This week I am commenting on my 5 favorite things about old churches. I went up to Quincy, Illinois and went to Mass at St. Francis Solanus. It is a very old church. My grandma belonged to this church and I spent many an Easter Sunday sitting on the stairs to the choir loft. But, here are my 5 favorites.
1. The kneelers are hand carved and weigh a ton. But, they are solid. Surprisingly, for how heavy they are, I have rarely every heard them fall.
2. The stained glass windows that have beautiful pictures and designs.
3. The altars are hand carved. Those statues are life-sized. That altar is huge and magnificent.
4. St. Francis has so many statues. They line the pillars up and down the church. They decorate the altar. To me they are a pictorial catechism.
5. These things never appear on modern pews. I am amazed that they stay on these. No one would ever need to use them anymore. But, I remember seeing them used when I was a child.
I remember playing with them. Do you know what they are?
I suspect that most of the people in the pews don't know why these little knobs are on the back of the pew.
They were holders for men's hats, when men wore hats, but never in church.