Doors Open Milwaukee/Calvary Cemetery Chapel

Milwaukee has so many treasures! When Historic Milwaukee offers Doors Open Milwaukee, an annual event which offers the opportunity to get behind-the-scenes views of the most beautiful architectural gems in the city, including many Catholic churches, it's almost impossible to choose which of the 150 historic buildings to visit.  One site that I definitely wanted to visit was the Calvary Cemetery Chapel.  The Chapel, which had fallen into disrepair and had been badly damaged by vandals, was in danger of being torn down by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 1992, but a group now known as the Friends of Calvary Cemetery petitioned to save and restore the building.  What a gift the Friends have given to our city in saving and working to restore this landmark!  After perusing my snapshots below, why not visit the Friends of Calvary Cemetery website for more in-depth details on the project as well as many more amazing pictures?  

The Chapel at the top of the hill

The chapel is surrounded by the graves of local Jesuits.
I love the unique circular arrangement of the headstones.

The interior ceiling.  The windows all need replacing.

The remains of the high altar.

An empty rose window.

This is all that's left of the statuary after vandals destroyed them.

The only remaining grave in the crypt belongs to Fr.Idziego Tarasiewicza,
the first pastor of St. Casimir Church in Milwaukee.

Natural skylights between the crypt and the upper chapel.

A view of the cemetery from the chapel. What unique arrangements of the tombstones!  I love the half-circle!

This was in the cement on one of the steps.  It must be a logo for the construction company.
I just found it to be sweet and photo-worthy.

Following the cemetery we enjoyed a humorous and historical visit to Best Place at Pabst Brewery where we discovered King Gambrinus, the legendary Patron Saint of Beer!  (story)   We also learned that the name Pabst means Pope.  So, should we welcome Pope Francis to the United States with a Pabst?  No, I don't think so.

We discovered over-sized lounge furniture at the Milwaukee City Hall, which at one time had been the tallest building in the United States.  The boys just couldn't resist a photo-bomb opportunity!

We can hardly wait for next year's Doors Open Milwaukee for more historical fun and adventure!

St. Mary's of the Pines

The Salzmann Library at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee is the home to many antique treasures including an 1882 copy of Poems written by Bernard Durward, founder of Durward's Glen Retreat and Conference Center near Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Bernard Isaac Durward, a native of Scotland, arrived in Milwaukee in 1845 with his family where he worked as an artist.  His painting included portraits of Milwaukee's founding fathers and Archbishop Henni, Milwaukee's first Archbishop.  After painting the Archbishop, Durward converted to Catholicism and became a professor of English literature at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary until 1862 when he bought the beautiful land known as Durward's Glen.  Two of his sons became priests and the property remains a destination for religious retreats and prayerful nature walks.

Portrait of Archbishop John Henni painted by Bernard Isaac Durward

The state of Wisconsin and the Catholic Church have been greatly blessed by the legacy of this artist, poet, teacher and naturalist. If you are ever given the opportunity to visit Durward's Glen, you will find a most peaceful and prayerful setting which was the home of Bernard Durward and his family. This poem of his describes it perfectly!

St. Mary's of the Pines by Bernard Durward-

Dear retreat for mortal wearied
With turmoil,
Take me to your sheltering bosom!
Soothe my brain with nature's gladness,
Pour the balm and wine and oil!
Dull routine my life has wounded
Nigh to sadness;
Give me in you wildernesses
Change of toil!

And ye springs that gush and sparkle
As your pour
From your never failing fountains,
From your dark, mysterious prison,
Swelling still the streamlet's store,
Laughing to the light of morning
Newly risen-
Let me join with your sweet murmurs
One voice more.

From the unseen came I also.
By the might
Of the Eternal Fount of Being,
Through the darksome ways of error,
Far more dismal than the night
Of your hidden stony barriers;
From that terror
By the hand of mercy lifted
Into light.

Streamlet-daughter of a thousand
Limpid springs!
On thou speedest like an angel
With a healing benediction
Folded underneath his wings;
Warbling sweetest as thou meetest
Contradiction
From rude stones on which the lichen
Feeds and clings-

Oh, that I could scatter blessing
Like to thee!
That my soul could mirror beauty
As thy bosom's liquid crystal!
That my songs might be as free,
Varied, lasting as thy singing!
Then should list all
Mortals to my strain-a minstrel
I should be.

Pines, that heal the air with perfume,
Towering high,
Decked with cones for jewels, pendant
In your green immortal vesture,
Though your heads are in the sky,
Yet, like mortal man beneath you,
You must rest your
Feet upon the solid fabric,
Or must die.

Lend my verse the balsam odor
Of your tears!
And the color of your needles,
And the heavenward direction
Of your stems, which rise like spears,
That my song may still point upward
From dejection
And the basis of the earthly
To the spheres!

Rocks, that Time has worn to grandeur
With his breath!
Steadfast as a righteous canon,
High above the vanished ages,
Moveless 'mid surrounding death;
How your silence and your shadows
Shame my pages!
Doomed to crumble, as the leaves
My feet beneath.

Little chapel, rude and lonely
To the eye,
How thy white cross in the sunlight
Gleams and prompts a prayer in whispers!
Shall my mouldering ashes lie
Blest and near thee, though unheeding
Song of Vespers,
Or the Kyrie Eleison's
Plaintive cry?

Gorge of beauty, sweetly nestled
'Mong the hills;
Far removed from sordid traffic,
Filled with springs forever weeping
Through the rocks in mossy rills-
Shall my lowly memory linger
In thy keeping,
When this heart which now is throbbing
Silence fills?

Yes; a little while my footsteps
May be known;
And the hearts that I have cherished
Will remember me in yonder
Sacred symbol in the stone!
They will say "His hand engraved it!"
And with fonder
Accents of affection whisper,
"He is gone!"

"Gone! above this transient vision
Of a day;
Upward springing through the azure,
Upward to the Source of Beauty,
From the strife of sin and clay,
Soared his spirit to our Savior,
As the levin
Through the clouds of storm and darkness
Cleaves its way."

A fascinating biography of Bernard Durward can be found here.

Retreat to Durward's Glen

Durward's Glen, a charming retreat center and natural haven in Baraboo, Wisconsin, has been one of my favorite family hiking spots to visit whenever we take our annual weekend camping trip to Devil's Lake, one of Wisconsin's finest State Parks.  I'm not so big on camping these days like I had been when the kids were small.  Too often we find our camping weekends to be freezing cold, or we get rained out like we did on our most recent trip, finding our tents and sleeping bags to be no defense against the thunderous downpours that bear down while we sleep causing us to awaken to a wet and muddy mess-inside our tents!  But I do enjoy hiking, and for the opportunity to make a mini-family hiking retreat to Durward's Glen each year, I will gladly put up with rain and cold and any other weather related mishap that comes with abandoning ourselves to God's great outdoors.

Someday I will go on an actual retreat at this lovely, hidden piece of heaven in the middle of Wisconsin, but until then, I'm so glad that I took lots of pictures on our recent visit so that I can reflect upon them, pray with them and forever remember the grace of quiet time with God and my family at Durward's Glen.  Although I didn't take pictures of the Stations of the Cross, it is noteworthy to mention that each station is built in ground that has been brought from the Holy Land and Medjugorje. For more information about Durward's Glen including its fascinating history and information on the retreats offered there, visit the website here.  For more of my pictures of Durward's Glen, visit my facebook page, and for my 2011 post about Durward's Glen and my family camping adventure from that year, visit this link.

the artist's cottage

Mary's Shrine

Cornerstone Hermitage

the spring

a close-up of the spring

a stairway to heaven?...

...well, practically, because it leads to the Holy Family!

the cemetery where many priests and religious are buried

St. Mary's Chapel of the Pines

some of my companions and I reflected in the window as if we were inside

an adorable statue of St. Francis of Assisi guards the door

"Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." ~Matthew 8:20 

I pressed my phone up against that glass window to take this interior photo

These folded pieces of fabric tied with string to the boughs of a pine tree fascinated me!
Could they represent answered prayers?

an adorable planting

This oak tree is over 400 years old.

Don't you just want to wander down this path and lose yourself in prayer?

I love Durward's Glen!

The Betrothed

In Pope Francis' interview, A Big Heart Open to God, he shared the title of his favorite book, The Betrothed, by Alessandro Manzoni.  Regarding this book, the Pope shared:

“I have read The Betrothed, by Alessandro Manzoni, three times, and I have it now on my table because I want to read it again. Manzoni gave me so much. When I was a child, my grandmother taught me by heart the beginning of The Betrothed: ‘That branch of Lake Como that turns off to the south between two unbroken chains of mountains....’"  

That beginning line was enough to entice me, and so with the Pope's recommendation, I immediately requested the book from my favorite library, The Salzmann Library, at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee.  Much to my joy, they were able to fill my order immediately.

The Betrothed, a work of historical fiction set in the early 1600's in and near Milan, Italy, is quite long at 537 pages, and it took me several weeks to complete, but they were weeks well spent in slowly relishing every word of Manzoni.  The tale of Renzo and Lucia, filled with love, betrayal, intrigue, suffering, conversion, and forgiveness was magnificent, and although so much of the story involved a tale of sorrow with a thorough description of the sufferings inflicted by the plague, the author was sure to include clever little sayings that brought a smile to my face, such as this comment regarding the failings of Bortolo, a minor character in the story:  "Perhaps you, reader, would prefer a more ideal Bortolo?  If so, then all  I can say is, make one up for yourself.  This one was like that."

Cardinal Federico Borromeo

By far, the highlight of the story came in the middle of the book, when the reader was introduced to Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, the cousin and successor of St. Charles Borromeo.   I couldn't help but see a great resemblance between the characteristics of Cardinal Borromeo and those of our own dear Pope Francis.  See if you don't notice the similarities yourself.  Here's Manzoni's description of Cardinal Borromeo:

 "Federigo considered alms-giving proper as a very first duty; and here, as in everything else, his actions were in accordance with his principles. His life was spent in continual lavishing of money on the poor...

This man's inexhaustible charity showed not only in his giving but in his whole bearing.  Easy of access to all, he felt it a special duty to have a pleasant smile and an affectionate courtesy towards those who are called the lower classes, particularly as they find so little of it in the world...

He was very rarely irritated, and was admired for the sweetness of his manner, and for his imperturbable  calm; this might be attributed to an unusually happy temperament, but was in fact the result of constant discipline over a disposition naturally lively and impulsive.  If there were times when he showed himself severe, even harsh, it was towards those of his subordinate clergy whom he found guilty of avarice or negligence or any other conduct opposed to the spirit of their noble ministry...

...this same modesty, this dislike of predominating over others, was equally apparent in the commonest occurrences of life.  Assiduous and indefatigable in organizing and disposing when he considered it his duty, he always avoided intruding in other people's affairs, and even did all that he could to avoid doing so when he was asked to; a discretion and restraint unusual, as everyone knows, in men zealous for good like Federigo."

I found The Betrothed to be greatly inspiring, causing me to desire to become more Christ-like and forgiving to those in my own life who have brought pain and sorrow to my days.  I highly recommend a slow and meditative reading of Manzoni's The Bethrothed , so that, like Pope Francis, you too, may claim it to be one of your favorite literary works.

Letters to Jackie

I recently spent some time helping a friend organize his magnificent library of books, which includes a large historical section, when he came across the book Letters to Jackie, Condolences From a Grieving Nation in the stacks.  Knowing that I love to read personal letters, and having enjoyed it very much himself, he handed it to me and invited me to read it.  I am so grateful for that invitation because this book was fascinating!  And despite the fact that this was not the type of book that I typically read, that is, a spiritual book, I found that I was compelled to frequently stop and prayerfully ponder what I had read  more than I would normally do with most spiritual reading.

According to author Ellen Fitzpatrick, Jackie Kennedy received 800,000 condolence letters in the two months that followed President Kennedy's assassination on November 22nd, 1963, and within two years that amount reached over 1.5 million.  Most of the letters remained unread until 2010 when Ellen Fitzpatrick began to sort through them for this book.  After choosing 250 of the 200,000 pages of letters that are still stored in the National Archives to include in this collection, she then began the work of contacting the letter writers and includes a brief biography of each of the people who took the time to pen a note of sympathy to the former First Lady.  The result is a timely look at the compassionate heart of the American people.

Included in this collection of letters are the stories of the poor, the racially oppressed, veterans of war, widows who could personally empathize with Jackie's loss, those who voted for JFK as well as those who did not, those who loved him because of his Catholic faith and those who disliked him because of it, the elderly, the sick and even children.

Here is a segment of my favorite letter.  It was written by an 8th grade student at a Catholic Grade School in California:

"Dear Mrs. Kennedy,

...On the morning of November 22nd, our school of 750 pupils were at a requiem Mass for all the deceased of parish.  At the beginning of the Mass, we were told that our beloved president was shot.  I tried to tell myself he would be all right but somehow I knew he wouldn't.  I tried to control myself as I had to play the church organ but the tears wouldn't stop.  The slightly damp keys were hard to play but I offered it up that the President might live.

Though we didn't know it then but while 750 children with tear-streaked faces and slightly reddened eyes were receiving Holy Communion, the 35th President of the United States went to his eternal reward in heaven...."

Each letter is deeply touching, the writers sharing their personal experience of what President Kennedy had meant to them as well as how the loss of his life had caused them deep grief.  A common message was that of gratitude for the strong and brave countenance that the First Lady maintained during her entire experience of national and personal grief.

With the presidential elections only a few short days away, it seems like the perfect time to look back upon this tragic and important time in American history and to recall that regardless of the outcome of this election we are all united as Americans, we all share a common love for our country, and we are all created with a deep capacity for love and goodness.

In light of the upcoming election, I urge you to read these brilliantly written columns by Archbishop Listecki and Bishop Hying regarding the importance of voting for a candidate that will uphold the dignity of life and the value of religious freedom which can be found at these links:

Vote for Culture of Life by Archbishop Listecki

What is at Stake in the 2012 Presidential Election by Bishop Hying

The Motherhouse

My friend, Sister Doris, who plays piano and leads us in musical worship at daily Mass, is a School Sister of St. Francis. Like all of the School Sisters, she is rightly quite proud of the Motherhouse and St. Joseph's Chapel at 1501 S. Layton Blvd. in Milwaukee, WI, which retains all of its majestic beauty without any modern renovations. Sister Doris was quite excited to come across this historical brochure from the 1930's and was eager to share it with me. She told me to keep it and to share it with all of my friends and family. I don't think she realized that I would share her brochure with ALL of my family and friends throughout the world who visit this blog. Enjoy a little taste of the past:





































Sister Doris was sure to point out the balcony filled with novices.















The adoration chapel is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL place in which I have ever had the honor to adore our Lord in the Eucharist.




















The caption reads: Profession Day, the all-the-way day, when vows fasten us to Christ and to Him in endless others.









































His Eminence Cardinal Samuel Stritch visiting the children at the convent.
















St. Joseph's Chapel today-simply stunning and well worth a prayerful visit! To learn more about the convent and find the Mass schedules visit here.