Sunday, February 18, 2007

Holy Name Cathedral

We went down to Holy Name Cathedral today. The occasion was a service where the various parishes around the Archdiocese presents to the Bishop all the converts. There is actually too many for it to happen in one service, I heard there will be 5 of this, this was the first one, and Cardinal George was there.

Amusingly, our parish was the first to be called up and I was unprepared to take pictures of Dad going up there. He was second in line, and I did get to get his picture in. I'd post it, but there isn't really anything to see other than the back of a guy in a suit shaking the cardinal's hand.

Before the service started though I took some pictures of the cathedral. I have to say... and I don't know if this is a bad thing to say or not, but I was completely underwhelmed by the Cathedral. I was expecting beautiful statues and beautiful artwork, but there wasn't any. The bones of the Cathedral were nice, the pretty ceiling, and the organ was nice. But it appears that the Cathedral was a victim of the 1960s and all the nice statues, artwork, and stained glass were gone.

The photos I take actually look really nice in my not so humble opinion, but you'll notice that I didn't take a picture of the sanctuary because there wasn't anything there to see, just a big marble slab altar.

So here are the pictures...


This is called the Resurrection Crucifix


The ceiling is quite impressive.


This is the organ in the back of the church. I guess it actually is pretty new, I think they said it was put in around 1988 or 1989.


Cardinal George about to meet the people from our parish.


Now these are the hats of all the past Cardinals of the diocese. The hats are put up there after the death of the Cardinal.

Galeri of the Cardinals
Holy Name Cathedral continues the tradition of raising the galero, a wide-brimmed tasseled hat, of a deceased cardinal over the cathedra from the highest point of the semicircular, domed cathedral apse. The galero is hung forever over the congregants of Holy Name Cathedral where they remain until they are reduced to dust, symbolizing how all earthly glory is passing. Looking up above the Cathedra of the See of Chicago are the galeros of, from left to right, Cardinals Meyer, Bernardin, Mundelein, Cody and Stritch.

Wikipedia

4 comments:

Cathy said...

I think Holy Name is pretty gross.
We went once for Mass (since they have a Sunday evening Mass, and I worked midnight shift and overslept)and I swear when I walked out I did not feel like I had been to Mass.
I realized later that it was because there isn't one statue, one icon - it's a completely protestant looking church.
It used to be beautiful.
Shame.

EC Gefroh said...

It looks huge!!

Micki said...

What caught my eye was the (not sure just what it is) "hanging" behind the crucifix. I guess it would represent all of us people who cling to our crucified Christ.

catholicandgop said...

Its hard to see, but I think thats actually on the back wall, I think its one of the stations of the cross.

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Catholic and politically conservative, I graduated with a BA in History (concentration in American) and Political Science. I'm between two parishes; one in Wisconsin that is fairly traditional, and one in Illinois that is fairly liberal. I teach CCD. I work in the food service industry, which basically means I'm working in fast food until I find a better job. I'd like to work for the church somehow. Right now I'm working on getting my teaching certification, although I'm unsure thats the correct path for me. This blog is as random as I am. I hope you enjoy.