Hungarian Americans of Cleveland
Cleveland Press Articles
Mortgage Is Burned for Christmas at St. Elizabeth's
Plain Dealer, Dec. 24 1945
A mortgage representing the last remaining debt on the $300,000 St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church was burned in ceremonies yesterday which marked, according to Msgr. Floyd L. Begin, diocesan officials, "the end of one era and the beginning of a new one."
Addressing Msgr. Emory Tanos, pastor of St. Elizabeth's, and other clergy and guests attending a banquet in the parish hall, Msgr. Begin hailed the final payment of 25,000 on the Romanesque church built in 1910 as "as fine a Christmas gift to the Christ child that a pastor and his people could make."
The banquet followed celebration of solemn high mass at 11 a.m. in the church which is at E.90th Street and Buckeye Road S. Msgr. Tanos was celebrant of the mass, assisted by Rev. Edward Wolf and Rev. Juilius Viglas, deacon and subdeacon. The sermon was preached by Rev. Andrew Jacob, pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Detroit, a longtime friend of Msgr. Tanos.
The mortgage burning was a highlight in the history of the parish, which extends back 52 years to its founding by Msgr. Charles Boehm, Pioneer Hungarian missionary priest.
With the debt paid off on the church, it was announced that the parish would lay plans for construction in 1946 of a convent for the Daughter of the Divine redeemer who teach in the parish school. The church also will be renovated next year.
An Outstanding Parish
"Under Msgr. Tanos" direction," said Msgr. Begin, "St. Elizabeth's has become one of the outstanding parishes in the country and its people one of the most admirable in their zeal to co-operate with their pastor."
Msgr. Tanos, who took charge of the parish in 1927, told the audience that the parish owed an "unpayable debt" to sisters of the Ursuline order, who conducted the school from its founding until recent months, when the Daughters of the Divine Redeemer, who live at St. Edward's Convent, Woodland Avenue S. E. and E. 69th Street, replaced them. This community of 11 sisters took charge of the school with an enrollment of 500 pupils last September.
