''The Catholic Total Abstinence Union Fountain'' (1874–1877) – also known as ''The Catholic Total Abstinence Centennial Fountain'' or ''The Centennial Fountain'' – is a now defunct ornamental fountain and drinking fountain located in West

Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Created as an attraction for the

1876 Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

, it was commissioned by the

Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America The Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America was a Roman Catholic temperance organization active in the 19th and 20th centuries. The work of Father Mathew in promoting temperance across the U.S. led to the establishment of numerous separate and i ...

, a religious organization that advocated for total abstinence from alcohol.

Creation

The fountain was intended to symbolize "the power of religion, the virtues of temperance, and the Irish Catholic love of patriotism and liberty." It was designed by German-born-and-trained Philadelphia sculptor Herman Kirn (1847/48 - 1920). Kirn came to the U.S. at age six, then returned to

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

as a young adult to study under Carl Johann Steinhäuser for six years. Steinhäuser provided letters of recommendation for this commission. Kirn's other work in the park includes the 1883 Willian Penn statue atop

Mom Rinker's Rock Mom Rinker's Rock is a scenic outlook in Wissahickon Valley Park along the Wissahickon Creek in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on a ridge on the eastern side of the park just a little ...

, titled ''Toleration'', and his '' Orestes and Pylades''

drinking fountain A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...

of 1884, cast in bronze from a Steinhäuser original design. During the erection of this last piece, Kirn lost the use of his right arm to a falling piece of stone. He was thereafter employed by the Park. Kirn exhibited a 12-foot diameter

plaster of Paris Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

model of the Catholic fountain as early as February 1874, at the city's Academy of Music. Fund-raising for the project was slow, and it wasn't until the following autumn that Kirn formally received the commission. Tyrolean marble was chosen for the statues, and Kirn moved to southern Austria to carve them at a quarry in Laas.

Description

The fountain's 100-foot-wide stepped base is of granite, and in the shape of a

Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which developed f ...

. At center is a 40-foot diameter basin featuring a 15-foot statue of

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

, who clutches the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...

with his left arm, holds his staff (now missing) in his left hand, and points skyward with his

shofar A shofar ( ; from he, שׁוֹפָר, ) is an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram's horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying the ...

or horn (now missing) in his right hand. He stands upon a beehive-shaped mound of marble that signifies the Rock of Horeb, which God instructed Moses to strike with his staff to provide water for the Israelites. The fountain was fed by a reservoir atop nearby George's Hill, and small waterfalls flowed from the rock mound. The basin's marble outer wall features six portrait medallions of prominent

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

who fought in the Revolutionary War – including

George Meade George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate States Army, Confederate Full General (CSA), General Robert E. Lee at the Battle ...

, Count Casimir Pulaski and the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...

– and the seal of the Total Abstinence Union. Outside the basin, on the arms of the cross, are four larger-than-life subsidiary statues of prominent American Roman Catholics – Archbishop John Carroll,

Charles Carroll of Carrollton Charles Carroll (September 19, 1737 – November 14, 1832), known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III, was an Irish-American politician, planter, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was the only Catholic sign ...

, Father Theobald Mathew, and Commodore John Barry. Each statue's granite pedestal featured four lion-head spouts from which water flowed, for a total of sixteen drinking fountains.

Dedication

The fountain was dedicated on July 4, 1876; following a mass at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul; and a parade of more than 5,000 north on Broad Street, west on Girard Avenue, and over the

Girard Avenue Bridge The Girard Avenue Bridge is an automobile and trolley bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that carries Girard Avenue (U.S. Route 13) over the Schuylkill River. It connects the east and west sections of Fairmount Park, and the Brewerytown neig ...

to the Centennial fairgrounds. Composer Edward Mack wrote the "Centennial Fountain Grand March" for the occasion. Speeches were made by prominent Catholic clergy and individuals, culminating in a final blessing by Father James O'Reilly:

Oh God, by whose word all things are made holy, give Thy blessing to this Fountain, and grant that whosoever will make use with thanksgiving, according to Thy will and Thy law, may, through the invocation of Thy most holy name, receive from Thee health of body and spiritual protection, through Christ our Lord, Amen.

The fountain itself was operational for the dedication, including the sixteen pedestal drinking fountains, but only the statue of ''Commodore Barry'' was in place. The other four were still in Austria, and in various states of completion. It remained in this condition through the November 1876 closing of the exposition, and beyond. The ''Father Mathew'', ''Archbishop Carroll'', and ''Charles Carroll of Carrollton'' statues were dedicated on March 17, 1877 (

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

); and the central ''Moses Striking the Rock of Horeb'' statue was dedicated on July 4, 1877.

Later history

The statue of ''Father Mathew'' was damaged by lightning on June 18, 1910. Sculptor Kirn, who had modeled it 35 years earlier, repaired it."H. Kirn repairing the statue of Fr. Mathew,"
from Philadelphia Archdiocese Historical Research Center.

Gallery

File:Moses Tea Fountain Philly.jpg, ''Moses Striking the Rock of Horeb''. File:Rev J Carroll Catholic abs.JPG, ''Archbishop Carroll''. File:Charles Carroll Catholic abs.jpg, ''Charles Carroll of Carrollton''. File:Father Mat Catholic abs.JPG, ''Father Mathew'' File:Com Barry Catholic abs.JPG, ''Commodore Barry''. File:Herman Kirn w. J. Carroll.jpg, Herman Kirn w. J. Carroll ca. 1875 File:CTAU Fountina Moses model.jpg, Herman Kirn clay model for Moses, Catholic Total Abstinence Union Fountain. File:Catholic Total Abstinence Union Fountain SB5, p. 353.jpg, Photo of Fountain w. water running.

References

Sources

* Daniel J. Gallagher, ''The Catholic Centennial Fountain Illustrated: A Tribute of the Catholics of America to the Centennial of the Nation's Birth'' (Philadelphia: Daniel J. Gallagher, 1877). * Daria A. Gasparini
''A Celebration of Moral Force: The Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America Centennial Fountain''
masters thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 2002.

External links

Aerial Video
by Serge Maslennikov from YouTube.
Catholic Total Abstinence Union Fountain
from

SIRIS Siris may refer to: Geography *Siris (Magna Graecia), an ancient city in southern Italy *Serres, a city in Macedonia called Siris by the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus *Siris, Sardinia, an Italian commune *Sinni (river) (Siris in Latin), Italy * ...

.
Catholic Total Abstinence Union Fountain
from Philadelphia Archdiocese Historical Research Center.
Catholic Total Abstinence Fountain
from Getty Images. {{Ten Commandments Fountains in Pennsylvania Outdoor sculptures in Philadelphia 1876 sculptures Centennial Exposition West Fairmount Park Sculptures of Moses Irish-American culture in Philadelphia Christian temperance movement Catholicism in Pennsylvania Ten Commandments in art