PART OF HISTORY

St. Patrick Church seeks a long-lost photo of interior of first building

In an age when we not only can take a photo instantaneously, but also can send it around the world via the Internet, we have almost come to take pictures for granted.

We sometimes spend more time than we care to think about in deleting photos from our phones and computers.

Gone are the days when we took a roll of film to be developed and were excited if it came back in a week.

As word of St. Patrick parish’s 100th anniversary (May 24, 2011) has begun to circulate, it is not uncommon for us to get an envelope or small package in the mail with some photos someone wants to give us about our church, parish, school or neighborhood.

Believe me, these priceless pictures have helped build the momentum and excitement about our centennial.

But, one picture has eluded us so far.

The current Gothic structure that is St. Patrick Church is actually the second church building in parish history.

The first church, which was much smaller and stood nearer to Oak Hill Avenue, was of a Spanish mission design. The church has one very blurry picture of the inside of the first church.

When we began researching for our centennial, many felt that finding a clear picture of the first church (which stood from 1911-1924) would not be that difficult. Well, were we wrong!

Countless leads and phone calls have turned up absolutely nothing. We made an appeal in The Vindicator and sought help from the 2,800 folks who get our parish newsletter four times a year in 47 of the 50 states.

Parish historian Bill Crawford has been on the phone to people in Cincinnati, Columbus, Florida, Cleveland and Minnesota.

In addition, numerous visits to the Cleveland Historical Society and the Arms Museum and dozens of conversations with people “who may know someone who must have pictures” have turned up nothing.

Two weeks ago, invoking the powers in the heavens, Bill and I made a pilgrimage to Holy Cross Cemetery near Cleveland to the grave site of the Rev. Charles Martin, who was the first pastor of St. Patrick.

At the grave, Bill shared some historical tidbits about our first pastor:

He was the first priest ordained from his parish, St. Colman’s in Cleveland, in 1900.

He spent from 1911 to 1922 as pastor of St. Patrick.

The first church, rectory and 22-room school were built during his tenure.

Father Martin was an author and theologian. One of his books, “Catholic Religion,” sold more than 200,000 copies.

Father Martin was a priest for 62 years, becoming a monsignor in 1948. He died in 1962.

As we prepared to leave his grave site, in prayer we asked good Father Martin to intercede for us and the parish and ask God to give us some good leads.

Although the clock in heaven is timeless, we did mention to Father Martin that we have somewhat of a deadline for our anniversary.

The Rev. Edward P. Noga is pastor of St. Patrick Church in Youngstown.