Sunday, November 30, 2008

Some Churches of Clinton County, Illinois

THREADED ALONG highway 161 in Clinton County, Illinois, is a remarkable series of Catholic churches. Like the precious jewel beads of a rosary made for a queen is this succession of fine churches made for the royal priesthood of the faithful.

Saint George Roman Catholic Church, in New Baden, Illinois, USA - exterior side
Saint George, in New Baden.

Click here for more photos of this church.

Saint Bernard Roman Catholic Church, in Albers, Illinois, USA - exterior front
Saint Bernard, in Albers.

More photos.

Saint Boniface Roman Catholic Church, in Germantown, Illinois, USA - exterior side
Saint Boniface, in Germantown.

Click for more photos.

Saint Cecilia Roman Catholic Church, in Bartelso, Illinois, USA - exterior 1
Saint Cecilia, in Bartelso.

More photos.

These churches are remarkably well preserved and finely renovated inside.

According to a correspondent who sent me this list of churches, there are other notable Catholic churches in the county, but I had time to visit only one more:

Saint Mary Roman Catholic Church, in Carlyle, Illinois, USA - exterior side
Saint Mary, in Carlyle.


Posted by Mark Scott Abeln at 11/30/2008 01:25:00 PM
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11 comments:

  1. Mark, am I missing something?

    "St. Mary, in Carlyle" certainly is remarkable (if not unique) architecture. But is hard to see the others as "a remarkable series of Catholic churches". They are nice, pleasant, typically rural, but (to my eyes) not at all unusual. So please enlighten me.
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  2. They are actually all in the Diocese of Belleville.
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  3. Irene: Always a critic! Or maybe half of the time.

    Mike: Silly me. Corrected.
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  4. Thanks for the photos. I am going to link to them on my So-Il Catholic blog.
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  5. considering a lot of churches look like this ...

    http://flickr.com/photos/16634670@N00/2476611113

    this makes for a remarkable series of churches in comparison.
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  6. Don't mean to be a critic.

    Your images are so exemplary I try to learn from each one. This series simply puzzled me because I couldn't see what was remarkable about the other churches, and felt I must be missing something really obvious.
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  7. Considering that these churches are in rather small towns, I found their relative size, age, artistic merit, and close proximity to be of remark. These tend to either approach or surpass many major urban churches of the area in these characteristics.
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  8. Also their state of preservation or restoration.
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  9. Thank you for the photos!

    Frankie Heinzmann
    http://clinton.ilgenweb.net
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  10. Indeed these are roughly half the county's Catholic churches; others can be found in Trenton, Aviston, Breese (2 of them!), and Beckemeyer. I grew up in Clinton County (and live here again now); having seen other churches around the country, I am proud of the care that goes into keeping them as beautiful as they are.

    With the Wicks Organ company nearby in Highland, many of these churches also have large, multi-rank pipe organs.
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  11. Not sure why we always have to have someone downgrading a nice complimentary article or trying to find something to be disagreeable about. I agree with Mark, the population of these communities is quite small for the size of the churches they have, but I'd like to say that I live in this area and the communities are small, but the churches do still fill up on Sundays. I also think it should be pointed out that even though these communities are small, they are very giving. Which is why they can support such a large church. Thanks for the article, you should see the insides of some of these churches Mark, pretty awesome.
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