CINCINNATI — Over the past 150 years, the Mount Adams Stairs have become an important part of Easter celebrations for thousands of Roman Catholics and other Christians in greater Cincinnati and beyond.
What do you want to know
- Praying the Holy Cross-Immaculata Parish Steps has become an Easter tradition in Cincinnati
- Tens of thousands of people spend part of Good Friday climbing the 94 steps to Mount Adams Church
- For believers, Good Friday traditionally consists of fasting, penance and prayer.
- The tradition is over 150 years old
Every year on Good Friday, 10,000 to 12,000 religious pilgrims converge on Rue Saint-Grégoire to pray the 94 steps leading to Holy Cross-Immaculata parish. There are also two sets of longer stairs, but the shorter version is the most popular.
Good Friday is a holy day that falls on the Friday before Easter Sunday. On Good Friday, Christians around the world commemorate the doctrinal belief in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The day traditionally consists of fasting, penance and prayer.
(Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati)
Unique to Cincinnati, the practice of climbing the steps developed in the mid-19th century around the time the church was built atop the hill.
“It really is a beautiful event and a very personal day for so many people,” said ward member Jim Steiner.
Steiner has participated in events in one way or another over the past two decades. He is there every year, helping to organize the events that take place throughout the day, as well as the day before, to prepare the church for the influx.
It’s not something he would have imagined when he moved to the neighborhood in 1999.
Although a Roman Catholic, he previously thought of himself as a “C and E’er” or someone who only went to mass at Christmas and Easter. But that changed when he moved to the area known as “top of the hill”.
Living two blocks from the Church of the Immaculate, Steiner saw the church and its distinctive steeple and stained-glass rose window “every morning when I rose and every evening when I went to bed.”
“I thought, ‘I better go and check it out’ and I walked into the place and immediately had this unexplained, inexplicable feeling,” he added. “It was just good.”
Climbers arrive as early as 11 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday. At midnight, a priest will be the first to ascend the steps, reciting a prayer and blessing the staircase along the way.
Depending on the time of day, lines can get quite long — “around the block, at least,” Steiner said. But neither the queue nor the wait seem to discourage the devotees.
The last time Steiner participated, he arrived “very, very early,” while it was still dark and cold. It was “spitting snow” during the whole hour-long process.
“I walked up the steps and it got very quiet, very quiet and I just started thinking about things that had happened in my life, things that had happened to me recently,” he said. he declares.
There was “no response” received as he ascended, Steiner added, but when he got to the top of the steps, something happened.
“I just felt cleansed and lucid,” he said. “I just felt good.”
Steiner doesn’t believe his experience was unique; he also doesn’t think it’s necessarily the norm.
“People have their own experiences, and that’s the point,” Steiner said. “It’s something very personal.”
Now 83, Steiner doesn’t climb the stairs as often as he used to. Beyond “just getting older,” Steiner has had to stay away for the past two years due to COVID-19.
If he manages to find free time later in the day, he will participate. His schedule is to work from around 4 am to noon.
“I would like to do the steps in the afternoon,” he said. “If my body allows me, I will.”
“Highest hill in town”
To understand the history of the event, go back to 1848, when then-Bishop John Baptist Purcell purchased the land in Mount Adams that would become the site of Immaculata Church.
Partly due to financial constraints, construction did not begin for several years.
A historic photo of Catholics praying on the steps of Mount Adams. (Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati)
Legend has it that while returning from Rome in 1854, Purcell’s ship was caught in a violent storm. He allegedly prayed to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and promised to build a church on the “highest hill in the city if he survived the journey”, according to the Reverend David Endres, a priest and church historian in the archdiocese. from Cincinnati.
In 1859, Purcell, who had become archbishop, kept his promise. On August 21 of that year, Purcell laid the foundation stone of the Immaculata Church, named after Mary as the Immaculate Conception.
“In terms of spiritual development, the church started with what we might call special prayer and ended with answered prayer,” Endres said.
The construction site became a popular meeting place for Catholics and the curious who wanted to watch the construction.
During the construction of the church, they erected a large wooden cross on the ground. The Archbishop asked Catholics in the city to pray for the success of the enterprise. Many prayed there, carrying a muddy path from the urban center of the city up the steep hill.
Partly for security reasons, the church has built a set of wooden steps to help visitors reach the site. Concrete steps were first installed in 1911.
Soon the steps themselves became a means of devotion, offering “the invitation to pause and recite a ‘Hail Mary’ on each of the steps and an ‘Our Father’ on each landing,” according to Endres .
Thanks to the prayers and tithes of the city’s Catholics, construction of the church was completed in 1860, but the tradition of “praying the steps” continued.
No one seems to know for sure why it developed. But every year, thousands of people from all 50 states, and even international visitors of all faiths, make the pilgrimage to Cincinnati to participate.
pray step by step
In modern times, visitors to the steps can choose to start from one of three locations: Upper Steps, Middle Steps, or Lower Steps.
Besides the St. Gregory Street steps just below the church entrance, there are a series of intermediate steps, about 200 of them, that start on Columbia Parkway.
The lower steps begin on Riverside Drive, formerly Eastern Avenue, across from the Montgomery Inn Boathouse. The staircase was repaired in 2009 and now features wider steps, pedestrian scale lighting, and new landscaping and signage.
No set is more spiritual than another, Steiner said. However, some may take a bit longer to scale, up to two hours.
Praying the steps is a tradition passed down from generation to generation. (Photo courtesy of Jim Steiner)
Tradition is an important part of being Catholic, Endres said. But many of these traditions have evolved based on people’s experiences, personal needs, and changes in society.
Praying the steps is a good example.
“Even though this is a devotional, which is literally over 150 years old, it doesn’t always look the same over time,” Endres said. “Today you see families, youth groups, even non-Catholics participating, but they are living it out of their sense of spiritual need and spiritual identity.”
Yet there are universal elements.
Endres mentioned the marking of Jesus’ death, something Christians everywhere revere. There are aspects of pilgrimage that are part of it – “the idea of taking a journey, of moving in a separate space in order to obtain spiritual benefit”.
“There are certainly universal and transnational aspects to this, but there is also the very particular aspect of what has developed in Cincinnati,” he said. “Some families have passed the tradition on from generation to generation – and I expect it to continue for decades, if not centuries, to come.”
Endres remembers corresponding with someone in Iowa who knew Cincinnati in part because of this religious tradition.
“It became something that a lot of people recognized as unique to Cincinnati and a mark of local interest,” he said.
Full day of worship and events
While much of the focus is on step prayer, it’s only part of a weekend full of religious events at the church.
“Each year, our parish is delighted to open its doors to the thousands of pilgrims who visit it,” said Amy Obermeyer, a parish representative. “Some people think we are a church that is only open on Good Friday. In fact, we are a vibrant parish, with over 250 families from Ohio and Kentucky who are active in our many spiritual and social activities. throughout the year.
After Mass for the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday at 7 p.m., Immaculata will remain open all night and for a full 24 hours on Good Friday.
The blessing of the steps of rue Saint-Grégoire begins at midnight. Votive candles are available inside the church so that participants can use them for prayer intentions. Visitors can also write a prayer request in the intention book.
For part of the day, priests will offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation inside the church and outside the church when weather permits.
There are two Good Friday services scheduled, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Services include the reading of the Passion narrative, the reception of Holy Communion and the Veneration of the Cross.
Parishioners of Sainte-Croix-Immaculée will serve donuts and coffee from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., or while supplies last. The parish’s traditional Good Friday fish fries will not take place this year due to supply chain issues, the parish said.
The parish has recommended those wishing to picnic to consider purchasing lunch from a nearby Mount Adams business.
For more information, visit www.hciparish.org.
