September “Sights and Sounds” Attract Large Audience
An appreciative audience of more than 125 attended a performance by the St. John Paul II Schola Cantorum, following Explore Buffalo’s Sacred Sites tour of Blessed Trinity on September 16, 2022.
The Sights and Sounds of Blessed Trinity, Sept 16, 2022
Blessed Trinity Church will join Explore Buffalo’s free “Doors Open Houses of Worship Series” on Friday evening, September 16. Following a 6:30pm presentation on its history, art and architecture, enjoy a docent guided tour of one of Buffalo’s most amazing churches. At 7:30pm, experience the building’s splendid acoustic as the a cappella voices of the St. John Paul II Schola Cantorum sing Catholic choral masterpieces from the sixteenth through twenty-first centuries. Click HERE or call (716) 245-3032 for tour reservations; the 7:30pm concert is open to all. On the National Register of Historic Places, we are located at 317 Leroy Avenue. Our building is wheelchair accessible with off-street parking.
Sacred Sites Open House, Sat. July 23, 2022
Photo credit: Char Szabo-Perricelli
Blessed Trinity’s Sacred Sites Open House
Saturday, July 23, 2022
2:00-3:30 p.m.
Blessed Trinity Church joins the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Eleventh Annual Sacred Sites Open House. This year’s theme, Open Doors, celebrates the return to in-person programming and highlights the broad spectrum of historical periods, faith traditions, and styles of religious architecture found in communities throughout the Empire State. As a participating congregation, Blessed Trinity will showcase its Landmark building with a presentation on its architecture and parish history accompanied by a docent-led tour. Learn about this “made in America” replica of twelfth century Lombard-Romanesque architecture including: handmade bricks set in a style dating back to the Middle Ages, extensive use of terra cotta, fascinating medieval iconography, and display of more than 2,000 Christian symbols. Reservations are now open for this free event. Click HERE to register.
Blessed Trinity, University Presbyterian featured on 2021 Virtual Statewide Tour of Churches
New York Landmarks Conservancy
Virtual Statewide Tour of Churches
Thursday, August 19. 2021, 6 – 7 PM
You may have visited Blessed Trinity during one of the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Open House Weekends – an annual event held each May from 2010-19. After a pandemic cancellation in 2020, the Conservancy chose to restart with a virtual tour of 11 houses of worship in 6 different New York counties. Blessed Trinity and University Presbyterian Church, both located in Buffalo, were the only featured congregations from outside the Albany-NYC area.
Titled “Faith in the Empire State: Houses of Worship Across New York,” the hour-long ZOOM presentation visited sacred sites “funded and designed by residents of towns and cities from Long Island to the Great Lakes,” exploring contemporary uses as well as historical significance.
Today Blessed Trinity is home to a small, ethnically and racially diverse congregation. Founded in 1906, the parish originally served a rapidly growing community of mainly German and Irish immigrants. Under construction from 1923-28, the present Landmark church is adjacent to the original combination church and school built in 1907. Many local laborers and artisans were employed in its construction, using only materials manufactured or quarried in the United States. It is recognized as the purest replication of Twelfth Century Lombard-Romanesque architecture in the United States and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The structure’s unique features include unmolded handmade bricks set in a variety of patterns, extensive use of terra cotta, and an elaborate display of medieval iconography.
Founded in 1921 as a mission church to the University of Buffalo and the developing neighborhood around it, University Presbyterian Church continues its ministry with students, including an intentional Christian living program in the former manse. The church’s food pantry serves the needs of both students and others in the surrounding community. Before construction was even completed the original wood frame church was too small. To meet the needs of ministry and outreach programs, the new sanctuary wing, with classroom and assembly spaces in the basement, was completed in 1928.The education wing was added in 1956.The architecture is recognized as a distinctive local example of a Georgian Colonial Revival style church, with a Wren-Gibbs inspired portico, tower, and steeple. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The New York Landmarks Conservancy will present a virtual tour again in July 2022, with plans for resuming in-person visits to sacred sites across the state in 2023. Learn more about their Sacred Sites Open Houses by visiting https://nylandmarks.org/sacred-sites-open-house/
Watch Your Step
Our church is noted for its display of more than 2,000 symbols summarizing Christian beliefs, and many of them are under your feet! Twenty-four types of crosses can be found in 556 of our mosaic floor tiles. Another 158 tiles feature 24 additional symbols, including the signs of the zodiac. If you would like to help us maintain our Landmark house of prayer or help us to continue as an engaged parish community in the City of Buffalo, please click on our Donate link.
March 2021 – Interior Restoration Project Continues
Photo credit: Palma Zanghi
With repairs to the tile roof of the church – part of our grant project – completed, a project to repair damage to the church ceiling and interior artwork is underway. Following completion of the underlying plaster work, craftsmen from Bison Painting & Decorating Corp. are perched atop scaffolding, painstakingly restoring decorative stenciling and ceiling detail. A floor-level display created by master plasterer Josh of Mader Construction Co., Inc. helped parishioners to appreciate the process. For additional photos, visit our Facebook page. The work is scheduled to be completed by Holy Week.
Photo credit: Margaret Dick