One challenge the committee wrestled with last night is the number of seats in our remodeled space. Building code requirements will force us to reset the pews with a greater distance between them, so we’ll lose around 40 seats just with that. We’ll also lose another 40 seats because code requires wider the side aisles. Our budget, while generous, won’t allow us to get anywhere close to the one-thousand seats needed to qualify as a mega-church.
With things as tight as they are, I started wondering about the size of smallest Catholic church in the land. With a little Googling, I found some details on:
The Smallest Catholic Churches in America
The travelogue web site Road Side America has a whole section dedicated to the Smallest Church in America. (See their site for the requirements for inclusion.) With no need for altar or tabernacle, our Protestant brethren have it easy in creating diminutive worship space. The Catholic requirements require a bigger footprint. Still, four Catholic chapels are in the running – some were even nominated by Ripley’s Believe It or Not (an honor equivalent to beatification in the eyes of those seeking ultimate smallness).
St. Anthony of Padua Chapel
Address: Little Church Rd., Festina, IA
Interior dimensions: 12′ x16′ or 192 square feet.
Dedicated in 1886, St. Anthony of Padua Chapel claims in old postcards and signage to be the “Smallest Church in the World.” Built to fulfill a vow to the Blessed Virgin Mary for the safe return of a soldier drafted by Napoleon, the stone chapel is built on the site of a previous church. With its 12 ft. x 16 ft. interior, normal sized doorway and pews, 40 ft. steeple, and room for eight people, it is the largest small church listed. A yearly service is held on the Sunday closest to June 13, the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua. See more history, and a view of the interior, on the Chapel’s Iowa Geneology page.
St. Martin’s Church
Address: Hwy 237, Warrenton, TX
Interior dimensions: 12′ x16′ or 192 square feet.
St. Martin’s Church is twelve by sixteen feet, and has been proclaimed the “World’s Smallest Active Catholic Church.” Built in 1915 with leftover lumber from a school construction project, it has 12 wooden pews and seats about 20. A yearly service is held on All Soul’s Day. For more details on St. Martin’s, see the details on TexasBob’s page.
Chapel of the Madonna
Address: River Rd., Point Pleasant, LA
Interior dimensions: 8’x8′ or 64 square feet.
On near Bayou Goula next to Plaquemine, Louisiana. Signs along River Road proclaim the Madonna Chapel as the “Smallest Church in the World.” At 8 ft. x 8 ft., with five chairs, it was also illustrated in Ripley’s Believe It or Not. It was built in 1903 by Anthony Gullo, a poor sugar farmer, after he successfully prayed to the Virgin Mary for the recovery of his eldest son. Mass is held once a year on August 15 to celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Mother. See more history and images of this chapel on the Louisiana History Teacher Site.
Monte Casino:
Address: 2771 Turkeyfoot Rd., Crestview Hills, KY
Interior dimensions: 6’x9′ or 54 square feet.
This tiny stone chapel, called Monte Casino, is now on the Kentucky campus of Thomas More College. The chapel measures six by nine feet with a ceiling height of eight feet. It was originally built in 1878 at a nearby Benedictine monastery. In 1922, Ripley’s Believe It of Not named it as the “Smallest Church in the World.” The monks left the area when their winery was forced to close during Prohibition. The chapel was abandoned and vandalized, then rescued and moved in 1965 to the college campus. After a restoration, the Monte Casino Chapel was rededicated in 1971. See more images and history on Winter 2005 Thomas More Magazine http://www.thomasmore.edu/PDFs/Moreover05Winter.pdf (story on page 9).
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