This being the longest of our road trips so far, we headed south and east towards home via Highway 157 and Highway 31. Coming into Cullman, the most noticeable feature of the skyline was two tall and narrow church spires, so we agreed on one more stop and followed the spires to the front of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, a beautiful sandstone building described in its “Brief History” as “a rather late example of the German Revival of the Romanesque style.” Knowing that our own church is open for prayer during the week, we decided to see if this one was, too, and were glad we did.
Sacred Heart was established in 1877, but this sandstone building was dedicated in 1916. Interesting story about its classic stained-glass windows: Although designed by a studio in Columbus, Ohio, in 1914, most of them were built in Munich. World War I broke out in Europe before the finished windows could be shipped to Cullman, so they were buried in Munich to protect them and shipped after the war in 1920.
Ginny is definitely the most musically inclined of our trio, so after we knelt a few minutes in the sanctuary—no doubt all of us praying for an end to this pandemic—Ginny hurried to the tower stairs so she could check out the choir loft. Of course, TOR and I followed her up all three flights of carpeted stairs. The panorama of the entire sanctuary from there was worth the climb, especially the closer view of numerous silver pipes lining the back wall—one of the largest pipe organs in north Alabama (built in 1921 and at Sacred Heart since 1959).
After spending several minutes jockeying for a triple selfie without flipping backwards over the choir loft railing, we trooped back downstairs and really did head for home, having taken in all the experiences we could handle for one day.
ROAD TRIPS! 