Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1911-02-15
CHURCH EDIfICE
FORMALLY OPENED
NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH AT
RYAN RECENTLY
COMPLETED.
IMPRESSIVE SERVICES WERE HELD
Large Number Assemble to Attend
o.enins Of Beautiful
Building.

Sunday, February 12, marked an
important epoch i'm the history of
: Ryan, when the new Catholic church
which has been under construction
during the past year. was opened
to the public.
Eleven A. NJ. was the hour set for
the commencement of the solemn
services and despite the fact that
the weather was very disagreeable
and the roads were next to impass-
able, the church was filled to Its
capacity. standing room being at a
premium.
Rev. p. Leahy CT Dubuque, former
ly pastor at Ryan. performed the
impressive ceremony of the blessing
CT the three altars, after which
solemn high mass was celebrated by
the pastor, Rev. j. NJ. MoIloy. assist
ed by Mr.. n. ]. McElliott, as deacon,
Rev. M. S. Murphy of Castle Grove,
snb-deacon. and Mr.. M. English of st
Paul, master OF ceremonies, Rev.
John O'Donnell of Monti and Rev. j.
Lonergan of Masonville, also assist
ed at the services.
Battmans Mass In &C" was sung
by the choir assisted by Miss Bessie
Green OF Waverly, during the offer
tory the latter sang a beautiful solo
entitled, "oh Flower of Grace, Di-
vinest Flower.
Rev. T. Connory, a member of the
faculty Of st. Joseph,s college CT Du-
buque, preached an eloquent and
& interesting sermon, congratulatine
the members OF the parish on the
complexion of their beautiful house
ef worship and pratsing them for
their generosity which mode its
erection possible, he also held out
TO them the fact that were 1t not
for the ,Intiring energy and indomit-
able win of their beloved pastor in
over coming the many and serious
obstacles that confronted the pro-
1ect at different times. the erection
OF the church would have been i'm
possible IN
The ceremonies closed with bene-
diction Of the blessed sacramAnt
Description 81 the Church.
The church throughout Is modern
and up.to-date and ranks second to
none in the archdiocese of Dubuque.
The dimensions Of the building are,
as follows: length, one hundred and
eighteen feet, width. fifty.two feet,
height Of side walls, thirty feet,
the building faces toward the east
and the front represents the best in
modern architecture and is surmcunt-
ed by two towers, the larger one
containing the belfry, extending to
height of one hundred and twenty
eigth feet and the smaller one,
eighty-five feet, each being sur
mounted by large golden cross.
Poth towers as we'll as the roof of
the main building are rooted with
the best Bangor slate.
The basement walls are built Of
Anamosa quarry stone resting ON a
concrete base, these walls have an
average thickness of thirty inches,
the interior of the basement con-
sists Of furnace room containing
two hot air furnaces of large capa-
city sufficient to heat the entire
church and basement in the coolest
weather. Adjoining the furnace
rooms are two large coal vaults.
The main par. of the basement will
be about fifty by sixty feet with an
eleven foot ceiling and when COM
pleted will be used for church en-
tertainments and society meetings.
The interior of the church con-
sists of an auditorium fifty-two by
seventy-eight feet with three aisles
and six rows of pews with seating
capacity OF over six hundred people.
On either side of the main aisle are
a row Of limitations marble pillars
beautifully capped giving tone and
beauty as we'll as strength to the
structure
Tho s.nca,,rv axtandx. hool !. a,s.
tance ., tbsrty foot from +ba and,
tort,m and contains tba threa heau
t,fa a,4ars thesa are wnnders,,
works !, art made IN imit.t,on mar
h,e and are .ba wo,,r ~ tba nan,,at,
s4ata,,arv comnanv wbose bead
onarters ora ~, It.,v Th.sa a..
the first a,ta,,, ~ tha blvd ,,oce,
2 i'm the state Of Iowa. Placed on tn.
aatars are several, life size stat,,a
of sainte lannon's, in cb,,rcb ,,;storv
The communion railing is Of tn