CINCINNATI — Praying the Steps at Holy Cross-Immaculata Church has become a Good Friday tradition for thousands of families and Christian believers. But for parishioners, the nearly 160-year-old tradition has become a yearly opportunity to showcase all that’s special about small, hilltop parish sitting atop Mount Adams.
Good Friday is a holy day that falls on the Friday before Easter Sunday. On that day, Christians around the world commemorate the doctrinal belief in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
For observers around the world, the day centers on fasting, penance and prayer. However, the unique Cincinnati practice of climbing the steps developed in the mid-19th century around the time of the construction of the limestone church.
Every Good Friday, 10,000 to 12,000 religious pilgrims from both sides of the Ohio River converge on St. Gregory Street to pray the 96 steps leading to Holy Cross-Immaculata. There are also two longer sets of stairs, but the shorter version is the most popular.
At the top of the hill, the church’s parishioners will be there waiting with a cup of coffee and invitation to go inside the church to pray.
“It’s a remarkable place all year, but it’s really special during Holy Week, especially during Good Friday,” said Donnie Capannari, 72, who grew up on Hatch Street in Mount Adams. He moved to Delhi Township years ago, but remained a Holy Cross-Immaculata parishioner.
Despite the commute time, he and his wife are still at the church most days, he said.
The oldest of 13 children, Capannari was first introduced to the tradition of praying the stairs from his grandmother when he was 5 years old.
“She took me to the steps and told me to ‘say a little prayer,’ and that’s what I did,” Capannari said.
The West Side resident has followed this grandmother’s advice every year he’s been able for the past 67 years. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati stopped the tradition for a time during the pandemic because of safety concerns of crowded stairways.
“It wasn’t easy,” he added. “You had to find your own way. I took a walk around the neighborhood and prayed.”
Capannari plans to be at Holy Cross-Immaculata at midnight for the traditional blessing of the stairway on St. Gregory Street. But some faithful, including a group of students from a local school, started as early as Thursday afternoon.
He’s going to stand side-by-side with his wife, Linda, on Friday. They’ve been doing the same thing every Good Friday since they started dating in Dec. 1979, he said.
“It’s a chance for contemplation,” he said of Praying the Steps. “It’s a time to meditate about what everything is all about.”
Attracting the faithful from Mount Adams and beyond
Ann Carroll grew up in Mount Adams, as did her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, who settled there not long after arriving from Ireland, she said.
In its early days, Immaculata was a German language church and grade school for the German and Irish working-class families living on The Hill. Holy Cross Church, which opened two blocks away in 1871, then served the Irish as an English language church.
Ann and her husband, Walt, lived in Mount Adams for a time as well before moving about 30 minutes away to raise their children. The couple got married at the church in 1970 before Immaculata had merged with Holy Cross.
“She and the church go back a long way,” Walt said.
Every year, Holy Cross-Immaculata opens at 7 p.m. on the Thursday before Easter, for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. It then remains open through the end of Good Friday. Once a person completes their climb, they often go inside the church to pray, Walt said. There’ll be a priest to listen to confessions.
The Carrolls drew the 2 to 4 a.m. shift as church greeters on Friday. Walt plans to Pray the Steps as some point during the day.
“It phases down a bit for a time around 3 a.m., from what I’ve seen. But even in the rain, you’ll look out and see that six or seven people climbing up those steps,” Walt said. “It’s really amazing.”
Like the Carrolls, Elaine Goldschmidt doesn’t live in Mount Adams. Only 43% of the parish’s congregants live in the picturesque Cincinnati neighborhood.
Goldschmidt, a Cincinnati native, moved away from the area for several years. She fondly recalled seeing the church’s prodigious steeple at the Cut-in-the-Hill in Northern Kentucky every time she’d come back to visit her family.
After moving back, she was looking for Catholic churches and Holy Cross-Immaculata “just felt right,” she said.
“The nature of the parish and the people drew me in,” she said. “I never wanted to leave.”
Despite dealing with heavy rain, Goldschmidt and her husband drove back from North Carolina on Wednesday night to ensure they wouldn’t miss the Good Friday activities.
Each year, thousands of people from all 50 states, and even international visitors, make a pilgrimage to the sacred site, per parish data. Goldschmidt met someone who makes the trip from Louisville every year to Pray the Steps and attend one of the church’s two Good Friday services.
“We know a couple others who are traveling to be here on Friday who decided not to leave until Thursday because of the weather. But my husband and I are working from midnight to 2 a.m. on Friday welcoming guests to the church,” Goldschmidt said.
A time to socialize and reflect
Time on the steps and in church on Good Friday is a “quiet, prayerful time,” but afterwards things become a bit more social, said Ann Cristo. For instance, the church has a fish fry from 3 to 7 p.m. planned for Friday. The parish also encourages guests to go out afterward and support Mount Adams businesses.
Cristo, 23, called Good Friday at the church, an “amazing experience.” She noted her love of listening to people share their stories and talking about their religious experience.
While Holy Cross-Immaculata is a Roman Catholic church, people from a variety of religions make a pilgrimage there every year, according to a parish spokesperson.
“Knowing that people from all backgrounds can find comfort and peace in our church is inspiring and encourages us to keep the tradition alive,” Cristo said.
Ava Koren first Prayed the Steps as a child in the 1960s. Back then, the thing stood out the most to her was the weather.
“Without fail, it always rained,” Koren said with a soft chuckle.
As of Thursday, the Spectrum News weather team had good news for those headed to Mount Adams: No rain in Friday’s forecast.
On a nice day, the line up the stairs can be hours-long, Koren said. A few years ago, she took advantage of the weather by taking the long route. It starts near Adams Landing.
“Once I reached the top, I looked back and there was a line all the way down to the very bottom of the hill,” she said.
Koren and her husband, Eric, became even more involved in the “small but mighty” parish after moving to Mount Adams. They volunteer for the church festival every summer and are working to the fish fry after their shift as greeters.
Those who attend Holy Cross-Immaculata often joke that the church is open other days than Good Friday, Koren said. But she stressed there’s nothing bigger than Holy Week, the seven-day period between Palm Sunday leading up to Easter.
While there are some social elements, it’s important to remember it’s still Good Friday, Koren said. She expects the packed climb to the top of Mount Adams to be an experience of “prayerfulness and reflection.”
“We’re all here for the same reason. We are all very devoted,” she added.