St. John Passion Play a pledge of prayer to protect service men and women

Church to host 107th play that began in 1918.

CINCINNATI — As bombs fell and bullets whizzed by Al ied forces during the Great

r, families here on the home front prayed for their son’s safe return from the front lines.

Father Richard Wurth, the Franciscan pastor of St. John the Baptist Church, read the headlines regarding World War I and the number of injured or killed on all sides of the ongoing combat. As the history of St. John the Baptist Church in Over-the- Rhine goes, Father Wurth decided to honor Cincinna- ti’s sacrifice to the war with a pledge of prayer through a Passion Play.

“There’s pretty much a pledge or a prayer for God’s protection,” said Ron Hen- dershot, president of St. John’s Passion Play.

Hendershot has spent decades participating in the play, which began in 1918 and stands as the longest continuously-running Pas- sion Play in America.

“The prayer for protection, that is how the play formed and started and so that was actual y in 1917. But after that, third performance, they did three performances that year. That’s when he realized that nobody else had been lost overseas in war, World War I,” said Hendershot. “So that’s

en they decided to, at that point, to create the St. John Passion Play, and going for- ward that shall let you know for that promi e and a prayer was made for at that point.”

The play has moved around to different churches throughout the years either due to closures or other logistical issues.

However, preparations and rehearsals are underway ahead of this year’s four performances at Lockland Christian Church. Endless racks of costumes, some decades old, are mended and cared for by parishioners. Swords and spears along with authentic replicas of leather Roman armor are touched up and recreated in some cases to preserve the look of the play.

Hendershot is focused on keeping the play going, but also holding onto the memories of the past preserving an original chalice used in the 1918 production, along with costume items from some of the earliest productions.

“I also want to create an archive, to where this can be preserved in a manner that it should be,” Hendershot said.

WCPO/CONTRIBUTED Ron Hendershot, president of the St. John Passion Play, left, speaks to WCPO’s Craig McKee about the meaning of the play that’s been going on since 1918.