The St. Francis Bookshop in Over-the-Rhine is distinguished by openness and light. The windows are large, inviting and unbarred. The door is painted a bright blue-green. Inside, books are everywhere; books for the spirit, books for the intellect, for hearts both bruised and hopeful.

It is a good place, though not as well known as it should be; a quiet treasure anchoring with light one of Cincinnati's more fragile neighborhoods.

The St. Francis Bookshop, Cincinnati's oldest surviving Catholic bookstore, will celebrate its 50th anniversary from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, September 23 with an open house featuring refreshments, door prizes and prayer. Father Fred Link, provincial of St. John the Baptist Province, will lead a short prayer service of Thanksgiving at 2 p.m.

The bookshop is owned by the Franciscans and managed by Mary Schroeder, a gregarious 67-year-old woman and a fixture at the store for 44 years. The store sells cards, music, religious art and jewelry, but is best known for the broad spectrum of books it offers, from classical to controversial.

"We do not limit ourselves to Catholic books with a capital C," Ms. Schroeder said. "I do all the book-buying, and I have to admit that I have shaped the stock of the bookshop to conform to my general interest. But at the same time, I'm aware of the fact that not everybody feels the way I do. So I try to carry the best of the more traditional things. But if there's a controversy about a book as far as religion or spirituality goes, we usually have it available. And sometimes that upsets people."

Ms. Schroeder said she "had a couple of people fussing" because she carried the book "Papal Sins" by Garry Willis, which takes a critical view of the papacy. But making the book available is part of the bookshop's mission, Ms. Schroeder said.

"People think you should never say anything negative. Well I'm sorry. We don't do it just for the sake of creating controversy. But if people are asking us about the book, we need to have it, or our mission isn't complete."

Michele Tromblay, a bookshop employee of 22 years, said, "It's important to represent all aspects of Catholic theology, Catholic thinking, Catholic perspective. Not just what was, but what we're moving toward in this millennium."

The bookstore's patrons, she added, tend to be "open-minded and forward-thinking."

The St. Francis Bookshop existed as a name long before it became a place. Fulgence Meyer, a Franciscan of this province and an author, established the name in 1925 and published and distributed books under it. The Franciscans opened the bookshop as a business and extension of their ministry in 1950 after receiving permission to do so from Rome.

It was dreary and poorly lit in the early years, and while it sold church-size statues, Rookwood, Hummels and plastic novelties, it carried very few books.

That changed with the first renovation, in the 1970s. The walls were painted orange, yellow and green, and the statues and trinkets were sold off at a discount. The second renovation, which occurred in 1996, transformed the bookstore into a celebration of light.

"I asked for new paint and we got remodeled," Ms. Tromblay said. "I ought to ask for things more often." Regular customers include priests, nuns, and students.

"We have regular customers, Franciscans, who are stationed in Japan, Israel, the Philippines, all over the United States," Ms. Schroeder said. "They order by phone and if they come back to the States on sabbatical, this is one of the stops they make."

Said Ms. Tromblay: "Almost all of them say there's nothing like this where they moved to."

Few people from the neighborhood wander in to purchase books. When they do, they typically want a King James Bible or an inexpensive piece of jewelry, perhaps a cross to wear around the neck.

If they seek handouts, they don't find them here. But they receive, with warmth, directions to the nearest soup kitchen or shelter or to Jobs Plus Employment Network across the street.

"That decision was made a long time ago," Ms. Schroeder said. "Because that would become your reason for being here instead of the mission - which is to provide books."

The store carries children's books and books about saints, the history of Catholic movements, medical ethics and morality. There is a wide offering on the topic of women's spirituality and a growing section - two shelves now - on men's spirituality. Other topics covered include grieving, caregiving, baptism, divorce, recovery and healing.

One of the bookshop's most memorable patrons was the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who was archbishop of Cincinnati from 1972 until 1982.

"He didn't arrive in his limo with his driver," Ms. Tromblay said. "Sometimes he liked to walk if he had the time. He never wore lay clothing. He always wore his clericals. And he came through the door like any other customer. He waited patiently if he needed something and you were busy.

"If he had the time, he liked to browse around. He was the sweetest, most unassuming man. A truly holy man. Genuine. And when he left the shop I used to like to go and watch him as he went back downtown, as he walked south on Vine street. I'd stand in the window, and it never failed; always before he even got to the corner somebody would recognize him, either somebody in the neighborhood or somebody driving north on Vine would recognize him and pull their car over and hop out. And you couldn't hear the conversation, but you'd see the hands clasping.

"I don't know how he ever made it back downtown to the archdiocesan building. It probably took him a couple of hours to get back downtown. But I always felt that was a wonderful commentary on him as a human being. He saw himself as one of the common people, no better than anyone else.

"And I think that's why he walked. It probably took him two hours to get from 100 East Eighth Street to 1618 Vine. I had to believe he was inviting that exposure and that connection to the people he passed along the way, especially to the people of Over-the-Rhine."

This article and the photos contained therein are copyrighted by The Cincinnati Post newspaper and are used by kind permission.