Name of Church: St. Vincent de Paul Address: 621 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007 Phone number: (213) 749-8950 Mass times: Sunday, 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m. (Spanish), 10:30 a.m. (Spanish), noon, 1:30 p.m. (Spanish), 5 p.m. (Spanish). Weekdays, 7:30 a.m. (Spanish) & noon. No Saturday afternoon vigil Mass. Confessions: Saturdays, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. Names of priests: Fr. Ruben Restrepo-Salazar, pastor. School: Yes, grades K-8. Special parish groups: St. Vincent de Paul Society, Legion of Mary and other prayer groups, Bible studies Music: The Sunday 9 a.m. has a choir, organist at other Sunday Masses. Fellow parishioners: Mostly Latino. There is a church parking lot and a school lot for overflow parking; metered parking on the street. Fine. Cry room: No. Additional observations: St. Vincent de Paul is a beautiful historic parish in Los Angeles, located just south of downtown off the 110 freeway. Eighty-five years ago it was a wealthier, desirable community in which to live; today, it is a rougher, inner city community. St. Vincent’s was established as a parish in 1886. Its magnificent church was built 1923-25. Its architect was Albert Martin, well known in his time, who also designed St. Alphonsus Church in Fresno and St. Monica Church in Santa Monica (Bing Crosby’s church in “Going My Way”). St. Vincent’s was built in the Spanish baroque style with a mix of California architecture, and at a 45-degree angle at the intersection of Adams & Figueroa. It has an ornate exterior, including its bell tower, entryway and dome over the altar area. The interior has a stunning traditional altar, which is just as ornate, and high ceilings and arches. It has many beautiful statues and stained glass windows. In an effort to preserve its surroundings during a changing time, as well as recognize its historical significance, the city designated it a monument in 1971. Hollywood moviemakers have not missed its visual beauty; it has been the backdrop for many films. In the 1999 film “End of Days,” for example, Arnold Schwarzenegger used its interior for a riveting special effects battle with the devil. It’s also just a few minutes away from USC and the Los Angeles Coliseum.
READER COMMENTS
Posted Friday, January 20, 2012 9:34 AM By Janek Not one Mass in The Traditional Latin Rite of 1962?
Posted Friday, January 20, 2012 10:32 AM By pete You tantalize us when speaking of the interior. Would that you could have found one picture of the sanctuary!
Posted Friday, January 20, 2012 11:03 AM By rosaryfixer You bring back fond memories for me of attending Mass at St. Vincent’s on Saturdays, especially Holy Saturday when Lent ended at noon! Our aunt made this a special trip with lunch at Clifton’s cafeteria afterwards for we little ones. A few years ago I visited it again; I believe the tabernacle has been moved to a side chapel, but is visible. Wish more churches being built were in this same tradition!
Posted Friday, January 20, 2012 1:05 PM By Matthew Infamous Los Angeles oilman Edward Doheny paid for St. Vince’s. There is still a weekly Mass said on his behalf at the parish. The church is commonly known locally as “the church of the holy oil.”
Posted Friday, January 20, 2012 1:18 PM By Joe No Saturday evening vigil mass. That’s odd in this day when the Saturday night mass seems to be one of the most popular masses at many churches. Is there a reason for not offering a vigil mass on Saturdays?
Posted Saturday, January 21, 2012 10:01 PM By Maryanne Leonard What is the reason so many traditional Catholics (and I think of myself as one, but perhaps not on this subject) are annoyed by people going to Saturday vigil Masses? I mean apart from the fact that not all attendees dress in the traditional “Sunday-go-to-meetin'” duds it’s always so nice to see.
Posted Monday, January 23, 2012 7:34 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher Maryanne Leonard, It is probably because they know or feel that these persons are using that evening Mass so they can violate the Lord’s Day by doing other things. The Biblical justification is that in the days of Our Lord, a day was sundown to sunup. God bless, yours in Their Hearts, Kenneth M. Fisher
Posted Tuesday, January 24, 2012 4:39 PM By Janek I like your answer Kenneth, simple and to the point.
Posted Wednesday, January 25, 2012 11:50 AM By QuoTSCumque Not to fear, Joe! The Saturday “vigil Mass” might be up-and-coming now that the Neocatechumenal Way liturgy has its de facto approval, and is going into high gear worldwide. They do their “work” on Saturday evenings. Traditionally, a vigil Mass is the Mass of the day before a feast day, and does not take the place of the feast day itself; e.g., Christmas vigil Mass is the Mass of December 24th. But Midnight Mass is the first Mass of Christmas Day. Kenneth: in the times of Our Lord, a day was sundown to sundown. Not “sunup.”
Posted Thursday, January 26, 2012 5:09 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher QuoTSCumque, 11:50 AM, You are right, thanks for the correction. God bless, yours in Their Hearts, Kenneth M. Fisher
Posted Sunday, January 29, 2012 11:09 PM By QuoTSCumque Good eye, Ken! And you’re welcome. I’m sure you just slipped on that, but I was afraid others might be confused, is all. Regarding the church, I was most impressed with the obvious quality of construction details. St. Vincent de Paul was considered rather costly to build at the time, but by today’s standards, it would likely take about 10 times the funds to do it all over again. The materials they had at that time were higher quality, especially in the solid wood lumber. And there is a LOT of solid wood lumber inside. The altar area is utterly surrounded by superb hardwoods, crafted with consummate skill. I had the feeling that I was looking at work done by European masters, such as those who built the old wooden ships. For example, there is a door on the left side of the altar that opens to a hallway that runs from the nave area back to the sacristy. The door is over a foot THICK, and the strike edge has a curve built in, such that as the door swings closed, the clearance from the strike edge of the door to the jamb never varies by much, and is kept to about 1/8″ (one-eighth of an inch). When the door is open, you can see that the strike jamb is also curved with the same contour as the door’s. Astounding! There are rows of seats built into the walls on the left and right of the sanctuary, with Gothic ornamentation above each seat, where priests and bishops used to sit for solemn ceremonies. This was rather commonplace in traditional cathedrals worldwide (before Vatican II). I have heard that Mr. Doheny was in favor of this being at least an alternative Cathedral for Los Angeles, if not the principal one. Finally, the most important feature to me was the fact that the main altar is still intact, and that in about 20 minutes a small crew of men could move the Novus Ordo table out of the way and clear the sanctuary for use for a Canonized Traditional Latin Mass. We are all greatly indebted to Edward Doheny for having the foresight to build this treasure when it was p
Literally, Matthew is correct: the source of the funds was Edward Doheny. But more to the point, the initiator and moving force behind St Vincent was his wife, Carrie Estelle, the force behind almost all of the philanthropic projects of the Doheny fortune. Edward Lawrence, however, was the moving force behind the Episcopal church of St John, which is right across the street from St Vincent. St John is romanesque as opposed to St Vincent’s baroque, but is quite a beautiful building in its own right. Well worth a visit (if you can find it unlocked).
Mass times: Sunday, 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m. (Spanish), 10:30 a.m. (Spanish), noon, 1:30 p.m. (Spanish), 5 p.m. (Spanish). Weekdays, 7:30 a.m. (Spanish) & noon. No Saturday afternoon vigil Mass.
Literally, Matthew is correct: the source of the funds was Edward Doheny. But more to the point, the initiator and moving force behind St Vincent was his wife, Carrie Estelle, the force behind almost all of the philanthropic projects of the Doheny fortune. Edward Lawrence, however, was the moving force behind the Episcopal church of St John, which is right across the street from St Vincent. St John is romanesque as opposed to St Vincent’s baroque, but is quite a beautiful building in its own right. Well worth a visit (if you can find it unlocked).