The New Church

    A short time after arriving in Zanesville Father Leininger decided that a new church would be built. It was decided the new building would be cut into the existing hill, rather than sit atop it as the old building did. Accordingly several architects were approached. William Dunn, who designed the Cleveland Art Institute, submitted this drawing. It pictured a church which was a bold fusion of the Romanesque solidity of the central Middle Ages, the Byzantine splendor of St. Mark's in Venice, Italy, and the Renaissance splendor of St. Peter's in Rome.

    Work on the new church began in 1896 and the cornerstone was laid with great ceremony on July 10, 1898. The cost was $46,000. On August 27, 1899 the building was dedicated by Rev. Leo Haid, vicar apostolic of North Carolina. Rev. F.X. Specht delivered the homily in German. The new church fulfilled the promise of Father Leininger's vision. He had planned and arranged the design of the church, specified all the materials used and served as general contractor.

    But the church was not yet completed. It wasn't until 1919 when a large gift from the Knights of St. John facilitated the painting of the interior murals. They were designed by Bernard Melleria of Chicago. A newspaper of the time referred to the "bewildering, wonderful and gorgeous color combination." Above the altar were the mysteries of the Redemption: Christ in Gethsemane, the Adoration of the Sacred Heart and the Resurrection.

    In the four corners of the ceiling were the four Doctors of the Church: St. Augustine, Gregory the Great, Jerome and Ambrose. The windows were donated by Parish societies. The first altar was torn out in 1926 and replaced with a marble one.

    In the rear of the church, murals depicted Christ healing a sick man and blessing the children. The Stations of the Cross were a 1915 gift of Clara Emmert. Heavy wind damage years later forced the replacement of the rear window by the present Rose window. At one time a spring flowed in the basement around which was a grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. The interior of the church stayed this way until 1960 when Father Linus Dury directed a major innovation.

    The elaborate design of the tympanum, also commissioned by Father Leininger, is quite unique. The tympana of the great European cathedrals usually depicted the Last Judgment. But here we find an American note of hope: the introduction of Christianity into the New World. The work was designed and made by Herman Mueller, of the local Mosaic Tile Company. The Mosaic Tile Company went out of business in 1967.