Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception - Mobile, Alabama

The parish of Mobile was established in 1703, just one year after Mobile was founded by the French as the capital of Louisiana. Mobile was originally 12 miles up the Mobile River, but moved to its present location, just off Mobile Bay, in 1712. The original church was known as Notre Dame (Our Lady), but renamed Immaculate Conception in 1781 during the Spanish occupation of Mobile. Immaculate Conception refers to the dogma that Mary was conceived without original sin. Construction of the present building was begun in 1835 and completed 15 years later in 1850. The portico, with eight Doric columns, was added in the 1870s. The two bell towers were added sometime between 1884 and 1890 (I see conflicting dates). 

Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception from Cathedral Park across the street.

A different angle provides more of the park and some of the beautiful trees.

This beautiful old tree in front really reminds me of the south.

The old and the new: the bell towers and RSA Battle House Tower in the background: the tallest building in Mobile.

The red and gold on the outside is brought inside. Looking toward the main altar.

The main altar.

Top of the altar hood looking into a dome.

From the altar end looking back toward the front door. The organ is up above the entrance.

Detail of ceiling rectangles.

Close-up of the organ: fun mural in lime green above.

A side aisle.

Detail from one rectangle in the side aisle: each represents a North American Saint.

Another North American Saint.

I love this. I'm not sure what it is, but it reminds me of the back end of a reindeer.

A coat of arms in the marble floor tiles. The coat of arms of the cathedral is part of the left side of the shield. The three roses on the stem was the family coat of arms for the founder of Mobile. At the base of the stem is a half-moon symbolizing Mary in whose honor the cathedral is named. The moon symbolizes Mary as it shines brightly but is not the light - it reflects the light of the sun. She reflects the light of her Son to us.

Another floor tile coat of arms, also including the cathedral coat of arms in the top left quadrant of the shield. These various coats of arms are from prior bishops.

The stained glass windows, created by Franz Mayer and Co. of Munich, were installed beginning in 1890 and the last was installed in 1910. They all depict events involving Mary in the life of her son Jesus. 

Jesus as a youth in the temple.

The nativity.

The Visitation: Mary visits Elizabeth

The Annunciation: Angel Gabriel comes to Mary.

Mary's presentation in the temple.

In 1964 a crypt chapel was added for deceased bishops. It is accessed by winding stairs on the south side aisle at the third pew from the altar. All prior bishops are buried there but two, one of which became Archbishop of St. Louis and is buried there and the other is buried beneath the portico.  

Stairway down to the crypt chapel.

A view into the crypt chapel (through a locked gate).

Bust of Christ in the hall outside the crypt chapel.

A diocese is a group of parishes. An archdiocese is a diocese among a group of dioceses that is considered most prominent because of size or historical significance. In the 1820s the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas was divided into the dioceses of Mobile, New Orleans and St. Louis. The Diocese of Mobile contained all parishes in what are now Alabama and Florida. The Diocese of Mobile was raised to an archdiocese in 1980 and encompasses all parishes in the 28 counties of the southern half of Alabama. 

The cathedral was designated a minor basilica in 1962 by Pope John XXIII and is now one of 67 in the United States (there are four major basilicas in the world - all in Rome). Minor basilica is a designation of precedence above other churches and special standing to the Pope. To signify this special standing, it is entitled to it own coat of arms and to display the tintinnabulum, a bell, and ombrellino, an ornate umbrella, carried in processions inside the basilica. They are symbolic of items used by the Pope in processions in Rome: the bell used to alert the people of the approach of the Pope and the umbrella used to protect the Pope from inclement weather. 

The tintinnabulum or bell.

The ombrellino or umbrella

I believe this is a coat of arms representing a minor basilica, including the ombrellino on top. This coat of arms is also on the ombrellino itself.

Burnt Corn Methodist Church and Rural Alabama

In January we stopped in Monroeville, Alabama, a small town which is the home of Harper Lee, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee's father was an attorney and Lee used to go down to the courthouse with her best friend, Truman Capote, to watch her father in trial. Much of Lee's early life was found in the character Scout, her father was the inspiration for Atticus Finch, Capote was inspiration for Dill, Scout's friend, and the Monroeville courthouse was the model for the courthouse built in Hollywood for the movie. 

Monroeville, Alabama courthouse.

From the balcony, looking at the bench, attorneys tables, witness stand and jury boxes. 

Judy takes the stand. The setting for the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird. 

Rural Alabama in many ways is idyllic, but like many places in the 1930s, the setting for To Kill a Mockingbird, was full of good people with some prejudices. Atticus Finch won our respect for courageously representing an innocent black man in a town that was unsympathetic and seeking revenge. We visited Monroeville after stops in Atlanta to visit Martin Luther King, Jr's birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church and Montgomery to visit Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and parsonage. As I walked where MLK walked and saw more plainly the pain and prejudice that he and other black people experienced, as I thought of Tom Robinson and the prejudice recounted in To Kill a Mockingbird, I felt remorse for some of my own attitudes growing up. Would I have oppressed Tom Robinson or opposed Martin Luther King, Jr.? I would like to think not, but I can't ever be sure. I did not know any black people growing up. I remember as a small boy watching the news on television with some fear as the police clashed with black protesters in Alabama and remember wishing that the blacks would behave and not cause any disruption. I remember having some negative feelings when there was a proposal to name a street after Martin Luther King, Jr. in my hometown. To me he was an unwelcome agitator. My understanding is different today. I appreciate the sacrifices these civil rights activists made, necessary uncomfortable sacrifices to force change in injust laws and treatment. I came away with a determination to honor the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday and a greater appreciation for the changes he forced on American attitudes and institutions. 

We took a drive through some of the rural Alabama countryside and stopped in the small town of Burnt Corn. What a wonderful name. We'd hoped to stop at the general store there, but found it had recently shut down, a casualty of recent economic bad times. But nearby, a Coca Cola sign on the side of a barn took us back to a bygone era when it cost just $.05 for a bottle. And close to it was a simple beautiful white church with a green roof and a granite sign announcing "Burnt Corn Methodist Church" founded in 1913. A small graveyard sat next to it, mostly monuments to the Kyser family, one of them a philanthropist, legislator and banker. Truman Capote once said in an interview, "My favorite place in the whole wide world is Burnt Corn. I swear, it's just the most delightful wide place in the road, and the way the highway bends right there, with the church and the cemetery and the little country store, and those people." This was what life was like in the 1930s, the setting for To Kill a Mockingbird. These were good, humble people. Good humble people with some prejudices.

Burnt Corn, Alabama Methodist Church

Front door of the Methodist Church.

Stained glass inside the Methodist Church.

A simple cemetery near the church.

Evidence of an older era, just down the road from the church, near the general store.

One of the wonders of travel is the opening of the mind to new ways of thinking, new ways of viewing the world. My reaction to exposure to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the truth embodied in the fictional account of Atticus Finch was unexpected, but a blessing. I have determined to be more conscious of discrimination and less quick to judge others that do not hold my same views.

Martin Luther King Jr., Ebenezer Baptist Church and Atlanta

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born at 501 Auburn Avenue in what is called the Sweet Auburn neighborhood of Atlanta on January 15, 1929, in the home of his maternal grandfather, the Reverend A.D. Williams. Reverend Williams was the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church from 1893 until his death in 1931 and one of the founding members of the NAACP in Atlanta. Ebenezer Baptist Church moved to its current site in 1914 and the Auburn Avenue home is just one block east of it. In 1926 Reverend William's daughter married Martin Luther King, Sr. and they moved into the home with her parents while he went to school and then later preached in other Atlanta churches. When Reverend Williams died in 1931, Martin Luther King, Sr. replaced him as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist and continued in that capacity for the next 44 years, until 1975.  

The birth home of Martin Luther King, Jr. at 501 Auburn Avenue in Atlanta.

Martin Luther King, Jr. graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta with a B.A. in Sociology in 1948 and then went to Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania from 1948 to 1951 when he graduated with a B. Div. degree. He then went on to Boston University where he received his Ph.D. in Theology in 1955. During his years in seminary and then following while in school in Boston, he often preached at Ebenezer Baptist. 

Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where Martin Luther King, Jr, his father and maternal grandfather all were pastors. 

Judy in front of Ebenezer Baptist Church

Inside Ebenezer Baptist. 

The pulpit where Dr. King delivered many sermons.

One of the few stained glass windows in the church.

In October 1954, while still working on his doctorate, King, Jr. accepted a position as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. It was in Montgomery that King got involved in the Civil Rights movement, organizing the bus boycotts in 1955.

In November 1959, King, Jr. moved back to Atlanta where he became co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist along with his father. He served in that position until his assassination in Memphis on April 4, 1968. 

King focused on the principles of nonviolent direct action. On August 28, 1963 he famously led the March on Washington for Jobs and freedom where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of 250,000. His efforts led to passage of the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964. He was present when the bill was signed by Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson and was given one of the signing pens. Later that year, on October 14th, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Pres. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with Dr. King right behind him.

After Dr. King's assassination, his funeral was held at Ebeneezer Baptist Church and his funeral procession passed the Georgia Capitol on Hunter Street on its way to Morehouse College. Georgia Governor Lester Maddox forbade the lowering of the U.S. flag in memorial and ordered state troopers to circle the Capitol. However, the Secretary of State, Ben Fortson, ignored the order and lowered the Capitol's flags anyway.

Dr. King's casket was carried in this wagon from Ebenezer Baptist to Morehouse College.

The Georgia capitol building in Atlanta

Inside the Georgia capitol building.

In 1974 Governor Jimmy Carter began an effort to get portraits of African Americans in the Capitol building and the portrait of Dr. King was the first one. It joined portraits of James E. Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia colony who forbade slavery, and Robert E. Lee. In 1976, Hunter Street was renamed Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and no. 1 is right across the street from the Capitol building.

Dr. King's portrait inside the capitol building.

Portrait of Governor Jimmy Carter who went on to become president of the U.S.

James E. Oglethorpe

Robert E. Lee

Right across the street from the Georgia capitol building.

Dr. King's remains, along with his wife Coretta's, are now contained in a tomb located between Ebenezer Baptist Church and his birth home in a large reflecting pool, somewhat reminiscent of the pool near the Lincoln Memorial where he delivered his famous speech. 

Reflecting pool and the tombs are located down toward the other end.

Looking at the reflecting pool from the other end. The tombs are in the foreground.

Tombs of Dr. King and his wife, Coretta.

We visited Dr. King's birth home with a group of African-American first graders from an Atlanta area school. It is now a park administered by the U.S. Park Service and the guide was an African-American park ranger. The highlight was hearing the park ranger talk to the children about how they could only effect change if they stuck together and the importance of them going to college and getting an education. Ebenezer Baptist Church is now a monument and a new and very beautiful Ebenezer Baptist Church has been built across the street.

The new Ebenezer Baptist Church

A Civil Rights Museum is now located to the right of the new Ebenezer Baptist Church.