Each week, a new piece of St. Peter's Parish history will be brought to you through pictures. Thank you to Sr. Paula Bingert, our resident historian, whose knowledge of the parish history makes possible this wonderful story.
In 1803, Ohio became part of the Union. The entire state belonged under the Diocese of Cincinnati that was formed in 1821. The first record of an Episcopal visit to the village of Mansfield is dated 1834. Bishop John B. Purcell found two English and several German Roman Catholic families. Visiting priests said Mass in family homes. This bureau was used as an altar in the home of Jacob Scholl. In a letter written by Bishop Purcell, "At Mansfield the building of a church was being contemplated," hence the founding date of the parish is 1844.
On April 23, 1847, Cleveland became the diocesan swat of northern Ohio. The next year, Bishop Louis A. Rappe came to Mansfield to look for a suitable place for a church. An abandoned Presbyterian meeting hall was purchased for $900. The location was on Mulberry facing Marshall Avenue. (It is now the alley just north of the elementary school.) After extensive repairs, Mass was said in 1850. There were twelve families in the parish. Fran Molson's drawing was made after studying the church architecture of the time in Mansfield. We would very much like to find a picture of our first church but to date have not been able to do so.
Our first resident pastor, Father Joseph Gallagher, assumed his duties in 1861. Father Gallagher also served Crestline, raised funds for a church in Loudonville, and purchased grounds for our cemetery. Prior to the purchase of a Catholic cemetery, deceased parishioners were buried in the cemetery in Shelby Settlement (for geneology searchers). Father James P. Maloney, our second pastor, purchased land on the southeast corner of First and Mulberry Streets and built a rectory in 1865 (where the elementary/junior high school now stands). It was our third pastor, Father Jacob Kuhn, who left his mark on the parish by establishing the first St. Peter's School in 1868. (This drawing of St. Peter's first school was completed by Jonathan Gallaway, a graduate of St. Peter's Schools. Jonathan completed this drawing based on descriptions of buildings of that time and a topical blueprint of the rooftop.)
The Rev. Andrew Magenhann, fourth pastor, took charge of St. Peter's parish on September 7, 1869. He also ministered in Ashland and Loudenville. By 1870, the population of Mansfield had reached 10,000 and the parish numbered 200 families. Fr. Magenhann purchased three lots on the northwest corner of South Mulberry and West First Streets. On this land stood the First Ward public school building containing four classrooms. By August of 1871, the small wooden frame church was replaced by a new brick church which seated about 400 people. This beautiful Gothic structure stood where the St. Peter's Elementary School is located today.
(l. to r.) First Ward public school; 2nd St. Peter's Church which seated 400 people; St. Peter's 2nd Church
On August 28, 1871, two teaching sisters arrived from Joliet, Illinois, to help staff the growing school enrollment. For over 130 years, these Franciscan sisters have ministered in the parish. In 1889, a disasterous fire completely destroyed the nineteen year old church that was the second St. Peter's Church.. The cause of the fire was never definitely determined. Both local papers, "Daily Shield and Banner" and "The Herald" carried lengthy articles covering the fire. "The Herald" reported "that he (Father Magenhann) is not discouraged but will build a finer church than the one that burned." It was in June of that same year that the school building was razed and excavation begun for the foundation of a new church.
(l. to r.) The church decorated for Christmas; the morning after the blaze.
In the same year as the devastating fire of 1889, the cornerstone for the new church was laid in September. The combination building held a beautiful church on the second floor and four large classrooms below the church. The building stood on the northwest corner of Mulberry and First Streets, the area that is now the church parking lot. The first rectory across the street was not damaged by the fire and continued to house the pastor, Fr. Andrew Magenhann. The Sisters' convent was the renovated first schoolhouse. (See school history for pictures.) It stood to the northwest of the new church/school building.
On December 26, 1897, Fr. Magenhann recorded his last baptism at St. Peter's Church as he was assigned to another parish. In 1905, he died in Cleveland. He is the only pastor of the parish who is buried in the Mansfield Catholic Cemetery. His grave is near the large black cross to the right as you enter the cemetery.
The first entry in the baptismal record of 1898 was signed by the new pastor, Father Ferdinand A. Schreiber, the fifth pastor. He erected the beautiful stone church in Shelby Settlement before coming to Mansfield.
The Ohio State Reformatory, located about two miles from the church, was opened for its first inmates on September 17, 1896. Father Schreiber assumed the spiritual care of the Catholic prisoners. His interest in the welfare of the Reformatory continued throughout his pastorate.
The church building destroyed in the fire in 1889 was only partially insured. The parish still had a debt of $25,000. The councilmen at that time were Mr. James P. Keefe, Mr. John Massa, and Mr. J.E. Young. Under their guidance, the debt was paid off in just five years.
Looking ahead to the need for a new church since the red brick church/school building was deteriorating, Father Schreiber purchased the "Hahn" property to the north of the red brick church/school building. This property was next to the present priest's rectory (see picture above with present-day rectory to the right of the Hahn house). In August of 1906, the house located on the "Hahn" propety was moved to the east side of South Mulberry Street on the present elementary school parking lot. This vacated space provided additional ground for the new church. Once moved, the "Hahn" house became known as "The House of Seven Gables" where the sisters lived from 1907 until 1958.
Strawberry Alley cut the site in half on which the new church (present church today) was to be built. The pastor petitioned the city council to vacate the alley from South Mulberry Street to Corporation Alley (now Championship Drive-alias Weldon Avenue). By ordinance of 1904, the alley was closed. This, together with the vacated land from the Hahn house move, gave the parish a plot of ground 140 x 180 feet on which to build a new church.
On September 16, 1909, the parish welcomed its first assistant pastor, Rev. Joseph R. Waechter. In 1910, he was transferred to Loudonville and was succeeded by Rev. John W. Schmitz who remained until December 1911 when Rev. James J. Gough became the third assistant pastor.
The local newspaper, the "Courier", in its September 8, 1909 issue printed the architect's sketch of the proposed new church. The dimensions were 90 x 159 feet with a seating capacity of 1,100.
"It was of modified Romanesque Renaissance architecture and was fronted with an imposing classic porch entrance of four beautiful columns flanked by two striking towers one hundred and twenty-five feet high. Because of the church's location near the top of one of Mansfield's many hills, these towers are visible for some miles, particularly on the eastern approaches of the city. It was built of Berea sandstone, rough faced, and trimmed with sawed and carved sandstone. Plans for the new church were drawn by William P. Guinther of Akron. Albert Burkhart of Columbus was the contractor. Estimates of the cost of the church aggregate over $150,000. The building proper cost over $100,000, while the interior finishing and furnishings cost at least half that amount."
May 14, 1911, was a memorable day in parish history. From 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., dinner was served by the ladies of the congregation at the Rink on West Fourth Street. Tickets cost 35 cents. At 1:30 p.m, a parade formed at First and Mulberry Streets and all male members of the congregation were requested to participate (no women invited since they were doing the cooking!). The line of march was north on Mulberry to Fourth, to Main to North Park and past the courthouse and back to the church. The parade was headed by Rev. Father Schmitz on a white horse. Following him also on horseback were James Feener, John O'Rourke, Louis Cunningham, and Joe Seibert. Different societies and visiting Catholics from nearby towns marched in the parade. The music was furnished by the City Band and the military band of the Knights of St. John. The streets were lined with thousands of citizens.
At 3:00 p.m., Bishop John P. Farrelly of Cleveland officiated at the laying of the cornerstone of the new church. From the May 15 issue of the "Mansfield News" we have this description:
A perfect day, blue skies, waving flags, green trees and a throng of happy people, formed a fitting panorama for the scene of the laying of the cornerstone of St. Peter's Catholic Church."
The cornerstone, a gift of William J. Cavanagh, was blessed by the bishop. A box containing copies of the daily press of Mansfield and historical documents was placed in the cornerstone. After the laying of the cornerstone, the sermon was preached by the Rev. Father Francis T. Moran of Cleveland, a noted speaker.
An early picture of the present church, just after work was begun on the foundation.
A picture of the cornerstone ceremony. (Notice the cornerstone on the front center of the structure, just to the left of the priests and servers.)
The parade through the square in downtown Mansfield.
The front page of the program. The leaflet actually measures six inches by 4 1/2 inches.
The inside pages of the program detailing the events for the day, the menu for dinner, and the songs.
The back page of the program providing information on train schedules for people to arrive from Toledo, Shelby, Cleveland, etc.
The dinner ticket! The ticket actually measures 3 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches.
The beautiful murals that once adorned the walls of St. Peter's Church were painted by Hungarian-born artist,
John Bernat. Following the Catholic Church liturgical trends in the 70's for simplicity, some murals were painted over.
And following the big fire in the 1990's, the resulting major cleaning and restoration included painting the
entire church, inclusive of painting over again of some murals.
Those few murals painted over can now be seen as beige-painted walls outlined in gold
leaf. Following is the story of artists Mr. and Mrs. John Bernat and their relationship to the decorating
of St. Peter's Church.!
Even though the cornerstone of the present St. Peter's Catholic Church was laid in 1911 and completion was several years later, it was not until February 7, 1944, that Hungarian-born artist John Bernat presented Monsignor R. C. Goebel, pastor, with what Bernat thought would be the most appropriate theme and scenes for the interior decorating of our church.
(Left: The paintings of John Bernat are shown in this photo as they appeared prior to the church fire in the 1980's. During repainting of the church, some of the murals were saved while others were painted over. Unfortunately, we do not have colored photos of these beautiful murals that once adorned the walls of St. Peter's Church.)
John Bernat was educated at the Hungarian Royal Institute of Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and Rome, Italy. He was commissioned to do many church interiors, both in Europe and the United States, and his works now are in numerous private collections and museums throughout the world. His work was unusual in that each bit of it had significance and was original. He did not duplicate designs even though he may have been doing similar portrayals.
He met his wife, the former Martha Miligan of Toledo, in Budapest in 1938. Although a U.S. citizen by birth, she was Hungarian by descent and was visiting relatives and studying art in the Royal Hungarian Academy of Art in Budapest. It was at that school that Bernat met her. He married Miss Miligan in 1939 in a little village church in which the two had jointly labored for four months in a fresco decoration project. He then decided that he wanted to come to America with his new wife. His hopes of coming to America were crushed after being drafted into the Hungarian army. Eventually, though, he was discharged from the Hungarian army because of the notorious meetings between Hitler and Mussolini from which came the dictatorial order of "no war" between Hungary and Romania.
Mrs. Bernat is shown here carving one of the Stations of the Cross, all of which still hang in the church today.
(From the Mansfield News Journal, February 18, 1945.)
"Because the artist must paint the ceilings from a very close range and while lying flat on his back on the scaffolding, as Bernat does, it is impossible for him merely to climb the scaffolding and paint the vision he sees through his mind's eye."
Bernat's substitution was making a "cartoon" or pattern of the entire scene on paper which he placed against the ceiling or wall. The outlines of the figures in the pattern were then punctured with small holes and, after the pattern was placed against the ceiling, charcoal dust was patted through the holds, leaving a stenciled outline of the figures on the ceiling. The artist was then ready to do the actual painting.
John Bernat shown here with one of the large charcoal sketches.
Bernat would make a pattern of heavy-weight drawing paper, sometimes 35 feet long, and would draw the outlines of the figures proportional to measurements of church ceilings and walls. He would then cut the paper on these lines and pin the patterns on the wall of the studio, then sketching rapidly of "lay in" the vague outlines. Then he would fill in with charcoal the exact picture he wanted to put on the ceiling of wall of the church. This would take weeks with one individual figure taking anywhere from three hours to three days to draw. Although he needed no living models for general work on figures of human beings, he sometimes used parishioners as well as high school students for models for the apostles and Christ for specific details. The pattern was then ready to be put on the ceiling or wall with a small bag of powdered charcoal used to dust over the surfact, leaving stenciled outlines of the figures and scenes. Then Bernat could begin the job of filling in with color. On his pallette, Bernat used only yellow, red, blue, green, and white.
The dominant figure of the decorations of St. Peter's Church is the seated figure of Christ with arms outstretched, high above the main altar in the sanctuary. Other scenes to the right and left of Christ show the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The dome in the ceiling of St. Peter's church which depicts scenes from the life of St. Peter--preaching on Pentecosst, meeting St. Paul, restoring Dorcas to life, and the trial scene. Other paintings on the rear walls of the church are also Bernat's work.
While living in Mansfield, John Bernat taught private art classes to adults in the Mansfield area and each was carefully selected after showing promise and talent. Bernat's policy was not to take on anyone as a private student under the age of 14 but he made an exception in the case of St. Peter's High School art teacher, Frank Daniell. "Young Frankie" as John Bernat called him, showed so much talent that at the age of 11 Bernat accepted him into his art class. Daniell studied with Bernat for three months, first working in charcoal studies, then in watercolor. On a return trip to Mansfield years later, Bernat greeted Mr. Daniell by saying, "Well, here's young Frankie."
John Bernat moved with his family, wife and three children, to California to work as a medical illustrator. In September of 1964 at age 54, he died of cancer in Duarte, California. Martha Miligan Bernat passed away peacefully on December 23, 2007, in Huntington Beach, California.
The church as it appeared many years ago when Mass was said facing the main altar.
In honor of their parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Scholl, the Scholl children paid for the purchase of the marble altar for the building of the new church. The parish history book reads: "The interior of the beautiful new church is all of the best workmanship and design. All the marble work, altars, communion rail, shrines, baptismal font, holy water fonts, are of Carrara marble, executed by the McBride Studio of New York. All the work was done in the Pietrasanta Studios in Italy."
The names of the father and mother of the Scholl family were Jacob and Elizabeth, thus the saint names of St. James (Jacob is German for James) and St. Elizabeth. In the design of the statues of St. James and St. Elizabeth, which stand on either side of Jesus Christ on the cross, care was taken to have the bodies and faces of those statues facing southeast (in the direction of Wappner Funeral Home on Diamond Street) which was the location of the Scholl family home. The home still stands today across from Wappner Funeral Home.
Each week, a new piece of St. Peter's Parish history will be brought to you through pictures. Thank you to Sr. Paula Bingert, our resident historian, whose knowledge of the parish history makes possible this wonderful story.
