CINCINNATI — A tradition dating back to the 1850s is underway on Good Friday in Mount Adams.
“Praying the Steps” up to Holy Cross - Immaculate Parish began at midnight on Good Friday.
The tradition brings worshipers of all faiths to the base of the steps leading up to Holy Cross - Immaculata.
In the late 1850s, Archbishop Purcell asked people to climb the hillside, praying that enough money would be raised to build Immaculata Church.
Decades ago, it was just a dirt path until wooden steps were built and then the current concrete ones that came in 1911.
Thousands of people from across the country and the world come to Cincinnati to offer a prayer on each step on the way up.
For a lot of families, this has become a tradition and a place where they begin Good Friday.
“I’ve been doing Praying the Steps for 10 years, it’s very spiritual, I love coming here and doing this, I feel like it brings me closer to God and Easter, it’s very moving,” says Lisa Williams.
Williams said her husband drops her off at the bottom of the steps around midnight.
“I pray the steps and go up and spend some quiet time in church and the I meet him at a local bar, we have a drink together and go home.”
There are three locations where you can begin the climb: the upper steps, middle steps, or lower steps.
The upper steps begin on St. Gregory Street just below the church entrance.
The middle steps begin on Columbia Parkway.
The lower steps, which begin on Riverside Drive across from the Montgomery Inn Boathouse.
The upper steps tend to be the most popular place to begin and still include 94 steps to the top.
Two Good Friday services are scheduled and are open to all.
Fr Adam Puntel will preside at the 2:00 p.m. service, and Fr Anthony Brausch. will preside at the 7:00 p.m. service.
The fish fry has also returned this year. Volunteers will be serving beer-battered cod, mac-n-cheese, fries, and cole slaw from 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
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