Just TeeJay's Blog

I don’t know when I first noticed this church, but I remember clearly when I became interested in going inside of it. John Mellancamp was in town filming a movie and I saw some photographs of the interior of the church. It was more beautiful than any church I had even been inside of ( being before I had visited Rome). I really wanted to get in there and wander around.

I didn’t think that was a possibility unless I found someone who went to church there (which I never did).

So when Chris and Luke started their tour of Religiously Significant Sites in Upstate New York discussion began anew about being able to see the inside. Link to Chris & Luke’s Blog —> Chris and Luke Explore the Burned Over District 

I won’t get into the long process of rescheduling, cancelled tours and one or more of us being unavailable that has been going on since the beginning of the year – except for to tell you that for a while it looked like St Michaels was a tour that would just never happen. Many thanks to Chris for persevering!

When we arrived there appeared to be an event going on inside the church. We were all figuring this was going to be yet another time where we ALMOST got to see St Michaels. So we wandered around the outside for a bit and took some exterior shots.

Very shortly our fears were assuaged when our tour guide Tom arrived. We were hesitant to enter the church with an event occurring, but he assured us that if we stayed to the back of the church we would not be a distraction.

                                 That’s Tom <— in the left hand side of this photo.

      You will notice at this point in the tour I am trying to take most of my photos of the upper parts of the church so as not to disturb the Baptism that is in progress.

Tom was exceptionally knowledgable about not only this particular church and it’s architect Aldolphus Druiding but also about the style that the church was built in. I could not possibly relay even a tiny portion of his wealth of knowledge here (let alone remember the names). But he did let me in on the origins of the style of architecture which later became known as Gothic (and which style was revived in the creation of St Michaels and many others). I now would love to visit the Basilica of St Denis. Since I have a trip planned to France this year – it may even become possible. Look it up when you have some time if this style interests you at all.

            It was remarked that the ceiling fan is most likely not original.                                     

I had fully intended on leaving the Baptism folks completely alone – but this was such an amazing shot, I had to take it. Family blurred out, so hopefully it won’t upset anyone.

                        In this photo you can tell a few things. Primarily that I was not paying any attention to the humans in the room and was just stunned by the beauty of the church. So you can see some of Tom’s Head and the very top of Chris’. Then Luke is the overexposed figure in the background further.

         This window is unique for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is the only window in the church that does not include an angel. Besides that it is also the only window in the church to have ever been broken. At some point there was a small fire and the Firemen had to break through a portion of the Stained Glass in order to get the hose through. The folks who made the windows originally (I am hoping someone remembers who that was as I would like to research them further as well) were able to match the pattern exactly from their records. Because of age and dye lots they were not able to exactly match the colors which is why the cloak color varies from one panel to the other.       

            I noticed this piece of art specifically because it did not seem to quite match the other art in the church. Tom agreed. This is Saint Stanislaus. Apparently a member of the congregation thought that it was very very important that Saint Stanislaus be given a prominent place on display. I have to imagine he selected this art work out himself as well. It turns out that this individual had enough weight (or cash) that a few years down the line he was able to influence the naming of an entire church after his favorite Saint down the road a bit at Hudson and Norton.                   Someone (Chris perhaps?) asked if we could go up into the Choir Loft…. and we could! How cool is that! I would have never even thought to ask… I was already feeling so honored  and fortunate that we had been able to wander all over the sanctuary taking photos.

Tom explained that these were very unique spiral staircases because of the lack of separate supports. Apparently architecture students will come and study these periodically to understand how they are built.    What those pipes actually look like on the back side. Less pretty to look at – but all the more pretty to listen to. You can also see the bell ropes as they make their way up to the tower.                                        There’s my husband Paul : )                            Even our most knowledgable tour guide had no idea what this was about.                   

   The original church.       There was a story told about how someone got in big trouble because the steeple on this church when finished turned out to be 20 feet higher than the one at another church in the area which it was NOT supposed to be. Unfortunately I can’r remember who all the players were and enough details to actually retell you the story.    

Gives you a good excuse as you need to go see this magnificent place in person.

————–

UPDATE!

Chris has uploaded his blog posting and has remembered all of those details I was alluding to and a whole lot more. So if you would like some articulate information check out the posting:

http://exploringtheburnedoverdistrict.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/st-michaels-church/

Posted in rochester, ny
Tags: church, Michaels, NY, rochester, Saint, St Michaels, tour