Saint Leo Oratory (Columbus, Ohio)

Saint Leo Church is a historic Catholic church and active oratory operated by the Institute of Christ the King in the Diocese of Columbus. It is located in the Merion Village neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. The current Romanesque Revival church was finished in 1917.

Saint Leo Oratory
39.936243°N 82.989067°W / 39.936243; -82.989067
Location221 Hanford Street, Columbus, Ohio
DenominationCatholic Church
Religious instituteInstitute of Christ the King
Websiteinstitute-christ-king.org/columbus-home
History
DedicatedMay 16, 1917
Architecture
Architectural typeRomanesque
GroundbreakingMay 26, 1903
Specifications
Capacity812 [1]
BellsThree
Administration
DioceseDiocese of Columbus
Clergy
Bishop(s)Earl Fernandes
RectorCanon David Silvey

History

Founding

Because of the rising Catholic population on the South Side of Columbus in the early 1900s, Bishop Henry K. Moeller called upon Father Charles Kessler, then the assistant pastor of St. Joseph Cathedral [1]: 221–222  to organize a new parish from the territory of Saint Mary Catholic Church[2] under the patronage of Saint Leo the Great. In November of 1903, a tract of land was purchased at the corner of Hanford and Seventh Street from Henry Noltemeyer,[3] and a combination school and chapel was built there, the school being staffed by the Sisters of St. Francis. The parish was declared debt-free in 1910, and the current church building was dedicated by bishop James Hartley on May 16, 1917. [4] After the completion of the new church, the chapel in the first floor of the school was converted into classrooms. [1]

Decline and Preservation

In 1972, the parish school, which previously had been free, began charging tuition due to declining contributions and increasing costs.[4] Due to declining parish support, volunteer efforts, and financial resources, the school closed in 1997[5] and the building was demolished in October of 2001.[6]

Ciiting priest shortages and declining parish membership,[7] the Diocese of Columbus decided to close the church and merge the parish back into neighboring Saint Mary on July 1, 1999.[1] However, parishioners and the greater community banded together to form the St. Leo Preservation Society to keep the church from being demolished. The group appealed the decision to the Apostolic Signatura, which upheld the decision of the Diocese.[8] Wedding and funeral Masses continued to be offered at the church, and it was also the site of Masses for Korean Catholics in the Diocese. [9] A volunteer caretaker, Mike Wolfe, restored much of the interior of the church and repaired the 2,700-pipe organ in the church, and the Diocese paid for a new roof in 2004 to protect his work. [10][11]

Institute of Christ the King

On the 16th of September 2019, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a traditional Catholic order of secular canons announced that it would establish an oratory at the church and celebrate Mass there according to the Tridentine Missal. The opening Mass was said on October 2, 2020, with Bishop Robert J. Brennan preaching the homily. [12]

Architecture and buildings
The marble high altar at Saint Leo. The old versus populum altar can be seen in the right-hand corner.

The church is built in the Romanesque style out of buff brick. The floor of the main sanctuary is of Italian marble, as are the high altar and baldachin.[13] Major repairs to all portions of the church commenced following the closure of the parish. The communion rail, marble of which had been used to build a new versus populum altar in 1976,[4] was restored and re-installed in November of 2022.[14] The rectory and priory attached to the church are also in the process of being renovated to provide housing for the priests and canons staffing the parish.[15]

References
  1. Clarke, D.A. (1918). Diocese of Columbus: the History of Fifty Years, 1868-1918. Columbus: Diocese of Columbus.
  2. Catholic Record Society of Columbus (February 2000). "Parishes" (PDF). Barquilla de Santa Maria - Bulletin of the Catholic Records Society of the Diocese of Columbus. XXV, No. 2: 14.
  3. "Parish Histories of 1903 and 1907" (PDF). Barquilla de la Santa Maria - Bulletin of the Catholic Record Society - Diocese of Columbus. XXX, No. 2: 207. February 2005.
  4. "Save Saint Leo: History". web.archive.org. 2020-01-27. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  5. Edwards, Mary Mogan (7 June 1997). "ST. LEO PARENTS, PUPILS SAY GOODBYE". The Columbus Dispatch. pp. 01B. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  6. Richards, Kirk (12 October 2001). "DEMOLITION OF ST. LEO SCHOOL HEARTBREAKING EVENT FOR MANY". The Columbus Dispatch. pp. 01C. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  7. Hoover, Felix (16 October 1998). "ST. LEO CHURCH TO CLOSE JULY 1". The Columbus Dispatch. pp. 01A. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  8. Mahoney, Dennis (1 September 2001). "CLOSING OF ST. LEO DONE DEAL, DIOCESE SAYS". The Columbus Dispatch. pp. 01B. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  9. "Saving A Church Without A Parish". WOSU News. 2012-03-05. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  10. Harden, Mike (26 July 2005). "VOLUNTEER IS ST. LEO'S GUARDIAN ANGEL". The Columbus Dispatch. pp. 01D.
  11. Cross, David (26 July 2009). "Work on organ earns hymns of praise". The Columbus Dispatch. pp. 09B.
  12. "Diocese of Columbus Welcomes Institute - New Oratory to Open in October". www.institute-christ-king.org. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  13. "Save Saint Leo: The Art and Architecture of the Church". web.archive.org. 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  14. "July 25, 2021 9th Sunday After Pentecost [Bulletin]" (PDF). institute-christ-king.org. Columbus, OH: Saint Leo Oratory. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  15. Bean, Doug (7 November 2021). "Latin Mass community flourishing at St. Leo the Great Oratory". The Catholic Times of Columbus. pp. 8–9.
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