Holy Rosary Chapel

Contact Us

719-633-8711

Location

4435 Holliday Terrace, Cascade, Colorado 80809

Mass Time

Saturdays: 4 pm

Holy Rosary Chapel is now accepting reservations from Catholic Churches and groups within the Diocese of Colorado Springs for day retreats, staff meetings, special Masses, music concerts, classes/ lectures. See our brochure!
Click here to submit a reservation request.

Welcome from our Associate Pastor Fr. Randy Rentner, CSC

Welcome to Holy Rosary Chapel in Cascade, Colorado, off of Ute Pass (U.S. Route 24), midway between Old Colorado City and Woodland Park. We are located at the turnoff to Pikes Peak Highway and Santa’s Workshop at the North Pole.

Along with Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Manitou Springs, we are one of the two mission churches of Sacred Heart Parish in Old Colorado City.

Pictured Above: Holy Rosary Chapel in the winter.

Our charming stone church, built in 1930, resembles a medieval chapel sitting atop a European village. Dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, we have a grotto within the church, just newly restored, and beautiful stained-glass windows designed in Germany that depict the mysteries of the rosary. We have also installed a new rosary walk around the grounds of the church, open to visitors throughout the year. Having a full kitchen and updated meeting space, Holy Rosary Chapel is becoming a popular place for small day retreats within the diocese

Our weekend Mass is at 4 pm on Saturdays. We welcome all visitors, especially those who have come to explore the mountains of Colorado each summer.

History of Holy Rosary Chapel

By: Lisa Sanborn Haight*

The chapel of the Holy Rosary was built by the Cusack family and donated to the Catholic Diocese as a memorial to Thomas and Mary Green Cusack. Archbishop Urban J. Vehr of Denver blessed the chapel on July 31, 1931 and presided over the first High Mass celebrated at the chapel on the day of dedication.

Built in pure Romanesque design, the chapel was constructed on a hilltop at an elevation of 7,391 feet. The outer walls are native lichen-covered red rock, brought down from Pyramid Mountain, which can be seen rising in front of the Rampart Range, about two miles across the valley, north of the Chapel.

The structure is rimmed with red cut stone from a quarry near the southeast end of Ute Pass, above Manitou Springs.

The design and supervision of the chapel were the work of the late Charles E. Thomas of Colorado Springs, dean of Colorado architects for many years. Mr. Thomas considered this structure his best and most satisfying work. He received due recognition a few years later when the Chapel of the Holy Rosary became the top national award winner for church architecture.

The interior of this devotional chapel is breathtaking in its sheer simplicity ~ contrasted by its exceptional works of art – dominated by an almost life-size carved wood crucifix of Christ the King. This crucifix of rosewood is an original sculpture from the studio of Anton Lang of the family known for fine wood carvings, and as the players in the Passion Play of Oberammergau, Germany.

This altar of white Carrera marble is enhanced by the hand-carved replica of “The Last Supper” by Lualdi of Florence, Italy. Italian carved wood statuettes of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph with the Christ Child, flank the sides of the sanctuary.

The fourteen Stations of the Cross, perhaps the finest of the art work, set in around the simple white plaster walls, are done in vibrant colored semi-mosaic glass on bronze. They were designed by Franz Mayer of Munich, Germany.

The window-sized mosaic over the sacristy door is of the same structure as the Stations and depicts St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order, receiving the Holy Rosary from the Blessed Mother. Franz Mayer also designed the exquisite leaded, stained glass windows of which there are five, each divided into three sections, showing the fifteen mysteries of the rosary in beautiful coloring and in fourteenth century style. The top row depicts the Glorious Mysteries; the middle row Sorrowful; and the bottom row Joyful.

The large stained glass ‘rose’ or ‘wheel’ window recessed high in the front elevation of the chapel shows Saint Cecilia, patroness of music, in the center, surrounded by seven patron saints with Madonna at the top. The surrounding panes include St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Joseph, St. Jane Frances de Chantal, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Anne, and St. Thomas, Apostle. This lovely window throws a soft light over the two-manual Kilgen pipe-organ installed on the small choir balcony. The organ was designed especially to fit the acoustical qualities of the chapel.

A circular stairway can be used to access the choir loft or to visit the ‘grotto’ dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes

In 1996 the Colorado Historical Society included this property in the State Register of Historic Properties.

The chapel is visited by many summer guests who have been vacationing in the area since childhood. It is also a special place for couples who return to remember their wedding celebration, or the baptism of a child.

*Lisa Sanborn Haight grew up in Cascade and is a third generation member of Holy Rosary Chapel. Her grandfather, Nicholas Sanborn, helped in construction and landscaping of the Chapel.

Give