. When the English took control a lot of the Catholic Spanish population left for the Caribbean and other areas. In the 1770s a group of Mediterranean laborers predominantly Italian and Greek called the Minorcans arrived in the area and revitalized Catholicism. In 1784 Britain ceded the colony back to Spain and Spanish Catholicism returned mixing with the Minorcans. The cornerstone of the Church was laid in 1793 and on March 11, 1870 the Diocese was formed.

We had driven by the Basilica the night before and could see the beautiful stained glass windows illuminated by interior lights these windows show the life of St. Augustine and were installed in 1909 from Mayer and Co of Munich Germany.

We walked in through a side door of the Church and walked around to get a view of the full Church.

Above the main entrance are five images of the history of St. Augustine including the first mass, Menéndez kissing the cross when he reached land, and the arrival of the Minorcans. The Baptismal Font is a replica of the Baptismal Font where Ponce dé Leon was baptized in 1474 in his home town of Santervás de Campo. 

Behind the alter are the pipes for the Organ which is a Casavant Opus 3821 and on either side of the Sanctuary are murals created by Hugo Ohlms; one side shows the history of Catholicism in Florida and the other shows a history of the Church.

On either side of the body of the Church are small shrines. One is dedicated to St. Joseph the adopted father of Jesus Christ and patron of the Sisters of St. Joseph who have a convent and affiliation with the Basilica. The statue and tiles were made in Florida and the tiles show four important moments in the life of St. Joseph.  The other is dedicated to St. Patrick and the hundreds of Irish priests, brothers, and nuns who have helped spread the faith of Catholicism in Florida.

The east side of the Basilica is dedicated to Mary featuring her Ascension on the ceiling which was beautiful and immediately captivated me. Such a large area of the Church dedicated to Mary made sense since Augustine's own mother was so influential and important to his story and eventual dedication to the Church. Also featured in a glass case is a 2013 gift from the Bishop of Santa Clara Cuba,  Arturo González Amador. It is a statue of of Nuestra Sénora De La Caridad (Our Lady of Charity) a common depiction of Mary and the Patroness of Cuba. Our Lady of Charity dates back to 1612 and Spanish Sea Captains who would carry the image with them to protect them and their ships during travel.

There was also a sculpture given to the Church in 1959 by a sculptor named G. William Ellis in 1959. It hangs near the Papal declaration by Pope Paul VI December 4, 1976 elevating the Cathedral to a Minor Basilica.

As I walked around the Church I noticed above the Confessional was the quote 

"There is no misery that could be a match for my mercy." Jesus to St. Faustina. 

St. Faustina was born Helena Kowalska and lived from 1905-1938. Her life was dedicated to the Divine Mercy of Christ. In a vision she saw Christ in a white robe with a white and red light emanating from his heart. This image would become the image of Divine Mercy. Interestingly her feast day is October 5th, my birthday. She was beatified and canonized by Pope John Paul II who said of her 

"The message she brought is the appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies. Jesus said to Sr Faustina one day: 'Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to the Divine Mercy.'"

The first Sunday after Easter was designated Divine Mercy Sunday by Pope John Paul II in accord with passages from St Faustina's journal.  Pope John Paul understood Jesus's Divine Mercy particular in the context of the Easter Sacrifice in his Divine Mercy Homily from April 22, 2001  

"Divine Mercy! This is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity."

It is amazing how many times I have travelled to Churches and found a connection to St John Paul II. Not only was it John Paul II who celebrated and elevated St. Faustina and  her image of Divine Mercy but John Paul passed away on the vigil of Divine Mercy in 2005. Like a lot of Catholics my age I was feeling very lost by John Paul's illness. He had been the only Pope I had ever known. I had been to Rome during my sophomore year of college and had gone to several masses and Sunday Angelus that he had performed. I remember very clearly being in my car driving and listening to 1010 Wins radio when during a news section about John Paul's illness the reporter said that John Paul was reported to have said "I have looked for you. Now you have come to me." And as I started this blog post I was thinking about that because when I heard that report I drove to my childhood church, St. Ignatius Loyola in Hicksville to stop and say a prayer. I imagine in that moment I felt a lot like St. Augustine did when he was in the garden and heard a child's voice say "tolle et lege (take up and read)." 

As I continued around the Church I stopped in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament where a reliquary, gifted to the Cathedral by the children of Margaret Bassing Bailey, of St. Augustine is kept that has at its center relic of St. Augustine's bone. 

The windows, as I said earlier, showed important moments in the life of St. Augustine. My favorite windows also featured St. Monica. One showed St. Augustine as a young man sitting with his mother looking up towards the sky, another showed St. Augustine being Baptized by St. Ambrose with Monica at his side, and the last is the death of St. Monica with St. Augustine at her side.

Having thoroughly explored the interior of the Church we went outside where on either side of the Church there was a garden and a statue.  On one side was a statue dedicated to the memory of Father Pedro Camps, the spiritual leader of the Minorcan colony who kept the Catholic faith alive during the time that the city was in the hands of Britain. It was sculpted by Josef Viladomat of Spain and donated by descendants of the original laborers. 

On the other side is a statue of Padre Felix Varela. He was born in Havana Cuba on November 20 1788 and died in St. Augustine on February 25 1853. A blue seal nearby had his name and "Great Floridians 2000" written on it. 

I then crossed the street to get a shot of the impressive exterior of the Cathedral Basilica. The original Church facade was constructed in 1793. A fire damaged the interior of the Church in 1887. The clock tower was added when the Church was repaired from the fire damage thanks to a donation by Henry Flagler. The facade bells are dedicated to the Spanish royal family in thanks for their role in supporting the dioceses. The oldest of the bells are dated back to 1689 and were recently refurbished along with the tower thanks to many contributions from parishioners and many others. 

Link to the rest of the ST. Augustine trip blog.

Church Two: St. Cecilia in Jasper, Alabama.

Originally Church 2 was going to be St. Dominick's in Louisiana however I was being hit hard by allergies and my Mom had an event that would make the long drive time very hard. So I decided to find a closer Church and I settled on St. Cecilia in Jasper, Alabama which we had passed on an earlier road trip. 

St. Cecilia was much closer, only a little over three hours. We were able to leave on Saturday with a goal to be at the Church some time in the four o'clock hour so we could visit before mass. However we got a late start and ended up arriving after mass had begun. 

I waited for mass to end in the main entrance which was closed off from the rest of the Church but the mass could still be heard due to a speaker system. This is really nice for families with young children. They can go out there and let a child play or cry while the parents are still able to hear the mass. In fact while we were there a family with a young child was in the area. The little boy was able to get out his energy while his parents attended mass. 

In the entrance way were two posters one of Christ and one of Mary. The pictures were mosaics made by using other photos of people. I'm not sure yet if these were stock photos or actual parishioners. 

St. Cecilia's feast day is November 22nd and she is the patron Saint of musicians often pictured with an instrument. In the Church I saw a picture of her at an organ. According to the Church she was the daughter of a Roman noble family and was promised to a soldier named Valerian. During her wedding she sang to God. After the wedding she told Valerian that an angel of the Lord was watching her and she asked him to honor her virginity. When he asked to see the angel she told him to go to the Via Appia to be baptized by Pope Urban I and then he would see the angel. He went and after being baptized was able to see the angel. A church was built in her honor in Trastevere Rome where it was said her house had once stood and her body was moved to the Church. In 1599 during renovations on the Church her body was discovered to be incorrupt. 

When I was in college I spent my sophomore year second semester in Rome and visited St. Cecilia in Trastevere. It was apparently our fifth day in Rome January 31st, 2002. I know this because part of our writing workshop class was to keep a journal and I wrote the date and day number on the top of each page. I described the mosaic in the apse of the church paying particular attention to the inclusion of a phoenix, a symbol of the resurrection. Holding the phoenix is Pope Paschal I who had the church built also appears in the mosaic with a square halo, signifying he is still alive. In the center of the mosaic is Jesus Christ and on the right of the apse is St. Cecilia and St. Valerian. 

I had a polaroid camera with me in Rome and occasionally on tours I would take photos and add them to my journal. In this picture is a statue of Giuseppe Belli, the people's poet of Rome, in the Piazza Belli which we visited at night on the 31st.  

Once mass was over I went in to the Church body to look around. The lights had already been turned off as the parishioners had immediately begun cleaning and closing up the Church after mass. It is a very small and simple Church. A single stained glass window poured light in from behind the alter. To the side of it was a statue of St. Cecilia with a harp.

I walked around to the back of the Church as I was leaving and approached a table with a small statue of St. Cecilia on it and two candle sticks. Above it was something framed with a piece of paper under it.  The piece of paper is written in Latin and is basically a certificate of authenticity that above is a true relic of St. Cecilia and it describes the reliquary. The letter is dated October 11, 1951. I am not sure how this Church of St. Cecilia, built in 1999 got ownership of it.

Relics can be pieces of the Saint's body, a personal item closely associated with a Saint, or something the St. had come in contact with like dirt from a grave or oil. While getting lost down the rabbit hole of reading about relics I discovered the story of St. Cessianus, an eight year old boy martyred by Diocletion in 303. I also discovered that he is buried in St. Raphael's Cathedral in Dubuque, Iowa so I'll save that for a future trip.

Link to the rest of the Jasper trip blog.

Church 3: St. John the Evangelist in St. John, Indiana

As we followed the GPS directions to the Church I began to have my doubts about where we were going because we turned into a nice looking subdivision. But then sure enough there it was and it was impressive!

The Church is relatively new having been built in 2008. Out front was a statue of John the Evangelist which is probably somehow a fountain or gazing pool but being so close to winter it wasn't filled yet.  At the base of the statue is an eagle, John's symbol.  St. John was one of the 12 Apostles and is often depicted in art as a young man possibly a teenager. He is credited with writing the fourth Gospel, three letters, and Revelations. John's Gospel is the most philosophical of the Gospels and my favorite. The opening to his Gospel is beautiful, in my opinion.  

"1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of mankind."

In Greek word=logos which translates as word/ reason/ logic. It is a weighted word for the ancient Greeks it was the reason and order that permeated the world. With that in mind it made sense  that Logos would come to mean God as the Prime Mover who ordered/created the universe. St Augustine  built further on the understanding of God ordering the universe by talking about the rationes seminales, seeds of reason, that in each thing God created it with potential for what it would become. Like a seed becomes a tree so can other things change and evolve as God planned. This is a good way to explain how evolution is possible because in the very beginning when God created he created knowing that what he made had the potential to grow. 

There was also a statue of Mary. Now there are many representations of Mary and I think this one is specifically Our Lady of Guadalupe. This representation is based on a 1531 visitation by Mary to Juan Diego.

I went inside and quietly entered the Church because they were having Stations of the Cross. The body of the Church was circular with the altar at the straight in front of me. A statue of Christ hung from the ceiling above the altar and created a very stunning view with the organ behind it. 

Around the sides were stained glass windows of different Saints including St Augustine and St Monica!

On opposite sides of the circle were statues of Mary and Joseph. I stopped at both to say a prayer while the parishioners moved around the Church from station to station reading a section of the Gospel, prayer for each station, and then a short paragraph relating the moment in Christ's journey to modern times. 

Originally I wasn't going to stay for the Stations because Meg was out in the car with the dogs. However I was very interested in the different ways they tied the Stations to modern times. When Veronica wiped Jesus' face with a cloth they talked about caring for the sick. When Jesus fell under the cross they talked about the burden's that people carry. One topic that came up over and over was the subject of abortion which really got my attention because I have been thinking about it a lot. Personally I am against abortion except in cases where the mother's life is in danger, rape, and incest. The reason I have been wrestling with abortion though is because of the upcoming election. When I look at the different parties I consider my self financially a Conservative but socially a Liberal. Except for abortion. And when I look at the different platforms and I am trying to decide which way to vote I feel like I have to vote with the Liberal Democrat now because I think some of the programs they promise will create a word where abortion will decrease. I think with the medical coverage, living wage, education programs, and protections for the poor and needy that they currently support abortions would decrease because people who seek abortions because they believe they can not care for a child would have more support.  I don't think abortion will ever stop. Roe v. Wade will never be overturned so to me the next best thing would be taking away the reason for abortion. 

A few blocks away was the Shrine of Christ's Passion. We were there after hours so I couldn't walk it but everything I have seen of it says it is a beautiful walk and I plan to go back sometime during day light to view it. Out front was a statue and monument in honor of the innocent lives lost to abortion.

Link to the rest of the St. John trip blog.

The rest of the Churches unfortunately will have to be visited later. With the pandemic of Covid-19 spreading across the country many Churches are closing to comply with the "safer at home." So I won't be able to visit the Churches during Lent but once travel restrictions and "safer at home" measures are lifted I will finish the trips.