St. Aloysius Catholic Church (Carthagena, Ohio) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
St. Aloysius Catholic Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Front and eastern side of the church
Location in Ohio Show map of Ohio Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Junction of U.S. Route 127 and State Route 274 at Carthagena, Ohio
Area	15 acres (6.1 ha)
Built	1875
Architect	Anton DeCurtins
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
MPS	Cross-Tipped Churches of Ohio TR
NRHP reference No.	79002824
Added to NRHP	July 26, 1979

St. Aloysius Catholic Church is a very old and important Roman Catholic church building. It is located in Carthagena, a small community in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The church was built a long time ago, in the late 1800s. It is still used by a church community today. People consider it a historic site because its architecture is so well-preserved.

Building a Community Church

Local Catholic families started buying land in Carthagena in 1856. The community grew strong enough to build a school and a cemetery by 1860. The church, named after St. Aloysius, was officially started in 1865. In the beginning, people went to church in the chapel of the nearby St. Charles Seminary. This seminary, which trained priests for the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, had a big influence on the church. Many of the church's pastors came from there.

As more people joined the church, the community decided to build their own church building. They started planning and building in 1875. The first stone, called the cornerstone, was placed in May 1877. The church was officially opened and blessed on June 30, 1878. The amazing part is that the church members did most of the building work themselves! In 1905, the church was changed quite a bit. Only the tower and three of the original walls remained from the first building.

The Church Building's Design

Stained glass window showing St. Aloysius receiving his first Communion.

St. Aloysius Church is built in the Gothic Revival style. This means it looks like old European cathedrals. It is made of brick, and its walls sit on a strong foundation of stone from Piqua. The church has a gabled roof covered with asphalt. It is about 85 feet (26 m) long and 45 feet (14 m) wide.

One of the most noticeable parts of the church is its tall tower. It has a white wooden belfry (where the bells are) and a very tall, pointed spire. The tower has its own thick walls, about 2 feet (0.61 m) thick. The whole building cost about $7,500 to build, which was a lot of money back then! Much of this money was given by other nearby churches.

Inside, the church's special area for the altar has white-painted altars. There are also different sizes of pews, which are the long benches for people to sit on. There are large pews for adults and smaller ones for children. Many large stained glass windows light up the inside. These windows were added more than 25 years after the church was finished. Individual families in the church community bought them.

Most of the church's parts are not from the 1870s when it was first built. Many changes were made in 1905. This included taking out the original inside, adding a sacristy (a room where priests prepare), putting in the beautiful stained glass windows, and making the altar area bigger.

Architects and historians have studied the churches built by the Precious Blood missionaries in western Ohio. They put them into four groups, or "generations." St. Aloysius Church is part of the second generation, built between 1865 and 1885. Many churches from this time were simple brick buildings with small bell towers. However, St. Aloysius was special because it was the first church in the area designed with a tall tower. Its building changed how other churches in the area were designed. After St. Aloysius, many other churches added similar tall towers.

The architect, Anton DeCurtins, who lived in Carthagena, designed St. Aloysius. Because of his work here, many other churches asked him to design their buildings too. The churches from the third generation (1885-1905) were often large, impressive Gothic Revival buildings with tall towers, designed by Anton or his sons.

Beautiful Stained Glass Windows

Stained glass window showing St. Peter Claver.

The inside of the church is decorated with amazing Munich-style stained glass windows. These windows tell stories. They show scenes from the life of the church's patron saint, Aloysius Gonzaga. They also show saints connected to other places named "Carthagena" and saints important in German culture.

Here are some of the stories shown in the windows (translated from German):

• St. Aloysius receives his first Holy Communion from St. Charles Borromeo.
• St. Aloysius is found praying by his parents.
• St. Florian, a soldier and martyr, who protects against fire.
• St. Isidore, an Archbishop born in Cartagena, Spain.
• St. Notburga, a virgin and maid servant who died in 1313.
• St. Perpetua, a mother and martyr from Carthage, Africa.
• St. Peter Claver teaching enslaved people in Cartagena, South America.
• St. Deacon Lawrence learning about his upcoming death from St. Pope Sixtus.

Other Buildings Nearby

Two school buildings, one made of wood and one of brick, were built about half a mile west of the church. These schools were for the local community that lived in Carthagena before the current church parish was there. To help the church school, a house was built for the nuns who taught there after they moved from the seminary building. Many churches in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati built homes for their pastors, called rectories, in the early 1900s. However, St. Aloysius Church didn't need one because its pastors always lived at the seminary.

There are also two cemeteries close to the church. One is the original community cemetery, near U.S. Route 127 west of the church. The other is the church's own cemetery, located between the community cemetery and the church.

The Church Today

Special Recognition

The church interior as seen from the organ loft.

Experts from the Ohio Historical Society studied St. Aloysius Church in 1977. This was part of a project to find and protect historic buildings. Their study showed that the church's inside was in good shape and its outside was in excellent condition. The only concern was that they might keep changing the interior.

Because of its well-preserved architecture, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. This is a list of places in the United States that are important to history. More than seventy other buildings, including twenty-eight other churches, were added to this list at the same time. These were all part of a group called the "Cross-Tipped Churches Thematic Resources." These buildings are special because they are connected to the Missionaries of the Precious Blood in western Ohio.

The tall Gothic Revival towers of these many Catholic churches, like the one at St. Aloysius, became famous. This area of Ohio is now known as the "Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches."

Still Active Today

St. Aloysius Church is still an active church community in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati today. It is part of a group of churches called the St. Henry Cluster. This group includes St. Bernard Parish in Burkettsville, St. Francis Parish in Cranberry Prairie, St. Henry Parish in St. Henry, and St. Wendelin Parish in St. Wendelin. All these churches are part of the St. Marys Deanery.