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Immaculate Conception Catholic Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Celina, Ohio, United States. Founded later than many other Catholic parishes in the heavily Catholic region of western Ohio, it owns a complex of buildings constructed in the early 20th century that have been designated historic sites because of their architecture. Leading among them is its massive church, built in the Romanesque Revival style just 43 years after the first Catholic moved into the city: it has been called northwestern Ohio's grandest church building. ==Parish history== Catholics were active in southern Mercer County by the 1830s; St. John the Baptist parish in Maria Stein and St. Rose parish in St. Rose were established in 1837,〔Scranton, S.S. ''History of Mercer County, Ohio and Representative Citizens''. Chicago: Biographical, 1907.〕 and St. Henry parish in St. Henry and St. Joseph parish in St. Joe were also founded before 1840.〔 Despite the growing Catholic presence to the south, the county seat was strongly Protestant in its early history: when it was platted in 1834, the proprietors donated lots for the use of congregations of the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian faiths, and not a single Catholic was resident in the village for more than a quarter of a century. Beginning with Owen Gallagher in 1860, Catholics began to migrate into Celina,〔 and starting in 1864, Mass was celebrated biweekly in a factory owned by one of the members. At this time, no priest lived in Celina; the celebrant was typically Joseph Gregory Dwenger, then the pastor of Holy Rosary parish in nearby St. Marys.〔''Mercer County, Ohio History 1978.'' Celina: Mercer County Historical Society, 1978, 525.〕 A parish was formally erected in Celina in 1864 and dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.〔Fortin, Roger. ''(Faith and Action: A History of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati 1821-1996 )''. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2002, 401.〕 With the creation of the parish, more Catholics were attracted to Celina; the parish grew to the point that a church building was needed,〔 and the Archbishop of Cincinnati, John Baptist Purcell, came to Celina to lay the cornerstone on August 3, 1864.〔 Members subscribed to the building fund throughout that year and the following; it was completed in November 1865,〔 and Joseph Dwenger dedicated it on December 8, 1865.〔 This building was a brick structure, measuring approximately by ; it cost $7,000 to build.〔 However, the parish continued to grow, and a building fund for a new edifice was started in 1899. Construction of the replacement church building began in the following year, and it was dedicated in 1903 at a cost of $52,000.〔 In the early twentieth century, it was widely considered the finest church building in all of northwestern Ohio,〔 and decades later, its architecture still dominates all of downtown Celina.〔 Since the parish's earliest years, members of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood have provided pastoral care for the members; Dwenger was a member of this society, as were the other five priests who served there in its first decade. The first priest to live in Celina was Theopistus Wittmer, who arrived in 1876; the members acquired a small frame house to use as a rectory.〔 Soon after Wittmer's arrival, the parish constructed a building for their parochial school. The structure built for this school was two stories tall and measured approximately by ;〔 it replaced a frame building in which the school had started in 1871.〔Grieshop, Shelley. (IC school seeks help to stay afloat ), ''The Daily Standard'', 2010-03-24. Accessed 2011-01-05.〕 A convent was built in 1879 to house the first of the Sisters of the Precious Blood, who came in that year to teach at the parish school; it was replaced by a larger structure in 1949,〔 located northeast of the rest of the buildings related to the parish.〔 Today, Immaculate Conception continues to be an active parish in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. It is clustered with Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Montezuma and St. Theresa, Little Flower of Jesus parish in Rockford; all three churches are part of the St. Marys Deanery.〔(The Futures Project ), Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Accessed 2011-01-04.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Immaculate Conception Catholic Church (Celina, Ohio)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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