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February 15, 2016On Friday, February 5, in the middle of Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival weekend, St. Albert the Great University Parish celebrated the first annual “Ice Mass” in the “Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows,” a chapel built entirely out of snow in the yard behind the church facility.
The 33’x18’ snow chapel is completely enclosed by eight-foot high walls of snow, constructed by students and community members from St. Al’s over the course of several weeks leading up to Winter Carnival.
Around 140 people attended the Friday evening Mass, filling the chapel to capacity.
The idea came from an article about ice churches in Europe around the time of last year's winter carnival.
Students ran with the idea, and dozens of students and community members from the parish contributed time over a couple of weeks to get the chapel built.
The building of the chapel also had the side benefit of sharpening students' skills for the all-nighter snow statue competition during winter carnival, which St. Al's won for the second consecutive year (see link at the bottom of the email for more on the statue).
Plans are already being formulated to build an even bigger chapel next year.
Last week Catholic News Agency posted an article about the snow chapel. You can read that article Here.
More pictures are available of the chapel and the Ice Mass Here.
Read more about the all-nighter snow statue, and see pictures, Here.
