Holy Rosary Catholic Church was erected on Georgia Road in Gate City in 1888. It is a simple wooden church, but with architectural distinction. It was built by the Irish and Belgian immigrants who had come to work at the Alabama Rolling Mill established in the neighborhood in 1887. Alexander Walker, a cabinetmaker, made the altar and reredos. The picture below depicts it along with the newer free-standing altar normally used for the eucharist since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), and the simple ambo (or lectern) used for the scripture and homily.
Our Lady of the Holy Rosary is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and thus a statue of her appears in the top tier of the reredos over the altar and tabernacle. Below her statue is a crucifix and below that is the gold door of the tabernacle. From the opening of the church until the 1960s, the priest would have celebrated mass on the altar that is attached to the reredos and tabernacle. That is, he joined the people in facing God together and thus had his back to the people and they could not see exactly what he was doing. After consecrating the bread, however, he elevated it over his head so that it everyone could see the Blessed Sacrament.
Since the 1960s, it has been common to celebrate facing the people to represent the idea that the priest and people are together gathered around God’s table and to counter the idea that priest was offering the sacrifice at the altar and the people were not part of this sacrifice, but just watching and doing their own devotions. This is the reason for the freestanding altar with the two candlesticks facing the people. On occassion, however, the traditional direction (known as ad orientem, Latin for to the east) is observed, as is seen in the post below from August 22, 2015.
Note the freestanding altar here is a table, not the closed structure in the later photograph above.
Traditional churches are often thought of as composed of at least two spaces, and these are clearly visible in the first photo above. The arch, like the arch at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, separates the nave (where the people sit) from the sanctuary or chancel (where the altar is located). At Holy Rosary, the separate structure of the sanctuary is clearly visible on the exterior of the rear of the church.
Holy Rosary is the oldest Catholic church building in Birmingham, and perhaps the second oldest wooden church building in Birmingham (after the former Five Mile Presbyterian Church built in 1880.
Click here to return to the Cathedral of St. Paul.
This page is part of “Spaces for Worship: A Birmingham-Based Introduction,” a section of Magic City Religion, written by the editor and funded by Samford University’s Center for Worship and the Arts.
Magic City Religion 