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Floor Plan of Assumption Church
1. Main Entrance to Upper Church
2. Side Entrances to Lower Church
3. Side Entrance to Upper Church
4. Vestibule
5. Baptistry
6. Baptismal Font
7. Stairway to Choir Loft
8. Stairway to Lower Church
9. Visitor’s Lavatory
10. Angel Holy Water Fonts
11. Confessionals
12. Scagliola Pillars
13. Window of Christ in the Temple
14. Window of the “Flight into Egypt”
15. Window of the Presentation
16. Window of the Adoration of the Magi
17. Window of the Nativity
18. Window of the Annunciation
19. Window of the Holy Family
20. Window of the Agony in the Garden
21. Widow of the Sacred Heart
22. Window of Our Lady of the Rosary
23. Window of the Coronation of Our Lady
24. Window of the Assumption
25. Pulpit
26. Altar Railing
27. Chapel of St. Francis
28. Chapel of the Sacred Heart
29. Main Altar of Sacrifice
30. High Altar Group and Tabernacle
30. A. & B. Sanctuary Lamps
31. President’s Chair
32. Sanctuary Pulpit
33. Oaken Carved Sedilia
34. Paschal Candle
35. Choir Stalls
36. Window of the Immaculate Conception
37. Window of Madonna, St. Anthony and St. Bernadine
38. Window of St. Clare
39. Window of St. Francis, Clare, Elizabeth and Louis
40. Window of St. Francis and the Crucified Christ
41. Window of the Madonna and Saints Bonaventure and Louis
42. Window of the Madonna and St. Francis with firstFranciscan Martyrs
43. Window of the Sistine Madonna and Franciscan Saints
44. Work Sacristy
Assumption Church
Mission Advancement Office
812 North Salina Street
Syracuse, NY 13208
(315) 422-4833 x325
missionadvancement@assisicenter.org
www.AssumptionChurchSyracuse.org
Fr. Brad Milunski, OFM Conv., Rector
Fr. Michael Taylor, OFM Conv., Associate Rector
Parish Office Hours
Monday - Friday: 9:00 a.m - 4:30 p.m.
Mass Schedule
Monday - Friday: 7:00 a.m. & 12:10 p.m.
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Main Sacristy
Vesting Case
Chapel of the Blessed Virgin
Chapel of St. Anthony
Entrance to Friary
Stations of the Cross
Saturday: 8:00 a.m.
Sunday Vigil (Sat): 4:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:30 a.m.
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Saturday: 3:00 - 3:45 p.m.
Tours
Guided Tours -call for an appointment
A Tour Guide for
The Franciscan Church of the Assumption
Beginnings
Baptistry
• The Baptistry was installed around 1912. Entrance is made through a pair of bronze gates. Stenciled on
the ceiling are fish - a symbol dating back to the First Century - and anchors symbolizing faith.
• Central to the room is the bronze font which sits on a marble pedestal. The font has a pivoting domed
cover adorned with an exquisite bronze statue of St. John the Baptist baptizing Christ.
• The basin located beneath the stained glass window is the Sacrarium. Its purpose is to dispose of water used for sacramental purposes, by returning it directly to the earth. For this reason, it is connected by a pipe directly to the ground.
• A plaque below the window recognizes the donor, Frau Theresa Sellinger.
• Bishop Hughes of New York granted permission for the building of a German church in November 1843.
• A wood frame church that seated 400 was built on the site of a vineyard located on North Salina St between
Catawba and Isabella Streets (named after varieties of grapes). First Mass was held on Easter 1845, and Father
Adelbert Inama was pastor.
• Transepts were added in 1851 that gave the church the look of a cross and seating capacity of 600.
• The Conventual Franciscan Friars took possession of the parish on March 20, 1859 and are here to this day.
• Blessed Mother Marianne Cope was invested (1862) and professed (1863) in the original Assumption
Church and taught at the Assumption School.
Assumption Becomes a Mega Church
These statistics give a concept of the size of the early parish:
Choir Loft
Organ and Choir Loft
Apostles’ heads are three
times the human size
• October 1868 – 700 Confirmed
• October 1872 - 528 Confirmed
• April 1875 – 160 received First Communion
• April 1876 - 123 received First Communion
• April 1891 - 198 children received First Communion
• June 17, 1905 - Next to the Cathedral, Assumption is considered the leading church of
the Diocese, largest in the New York State with a congregation of 10,000 and 12,000.
All colored photos by: Jennifer Huntley
• The loft is one of the highest in the area, up 48
steps from the vestibule. The choir area can seat
approximately 80 vocalists, brass and tympani.
• Present organ has its origins in 1898 when
Francis Baumer willed the church upon his
death $1,000 for a new organ. The new
organ was made by the Hutchings Organ
Company of Boston.
Singing Boys
• The high altar you are looking at is the third high
altar of the parish. It was installed in 1913.
• Relics of St. James the Less and St. Anthony of
Padua were placed in the altar.
• Architect Horatio White who also designed the Armory and the Gridley Building.
• The design of Assumption is basically Romanesque with Baroque interior overtones.
• Dimensions: Overall length 184 feet. Width 75 feet. Interior length 110 feet. Interior width 70 feet. Sanctuary
depth 49 feet and width 33 feet.
Side Altar
Side Altar
Stencils
• Stencils found on the walls of the Sanctuary between each of the windows are copies of stencils found in the Vatican Library.
Sanctuary Windows (from left to right) • Window of the Immaculate Conception
• Window with Madonna, St. Anthony and St. Bernadine
• Window of St. Clare
• Window of Saints Francis, Clare, Elizabeth and Louis
• Window of St. Francis and the Crucified Christ
• Window of the Madonna and Saints Bonaventure and Louis
• Window of the Madonna and St. Francis with first Franciscan Martyrs
• Window of Sistine Madonna and Franciscan Saints
The Assumption Mural
Glorification of the Savior
• The superstructure of the church is supported by the original twelve pillars, which are covered
with scagliola plaster. The columns are topped with cast Corinthian capitals which in turn
support the Roman arches and the upper gallery of the church.
• The galleries above contained pews originally that were literally filled with parishioners for Masses. The
ringing of the sanctuary bells would signal them when the bread and wine were being consecrated.
• Cornerstone laid June 11, 1865. Church dedication May 5, 1867. (Note: the two bell towers were not
added at this point.)
Assumption Bell Ringers
• The church and complex are heated by three gigantic boilers, two of which date back to 1925. In 1981 the heating system was changed
from oil to natural gas.
Busts
Lady of Lourdes Grotto
• The Grotto was a gift from Francis Baumer who purchased all of the stones from Lourdes and had them set in place. It contains a running
water font that was originally blessed with water from the Lourdes site.
• A statue of the Pieta is displayed in the rear of the church. It was a gift from the Drescher Family.
Friary
Stations of the Cross
• The largest of the bells cracked in 1909 during
the funeral of Assumption Pastor Louis Miller and
was later removed piece by piece.
• Built in 1872.
• 175 feet high. The tallest spires in Central New
York at the time.
• Copper-topped originally.
• Seven persons were needed to pull the ropes to
ring the church’s bells. In the 1940s an electrical system was installed, using more than a ton
of machinery, which began tolling the bells.
Tower Installation
• Bells arrived 1872. Manufactured in Troy, N.Y. South
tower one weighing 6,567 pounds dedicated to Mary,
another 1,371 pound bell dedicated to St. Anthony. North
tower, one bell 4,474 pounds dedicated to St. Joseph, a
second, 2,368 pounds dedicated to St. Francis and a third
500 pounds for tolling funerals.
Front Vestibule
•The Friary, adjacent to the church, was originally built in 1859 soon after the Franciscans arrived.
• Francis Baumer presented the beautiful Stations of the Cross
to the parish in 1888. They were hand crafted in Munich at
the astounding cost (at that time) of $1,700.
Mural of Assumption
Angels
•In the early 1900s the Friary had in its possession an art gallery that lined the corridor on the first floor and featured some of the choicest oil paintings of the 200 hundred-plus Popes, many of them imported from the leading
galleries in Rome where they had originally hung, .
•Valuable steel engravings of the 107 Superior Generals of the Franciscan Order hung on the second floor.
• A parishioner took detailed photos of every section of the church and counted 537 angels. He did a second count
and came up with the same number.
Parish Center
Pulpit
• The pulpit, imported from Italy, is made of fine Carrara marble. It was installed about 1912. The pulpit features
five panels, each of which depicts an event in the life of St. Francis with more than 100 figures appearing. These
panels are copies of bas relief carvings found on the pulpit in the Franciscan Church of Santa Croce in Florence,
Italy where Michelangelo and Dante are entombed.
Communion Rail
• Entering through the large bronze doors of the main entrance, you are in the vestibule.
Over the bronze doors are four stained glass windows each depicting one of the archangels –
Michael, Uriel, Gabriel and Raphael. The three chandeliers were given to Assumption
Church by the Cathedral in 1991. They were part of the original lighting of the Cathedral.
The two marble statues of angels holding basins for holy water date to 1911.
Lunettes
• This communion rail is more than 80 feet in length.
• There are 10 panels consisting of kneeling angels with outstretched wings holding shields on which are
carved a Eucharistic symbol.
• The gates that used to be part of the communion rail leading to the main altar and the side altars of St.
Francis and St. Anthony are now located in the vestibule.
•Over the three entrance ways into the church are half moon spaces. The one in the middle is the Franciscan coat of arms. The Franciscan coat of arms which has its origin around the middle of the fifteenth
century pictures two arms crossed against the background of a simple cross. The right unclothed arm
of Christ passes over the left arm of Francis, which is clothed in a sleeve. Both hands bear the wound
mark of a nail. The other doors have Della Robbia lunettes over them.
The four marble side altars were installed during the 1911 renovation.
• Chapel of St. Francis
• Chapel of Our Lady of Grace – the Nativity
• Chapel of the Sacred Heart • Chapel of St. Anthony
Side Altars
Pulpit
Lady of Lourdes Grotto
• The sanctuary ceiling was done by Arthur Thomas of Pelham, who was recognized as the best ecclesiastical artist in the country at the time. The
painting shows 180 figures over a space of 2,000 square feet. Mr. Thomas took five months to do the work, and it came to Syracuse in 20 pieces.
• Situated between each arch are twelve spandrels depicting
twelve prophets of the Old Testament.
• Rising high above each prophet one can view mammoth castings
of eleven apostles and St. Paul who is included because of his immense missionary work. The figures are about three times human
size, but they appear to be of ordinary size seen from down below.
The Towers
• Two of the marble angels and the
marble tabernacle were
removed in 1955 and replaced with a bronze tabernacle. The two angels
are in the side entrance
off the parking lot.
Altar
• This is the first genuine reproduction of the famous Cantoria (Singing Boys) in nine panels and is below the Choir Loft. The original
was done by Luca Della Robbia for the Church of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy.
Scagliola Columns
•In 1969 the modern altar was added in keeping
with Vatican II’s changes (priests would face
the congregation in celebrating the Mass).
• A single panel of marble
under the altar table,
depicting the Last Supper,
was quarried and carved
at Pietrasanta at a cost
several thousand dollars.
• This mural under the Choir Loft was painted by Arthur Thomas who also did the Glorification of Christ mural. This painting depicts
Mary with St. Francis and St. Anthony.
The New Church
Baptistry
Singing Boys
• In 1935 the Organ was rebuilt by Buhl Organ Co.
of Utica after the fire.
• 50 years later Kerner and Merchant of East Syracuse did a partial rebuilding.
• The organ is composed of nearly 3,000 pipes ranging in size from over 16 feet to the size of a pencil.
It is estimated that full replacement costs today
would exceed $1,000,000.
• Glenn Armstrong has been organist here for 40 years.
Altar
Scagliola
Column
1934 Fire
•The Parish Center, located just south of the church, initially started out as the Salina Street school building.
Archimedes Russell, an apprentice under Horatio White and designer of the Courthouse, was the architect. The
structure was complete in Fall 1880.
Townsend Street School
• Built in 1890 as both a school and a convent for the sisters teaching in the school, it became the girls school and
the Salina Street School (now Parish Center) became the boys school. It is now St. Clare Garden Apartments.
Fire
• On Easter morning 1934 a fire in the parish center was spotted by a driver passing by at 2:30 a.m.
• 20 fire apparatus arrived on the scene.
• The fire spread to the Friary and then to the Church.
• Many in the building trades, carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers and roofers, unemployed due to The Great
Depression, gained considerable employment in the reconstruction project. One year later the buildings
were completely rebuilt.
1934 Fire