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St. Francis De Sales Church
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| Location: | Cincinnati, OH |
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| Built: | 1877 |
| Architect: | Himpler, Francis G. |
| Architectural style: | Gothic Revival |
| Governing body: | Private |
| Part of: | St. Francis De Sales Church Historic District (#74001512 [1]) |
| Added to NRHP: | March 1, 1974 |
Saint Francis De Sales Catholic Church is located at 2900 Woodburn Avenue in the East Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The Church is a contributing property to the Madison and Woodburn Historic District.
The congregation was organized in 1849. The original Church was dedicated on November 3, 1850. The Parish patron is Saint Francis de Sales. The cornerstone was laid June 30, 1878. The edifice was dedicated December 20, 1879. The interior contains one of the finest altars in the United States, costing $16,000.[1] The Parent Parishes were Old St. Mary's Church and St. Paul Church (Over the Rhine). The original congregation was mostly German.
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The main altar at St Francis de Sales was consecrated by Archbishop W. H. Elder on April 27, 1887. It was a gift of Joseph and Agnes Kleine and was sculpted by Fred and Henry Schroeder of Cincinnati, Ohio from designs by A. Kloster of New York. The altar of pure white Rutland marble and the white marble floor cost $20,000 at the time. The altar’s onyx pillars and delicate Gothic spires are flanked by statues of St. Joseph and St. Agnes in honor of the donor’s patron saints.
The church is home to Big Joe, the largest swinging bell ever cast in the United States. It was cast by the E.W. VanDuzen Company (formerly Buckeye Bell Foundry) on October 30, 1895 at 2nd Street & Broadway in Cincinnati, Ohio. The bell is 9 feet in diameter and over 7 feet tall and weighs 35,000 lbs with a 640 lb clapper. It gets its name from Joseph T. Buddeke, a parishioner who was the largest donor to the bell project. When "Big Joe" first rung on a cold winter day in January 1896, witnesses reported the E-flat peal could be heard 15 miles away and rattled nearby buildings, breaking glass and loosening stone & mortar. After that it was decided to immobilize the bell and for more than a century now "Big Joe" has relied on a foot hammer striking its rim.
This is an active Parish.
