Pentecost

COME, HOLY SPIRIT, Creator blest,
and in our souls take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heavenly aid
to fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
O comforter, to Thee we cry,
O heavenly gift of God Most High,
O fount of life and fire of love,
and sweet anointing from above.




Saint Alphonsus Liguori Church, in Saint Louis, Missouri.



Mary Queen of Peace Church, in Webster Groves, Missouri.



Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.



Resurrection Cemetery, in Affton, Missouri.



Saint Agatha Church, in Saint Louis.



At the Saint Louis Art Museum.

At the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.

Happy Easter!

Stained glass window of the Resurrection, at Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, in New Madrid, Missouri.

Restoration Photos of the Old Cathedral

THE BASILICA of Saint Louis, King of France, popularly called the Old Cathedral, is in downtown Saint Louis, Missouri, and sits adjacent to the grounds of the Gateway Arch. This is one of the oldest churches in the region, was once the Cathedral church for half of the United States, the place of consecration of many of the nation's famed churchmen, a church honored by the Popes, and — before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council — was one of the most highly indulgenced churches in the world, having gained all of the privileges of all of the major basilicas of Rome.

But now it is shrouded in scaffolding, undergoing repairs coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the great City of Saint Louis, and the 800th anniversary of the birth of King Louis IX of France — monarch, crusader, and Saint.

On this blog, I often give distances to various churches — and the distance is measured from this church.



These photos were taken a bit more than a month ago, at the end of February 2014. This past weekend, while I was driving past this church, I noticed the gleaming new copper cladding on the steeple, as well as the brilliant shining ball and cross which surmounts it!



For the safety of parishioners and visitors, the entrance is carefully sheltered from the construction work going on above.



Last renovated in the early 1960s, the basilica still retained a certain classical elegance (and this church is extremely popular with brides), although it was becoming rather dingy, with faded carpeting, rough pews, and peeling paint.  It was clear that some work needed to be done on this church, one of the most-visited in the Archdiocese — this in part because it is adjacent to one of the world's most popular tourist attractions.

From what I can tell, the interior isn't going to be changed much in form, while some of the coloring will be made a bit brighter.   According to the church's website, interior repairs include:

• Renovations to the church’s vestibule
• Remove all carpeting in the church
• Refinish the church’s wood floors, pews, confessionals and communion railing
• Clean, repair and restore the mosaic floors of the Sanctuary
• Restore decorative millwork and statuary throughout
• Plaster repairs, patch and paint walls, ceiling and altars
• Updates and repairs to decorative items including the side and rear altars, the baptistery and devotional spaces
• New sound system
• New lighting throughout the church with special consideration given to artwork and the ceiling
• Upgrades to the mechanical, electrical and HVAC systems
• New pulpit and altar furniture

Further information on the restoration can be found at: http://www.oldcathedralstl.org/campaign-donations.html



The communion rail, stripped of its paint.



One of the holy water fonts, located near the entrance. Workers, having stripped off paint and plaster, have revealed an older design, unseen in ages.



A closer look at the once-hidden ornament — fleur-de-lys and quatrefoils, both associated with France and the Catholic faith. I have no idea how old these might be.



A door to a confessional and pedestal to a statue sit unused, temporarily. Soon the glories of this church will be renewed.

I donated some of my photography of this church for a fundraising booklet for the restoration, and some of that photography can be found in these articles:

• Photos of the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, in Saint Louis, Missouri
• Photos of the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France

Feast of Saint Joseph

At the Old Cathedral, in downtown Saint Louis. This church is currently undergoing restoration.

Monastery in the Snow

The Discalced Carmelite Monastery, in Saint Louis County, Missouri.

Photos from the Snowstorm of January 5th, 2014

EXCEPTIONALLY COLD weather, along with an unusual amount of snowfall this past Sunday, led to widespread difficulties, but also interesting photo opportunities.



The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis in the snowstorm. I took this after Mass for the Epiphany, where very few people assisted — understandably. Fortunately, I have a car which is good in the snow, so I drove around town afterwards taking photos.



Lots of snow for this region.



Saint Louis University, with the spire of Saint Francis Xavier Church barely visible.





Most of the streets were empty, even major thoroughfares such as this one, and the blowing snow obscures the skyscrapers of downtown. Many of the traffic lights were malfunctioning.







There were a number of pedestrians, usually carrying grocery bags, and walking in the middle of the street, where the snow was not quite so deep.





Walking the dog is almost a necessity, no matter how cold — unless you are willing to do a cleanup inside. Very many cars were stuck in the snow, fortunately, there were volunteers helping out.



A view from the Eads Bridge.  One of the pleasures of the day was the ability to safely stop my vehicle in the middle of any street or bridge, and take a few moments to take a photo.



The Gateway Arch, also (barely) seen from the bridge.



The Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, popularly called the Old Cathedral, is shrouded in scaffolding for its first major renovation in over 50 years. This is being done now partially in honor of the 250^th anniversary of the founding of the City of Saint Louis by Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau.



Union Station. Nearly every business and office were closed this day — with the notable exception of grocery stores.





The massive railroad yard, which bisects the middle of the city.



Gates to Lafayette Park.



One of the ornate Victorian-era buildings in the Lafayette Square neighborhood, facing the park.



Geese on the wing in Forest Park.



Some of the geese, after they landed on the water of the restored River des Peres.



Winter is usually a good time for hiking in the forest, for you can see farther and aren't bothered by insects. But this afternoon was becoming increasingly cold and windy, and I must admit that I was miserable at this point. But upon getting back to my warm car, after an exhilarating hike, I was glad that I got out of the house instead of staying home.



In warmer weather, this bridge is a good place to see frogs, turtles, and water lilies.





The Victorian footbridge originally led to a railroad station, and for decades this was difficult to find because of overgrown vegetation. This photo might look a bit different from the others, because I took it with my cell phone, so that I could upload it to a friend who asked me to take a picture of it.





It wasn't quite clear where the road was, but that does not deter brave pedestrians.





The World's Fair Pavilion. The same scene, but under quite different circumstances, can be seen on the cover of my photo book, St. Louis Parks.





Art Hill, located between the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Grand Basin, is famous for sledding.

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

At Saint Anthony of Padua Church, in Saint Louis.

Photos of Saint John the Evangelist Church, in Paducah, Kentucky

HERE ARE PHOTOS of Saint John the Evangelist Church, located in the historic town of Paducah, in the western part of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is about 180 highway miles southeast of downtown Saint Louis, and is a part of the Diocese of Owensboro.

The town of Paducah was named by famed explorer William Clark after the Comanche tribe, then known by some other tribes as the Padoucas.

I visited Paducah a while back because I was accompanying a lady friend who wanted see the National Quilt Museum, located in that town near the riverfront. I will give a few thoughts on the museum on another posting.

We arrived at sunset, and though we had a long drive back to Saint Louis, I wanted to take some good photos of this church:



The church is Gothic revival, in the manner of the late Gothic style.

St. John Church
1932

The Dioecesis Owensburgensis was erected in 1937 from land taken from the Diocese of Louisville, and its current ordinary is Bishop William Francis Medley. This diocese, along with the dioceses of Covington, Knoxville, Lexington, Memphis, and Nashville, is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Louisville — originally the Diocese of Bardstown. This is the Church in Tennessee and Kentucky.



The nave of the church. Musicians are seen here preparing for Holy Mass.

From a history found on the church’s website:

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church was founded in 1839 by a group of German Catholic immigrants who had settled in Western Kentucky several years earlier. These first parishioners were visited by Fr. Elisha J. Durbin who had been assigned the missions throughout the territory that today make up the diocese of Owensboro. Fr. Durbin’s headquarters was at Sacred Heart Church, in Union County, Kentucky and his missionary duties took him to several surrounding states. Accordingly, the privilege of Mass and the Sacraments was not available to the people of the St. John community on a regular basis for some time.

The first church, a log building, was raised by the parishioners under the direction of Fr. Durbin around 1849. The log church burned and was replaced by a larger frame structure in 1869 under the direction of Fr. Peter Haeseley. The frame church was used for sixty-three years, until the construction of the present church building in 1932-1933 during the pastorate of Fr. Paul Barrett. All three churches were located on the same site.

The tabernacle and crucifix.

The history continues:

Few changes occurred to our church since 1933. The main update occurred in the 1960’s following Vatican II which included the removal of the tall canopy and the high altar.

In 2003, with guidance from Fr. Bruce McCarty, the parish undertook a general renovation project consisting of substantial exterior and interior repairs and a general updating of building systems. It also included the construction of an addition to include handicapped accessible restrooms, a reconciliation room and sacristy. A concerted effort was made to maintain and enhance the architectural and artistic integrity of the structure while bringing it in line with the liturgical needs of a 21st century parish.

On February 19, 2006, a Mass of Thanksgiving and Dedication of Altar was held with The Most Reverend John J. McRaith, Bishop of Owensboro, as celebrant.

Two of the Stations of the Cross — Jesus Falls the Third Time on the right, and Jesus is Stripped of His Garments on the left.

Ornamentation in architecture has been largely a lost art since the popularization of the ideas found in Adolf Loos’ lecture of 1910, Ornament and Crime, where he claimed that the ornamentation of architecture was like the tattoos on degenerates and criminals of his age. But there is little that we need to take from the polemic of that “grumpy Marxist” other than his observation that ornament can make a building obsolete faster, as it goes out of style. True — what’s “up-to-date” is soon out-of-date — but if good taste and classic styling is used, then we needn’t worry about something going out of style any time soon — for it already is of the ages. This is the aim of the new American school of ecclesiastical architecture, coming out of the University of Notre Dame.

I particularly like the simple yet symbolic ornament depicted in this photo, behind the figures of Christ. We see a serpent and a sword, symbolizing the two failed martyrdoms of Saint John, who unlike all of the other Apostles lived to a ripe old age. We also see St. John’s symbol of the eagle, the Greek monogram for Christ, ιηϲ, and some vegetative ornament.



Confessional.



The blue light of dusk, mixed with the fluorescent lighting inside of the church confused my camera, as we can see in the photo of the nave above. Here I color-corrected this window to make it appear more natural. The windows here are largely simple — here we see some floral ornament along with a harp — a symbol of King David the Psalmist.





A sculpture of Saint John in the narthex. We see him here with a quill and book, symbolizing the Gospel he wrote; said Gospel is so full of soaring theology that the Fathers of the Church assigned him the symbol of the eagle. Artistic depictions of several of the Saints of the ancient church have distinctive facial features, which can be traced back to the earliest of sources. John is here depicted as a beardless youth.



Grief.

Two cemeteries are found outside of the church — this is from the older one, located across the street from the church.

ALL YE GOOD PEOPLE
AS YOU PASS BY,
AS YOU ARE NOW
SO WAS I,
AS I AM NOW
SO WILL YOU BE,
REMEMBER MAN
AND PRAY FOR ME.

R.I.P.

The school.



The old frame church?

Photos of Saint Anthony Church, in Glennon, Missouri

HERE ARE PHOTOS of Saint Anthony Church, located in the southeastern Missouri town of Glennon, in Bollinger County. The church is a mission of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, and is 140 highway miles south of downtown Saint Louis.



The current church, dating from 1969, is low and built of brick. Perhaps we can discover a possible reason for this design in a photo below…



Statue of Saint Anthony of Padua (15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231), a Portuguese priest of the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans), depicted here holding the Christ Child in one hand and bread in the other. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia:

“He possessed in an eminent degree all the good qualities that characterize an eloquent preacher: a loud and clear voice, a winning countenance, wonderful memory, and profound learning, to which were added from on high the spirit of prophecy and an extraordinary gift of miracles. With the zeal of an apostle he undertook to reform the morality of his time by combating in an especial manner the vices of luxury, avarice, and tyranny. The fruit of his sermons was, therefore, as admirable as his eloquence itself. No less fervent was he in the extinction of heresy, notably that of the Cathares and the Patarines, which infested the centre and north of Italy…

“The zeal with which St. Anthony fought against heresy, and the great and numerous conversions he made rendered him worthy of the glorious title of Malleus hereticorum (Hammer of the Heretics). Though his preaching was always seasoned with the salt of discretion, nevertheless he spoke openly to all, to the rich as to the poor, to the people as well as those in authority. In a synod at Bourges in the presence of many prelates, he reproved the Archbishop, Simon de Sully, so severely, that he induced him to sincere amendment.”

Anthony is the second-fastest canonized Saint in history and is a Doctor of the Church.

Despite being Catholic for over 10 years, I still have very much of a Protestant sensibility. Saint Anthony is commonly prayed to for finding lost items; while I do not reject the practice of asking for the intercession of Saints in all good things (see Rev. 5:8), I still have a lingering fear that this particular lowly task might be beneath such a great Saint known for his preaching. Now, I had spent days searching for a tax receipt, and in my great frustration, I finally overcame my prejudice, and offered up to Saint Anthony a quick prayer for intercession. Within seconds, I found the receipt in the first place I looked. Deo gratias.



This plaque is found outside of the front door:

ST. ANTHONY’S CHURCH
WAS BUILT IN 1905
DESTROYED BY TORNADO IN 1917

ST. ANTHONY’S CHURCH
WAS BUILT IN 1917
DESTROYED BY FIRE IN 1969

ST. ANTHONY’S CHURCH
WAS BUILT IN 1969
AND DEDICATED AUG. 1970

A history of the devastating 1917 tornado can be found here.



A painting of the first church, found in the narthex. This design is typical of many country churches in this region.

The community of Glennon was named after Archbishop John Joseph Glennon, and was originally in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. Another Catholic settlement in Missouri is named Glennonville, after the same Cardinal.

If all the polar icecaps in the world were to melt, Glennon would be oceanfront property. It sits on the very edge of the Ozark plateau, right at the head of the vast, low-lying Mississippi Alluvial Plain, which extends hundreds of miles southward to the Gulf of Mexico.



This is a small church, typical of its time; I like the decoration.

Normally, I take photos of the nave along the central aisle, but the lighting fixtures above the aisle got in the way of the Crucifix, leading me to take a photo at an angle. Perhaps I neglected to photograph Saint Joseph here?

These photos are best viewed at larger resolution, which you can see by clicking on the photos.



The Crucifix, Tabernacle, and Altar, the cause of our salvation.



Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Aren’t the flowers good?



Baptismal font and another statue of Saint Anthony with the Christ Child.



A list of the priests of the parish hangs near the entrance. Many German and Irish surnames here.



A view of the church’s bell tower.

THE BELLS OF
ST. ANTHONY
ERECTED APR. 16, 1988

Tall blooming bushes by the church hall. I took these photos in August.



Click here for a map of the church.

Michaelmas

Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio. At Saint Martin Church, in Starkenburg, Missouri.

More Mosaics at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis

I RECENTLY POSTED an article, Photos of Mosaics of Saint Louis at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, but neglected to include photos of the mosaics found at the ends of the nave. I correct this here:



St. Louis Returns to Paris with the Crown of Thorns.



St. Louis Accepts the Cross for the Crusades.

Prints of these photographs can be purchased here, with discounts available to clergy, religious, and parishes.

Detail of the right transept at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.