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Driving along College Avenue it’s clear anticipation for Winter Carnival is building. Many groups are preparing their large month-long statues for the competition. But there is another group, that includes members from the community, that are building the largest ice chapel St Albert the Great University Parish has seen yet. Since 2016 St Albert’s Parish has constructed a chapel made of snow for the Our Lady of the Snows Ice Mass. During that time the Ice Mass has grown significantly even reaching an international audience.
“So we’ve continued to build bigger and bigger more elaborate Ice Chapels ever since. Last year was our eighth ice chapel and we had over 700 people. So you can imagine from 140 to over 700 has been tremendous growth. In recent years we’ve also live-streamed the first Friday evening. And I think it became apparent. Not because we saw this coming, but something about the ice chapel grabs people’s imagination. And we’ve had a response on catholic media as far away as India, Europe, and the Philippines.” – Father Ben Hasse, St. Albert the Great University Parish
During construction the parish’s Michigan Tech students and community members come together to complete the chapel. Many of the students will work on construction several elements including a side aisle with an arched roof, inset shelving for candlelight, a raised pulpit and alter. They also have one member of the parish who over the years has found a way to create stained glass windows made of ice.
“They will freeze panes of ice with food dye and then they’ll break them up into little pieces. An then make mosaics out of them. Or She freezes solid slabs and then they’ll iron those with an iron. And then paint on those with, like, dyed snow. Which is impressive and cool. And I don’t know if came up with that process herself. But she always executes that well.” – Allison Hadjis, Director of Data and Communications, St. Albert the Great University Parish
St Albert’s does not submit the snow chapel in the month-long statue, however, students involved in the parish take part in the all-nighter statue competition each year. St. Al’s plans to hold three ice masses during the winter carnival. And plans to livestream the first mass taking place on February 9th. Find more details on the Ice Chapel masses taking place during winter carnival below.
The annual Ice Mass in the Ice Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows, also known as “The Ice Mass”: a Roman Catholic Mass celebrated in a chapel hand-built from ice and snow by MTU students and community members.
Where: St. Albert the Great University Parish (St. Al’s) in Houghton, Michigan, USA 411 MacInnes Drive, Houghton, MI 49931
When: during MTU’s famed Winter Carnival. There are three Masses: 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST on Friday, Feb. 9, as well as at 10 a.m.EST on Saturday, Feb. 10. The first Mass, 5:30 pm EST on Friday, Feb. 9 will be live-streamed on Facebook (and embedded on our website, mtucatholic.org/icemass).
Participants may register online for the link to the Live Stream: mtucatholic.org/icemass
