St. Mary of Czestochowa Catholic Church: Sanctuary
2515 Versailles Avenue
McKeesport, PA
Images
2010 - Church exterior (Photograph from an archival source: Waymarket, submitted by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
1950's - Exterior (Photograph from an archival source: Polish Liturgical Center, submitted by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2013 - Interior (Photograph by Church Facebook page, submitted by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
2013 - Organ in rear gallery with left set of wooden pedal pipes missing (Photograph by Church Facebook page, submitted by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
Jan 2012 - Organ in rear gallery (Photograph by Church Facebook Page, submitted by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
1958-03-21 - Balcony, Console, and Pipe Display (Möller Promotional Photo; collection of Jeff Scofield/Database Manager)
1958-03-21 - Balcony, Console, and Pipe Display (Möller Promotional Photo; collection of Jeff Scofield/Database Manager)
unknown - Console (Photographer unknown, courtesy of Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)
Before 1965 - Interior before Vatican II (Save the Parish Facebook Group /Andrew Scanlon)
Consoles
Main
- Organ type: Traditional With Roll Top
- Console position: Console in Fixed Position, Center
- 2 manuals
- 18 stops
- 12 registers
- 3 divisions
- Key action Type: Electrical
- Stop action Type: Electrical
- Stop layout Type: Tilting/Rocking Tablets Above Top Manual
- Manual compass: 61 notes
- Pedal compass: 32 notes
- Pedal Type: Concave Radiating (Meeting AGO Standards)
- Expression Type: Balanced Expression Shoes/Pedals (Meeting AGO Standards)
- Combination action: Adjustable Combination Pistons
- Has combination thumb pistons
- Has coupler toe pistons
- Has tutti toe pistons
Notes
2008-11-24 - Identified from factory documents and publications courtesy of Stephen Schnurr. -Database Manager
2013-05-12 - Updated through online information from Jeff Scofield. -Database Manager
2013-05-13 - Updated through online information from Jeff Scofield. -- In 1993, the parish merged with Trinity, St. Peter's and Sacred Heart parishes to form St. Martin de Porres Parish; the St. Mary facility was closed and, after the murals were removed, the 1908 building was demolished in 1997. -Database Manager
2022-04-25 - Research has revealed that this church was originally known as St. Mary's of Czestochowa. It is still open but the name has been changed to Corpus Christi. This is not to be confused with St. Mary's German RC Church 414 Olive St. (the one with the murals).
The following information is from the Polish American Liturgical Center
"St. Mary Czestochowa was a Polish parish founded in 1893. As with many other ethnic parishes, this parish was an outgrowth of the rise of heavy industry in the area and the influx of immigrants to work in the mills. Enough Poles had moved into McKeesport by 1893 to support a parish. For the first few years of the parish, Masses were celebrated in a rented hall. In 1895 work began on a combined church and school, located on Versailles Avenue, which was dedicated on July 11, 1895.
This church served for two decades, but as the size of the congregation grew, it became necessary to build a new church. In 1917, construction of a new church began. However, due to rising costs and the war, work stopped after the ground was excavated and the basement was completed. The basement was roofed over and converted to a church. The first Mass in the new church-basement was celebrated on August 25, 1918. While the parish planned to complete the church building after the war, various economic problems involving the congregation prevented this from happening for years.
In 1934, the parish decided to build a school and convent over the basement church. The new combined school and convent was dedicated on March 3, 1935. Not until 1951 was construction begun on a new church for the parish. Groundbreaking took place on March 16, 1952 and the completed church was dedicated on May 2, 1954.
By 2010, the congregation of the parish had dwindled to about 550 families. Even with the addition of about 450 families from St. Pius V Parish after their church closed due to storm damage in February of 2010, the parish was not large enough to remain independent. On November 14, 2010, St. Mary Czestochowa Parish merged with St. Martin de Porres Parish and St. Pius V Parish (although the church officially closed earlier, the parish was not suppressed) to form the new Corpus Christi Parish. Only St. Mary Czestochowa Parish remained open after the merger and was renamed Corpus Christi." -Andrew Scanlon
2022-08-06 - Pictures show organ is still there. Condition unknown. -Andrew Scanlon
Stoplist
Source: Received online from Jeff Scofield May 12, 2013
GREAT Prinzipal 8, Bordun 8, Erzähler 8, Oktav 4, Mixture IV
PEDAL Subbasse 16, Prinzipal 8, Quintade 16, Bordun 8, Rohrflöte 8, Oktav 4
SWELL Rohrflöte 8, Viola Pomposa 8, Viola Celeste 8, Nachthorn 4, Blockflöte 2, Tremulant, Clarion 4, Trompette 8
GREAT to GREAT 16, GREAT to GREAT 4, SWELL to SWELL 16, SWELL to SWELL 4, SWELL to SWELL
Documents
Other Links
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