Architectural Features of St. Patrick’s Church

The church is constructed of brick, stone and wood. There is no steel or concrete in the structure. It is in the Romanesque style which features towers, rounded arches, columns and windows. It is in the shape of a cross, with the transept in the altar area. In the west arm of the cross is the sacristy. In the east arm of the cross is the chapel for perpetual adoration.

The exterior is brick with a double rounded arch entrance, flanked by two towers, and surmounted by a large “rose” window. The exterior features are delineated by natural stone on the foundation, windows and doors. The towers are of uneven heights. They symbolize Adam and Eve. Just as all humanity came into being through them, Christ’s redemption came through them in His human nature, and the church is entered through them. The west tower contains a stairway to the loft area. The east tower contains the bell from 1886.

In the interior, the central aisle is crowned by the rounded arches of barrel vaulting which originally ended in a half dome behind the altar. The round arch of the central aisle vaulting is shaped by a complex structure of wooden timbers above the ceiling. The side aisles are ribbed vaulting. Columns with corinthian capitals support the central vault and the ribbed vaulting on the side isles, which in turn are supported by buttress columns on the outside of the church. It is this column and buttress support that absorbs the weight of the building and allows large openings in the walls for the stained glass windows.

The stained glass windows were imported from Germany and are of exceptionally fine quality and brilliant color. They are in a medieval style of clothing and decoration. The original purpose of decoration in a church was to teach the life of Christ and theological concepts through illustration when so few people could read.

The windows on the west wall illustrate events from the life of Christ. The windows on the east wall are Irish, German, Polish saints, reflecting the ethnic make-up of the early settlers. There are two small round windows that were formerly over the confessionals. They depict Christ as “Ecce Homo” - Behold the Man!, as Pontius Pilate presented Him to the crowd after scourging and crowning Him with thorns - and Mary as “The Sorrowful Mother” at the foot of the cross. Both representations of the sorrow of sin.

High over the altar are two windows that depict parenthood - on the west is St. Ann with Mary as a child, and on the east is Joseph with Christ as a child. Looking back to the front of the church is the “rose” window. The central figure is the Sacred Heart surrounded by eight women saints of the church who were important as theologians, mystics, educators and founders of religious orders.

Prominent over the altar area is a hand carved wooden sculpture of “The Risen Christ.” It is on a rose window screen that covers the organ pipes. The free standing altar is of solid Italian marble. Its great weight requires extra support posts in the basement. The east side wall has a carved wooden sculpture of the Holy Family and is also where the Baptismal Fount, recently restored, is found. The west wall holds a carved sculpture of St. Patrick and is where the organ and choir are placed. Three dimensional sculptures of the fourteen Stations of the Cross are placed on the side aisles.

St. Patrick’s Church has been renovated and redecorated periodically over the years: notably, in 1930, in the early 1950’s, and following Vatican II in the late 1960’s when the organ was moved to the front of the church, and the altar was turned to face the congregation. The most recent “freshening” of the church interior was done in the summer of 1994.