The Project makes its first stop in South Philadelphia! As you might have guessed by now, I am more a product of North / Northeast Philadelphia, so I am almost wholly unfamiliar with southern portions of the city. Really, it’s akin to the Louisiana Purchase—unexplored and dripping with potential. Who knows what kind of treasures I’ll find down here?
The first of those treasures is St. Monica. Outside, it maintains a beautiful stone façade flanked by two towers, the right one holding a clock face. Inside, it’s a plaster and paint wonderland. In terms of design, it somewhat mirrors St. Vincent de Paul in that it goes for a cruciform Italian-Renaissance design, complete with an intricate altar and ceiling murals. However, it’s significantly larger and significantly nicer than St. Vincent; its paintwork is much more ornate, and it actually has real stained glass windows. (Including one neat window that has a pictorial history of the parish!)
I also have to give bonus points for the organ, which has its pipes split into three sections: two traditional, lengthy vertical style sections connected by a crazy, geometric, artsy-shaped section in the middle. And unlike a lot of parishes, they actually use it. With all of the attention paid to the physical details of a church, it’s nice to see one that remembers to put the same effort into the sound. Go ahead, rattle those windows!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m not always a huge fan of paintwork, but I have to give this church some serious recognition.
Size Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Ornamentation Rating: 9 out of 10
Overall Design Rating: 8.5 out of 10 crosses
