A Beacon Of Light . . . My Tour Of Beautiful Churches Along The Mississippi

• 3 years ago

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON JR.

(Editor’s Note: Fr. Richard D. Breton Jr. is a priest of the Diocese of Norwich, Conn. He received his BA in religious studies and his MA in dogmatic theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Conn.)

• + + Over the last few weeks I had the pleasure of taking a much-needed vacation. During my vacation I traveled throughout the United States and visited friends and colleagues. I began by visiting the beautiful Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Unique in their own right, these cities have histories that blend together to make them the unique places they are today. Of the two cities, St. Paul captured my heart. Towering above the skyline is the magnificent Cathedral of St. Paul. Completed in 1915, the Cathedral of St. Paul was the creation of Archbishop John Ireland, architect Emmanuel Masqueray, and the mostly anonymous artists, craftsmen, masons, stonecutters, laborers, and citizen contributors. It is 306 feet high with a recently restored copper dome in the Beaux Arts style. 
  
  The severe exterior of Minnesota Rockville granite belies a glorious interior of soaring spaces, statuary and metalwork, stained glass, and a display of rare marbles from around the world. The interior dome is 175 feet high and 96 feet in diameter. 
  
  One of the cathedral’s signature features is the Shrine of Nations, forming a semicircle behind the altar. Each of the six chapels represents an ethnic group whose members contributed to the construction of the building — a statue of the respective patron saint is paired with a marble floor medallion representing the home country. For Ireland, for example, St. Patrick is represented in stone and a medallion of Connemara Green. 
  
  For the history-minded, a mural high on the building’s north side shows the arrival of St. Paul’s first bishop, Joseph Cretin, in a canoe, greeted by the first priest, Fr. Lucien Galtier, the man who gave St. Paul its name. In the background you see St. Paul’s first church and cathedral, the log cabin Chapel of St. Paul (from the History of St. Paul Cathedral).
  
  Continuing my journey, I left St. Paul and drove to Red Wing, Minn., to board my authentic paddle-wheeler aboard the beautiful America Ship of the American Cruise Lines, beginning my Mississippi River cruise.

A Magnificent Basilica

Our first stop was in Winona, Minn. Here I visited and toured the magnificent Basilica of St. Stanislaus Kostka. I wasn’t expecting to find anything like this in Winona. To my surprise I found this gem of a church. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was given this distinction in 1984.

In 2011, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI named St. Stanislaus of Kostka a minor basilica. By doing so, the basilica was then entitled to display the three symbols that distinguish it as a basilica. First is the Crest. When a church is named a basilica, it is given the privilege of having a crest which is a symbolic summary of the important events in the basilica’s history. The second symbol is the umbrellino. The umbrellino was used to keep the sun and the rain from the Pope — a staff person carried an umbrella over him when he walked in the streets of Rome. The Basilica of St. Stanislaus displays theirs on the east side of the church. The eight tabs display symbols of importance in the parish’s history. They include the Basilica Crest, the Polish Eagle, the Crest of Pope Benedict XVI, the Crest of Bishop John Quinn, the Crest of the Diocese of Winona, the Crest of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, the Crest of Pope John Paul II, and Princess Wenonah. The cover of the umbrellino was designed by Deacon Michael Balfour of Atlanta and sewn under his direction.

The third symbol of the basilica is the tintinnabulum, or the bell. In the Middle Ages, when the Pope walked around Rome, a staff person carried a bell on a pole that he rang to create space in the crowds for the procession to continue. The Basilica displays theirs on the west side of the church. The bell is behind the carving of the church’s facade and is rung at the Mass of Elevation and whenever the Pope visits. It was carved by Jorge Posada of Posada Woodcarvings in Atlanta.

Our second stop was Dubuque, Iowa. It was a rainy day, but that didn’t stop me from exploring all that Dubuque was known for. I was particularly interested in visiting the oldest Catholic Church in Dubuque, St. Mary of the Assumption.

In 1864, construction was begun on the new church. The plans were designed by the architect John Mullany, who had designed the present-day Cathedral of St. Raphael of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Fr. Aloysius Meis directed the construction. The new building was done in Gothic architecture style.

As with many other churches built during the nineteenth century, most of the excavation and construction work was done by the men of the parish.

On February 10, 1867, Bishop John Hennessy dedicated the new St. Mary’s Church. Over the next 55 years, the population of Dubuque continued to grow. This was especially true in the 1880s with the arrival of the Milwaukee Railroad shops. St. Mary’s was the mother parish of four other area parishes. Sacred Heart was established in 1879, followed by Holy Ghost in 1896. In 1910, a new Holy Trinity Church was built near Eagle Point Park in Dubuque in memory of the first church in Dubuque to carry that name. Finally in 1922, Nativity Parish was built.

In the early 1870s, the Hook & Hastings Company — a prominent nineteenth-century organ builder — installed an organ in the choir loft. This organ was placed in a visually impressive case. The organ was significantly altered by the Lima Pipe Organ Company of Elida, Ohio, in 1965; the case and most of the pipes were retained, augmented by all new mechanisms (including windchests constructed of aluminum) and several additional ranks of pipes. It currently has three manuals and 33 stops.

In 1914, stained-glass windows built in Bavaria were installed in the church, though the shipment of the windows was nearly stopped because of the outbreak of World War I. Twelve large stained-glass windows honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a large mural of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was painted behind the altar, because the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the patron saint of the parish.

Sadly, the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption, is no longer a parish of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The archdiocesan website said that its closure was due to a decrease in the number of parishioners in the inner city and the migration to the suburbs. In 2010, St. Mary of the Assumption celebrated its last Mass and was closed soon after. The great architecture and history still are a part of Dubuque, albeit in a different way. Today this National Historic Landmark is known as Steeple Square. Through the generosity and philanthropy of the Steeple Square Organization, which is a nonprofit dedicated to community revival, the former St. Mary’s Parish Campus serves the community in a variety of ways. The Church has been de-consecrated and turned into the Steeple Square Community Events center. The former school has been turned into Francis Apartments, providing low-income housing in the community. The former St. Mary Rectory has been revitalized and turned into the Marita Theisen Childcare Center.

For 146 years St. Mary’s Parish was a thriving hub of community life because it saw to and maintained the faith of hundreds of thousands of the faithful. In a similar, yet different way, it is still serving the community.

A Universal Faith

The visits I made to these churches, both active and former, were for me a reminder of the universality of the Catholic Church. Each church, whether it was a cathedral, basilica, or just served as an ordinary parish, is part of the beauty of what makes us Catholic. No matter where we travel, we can be sure to find the Lord waiting for us. Within the walls of of these holy places we encounter the Divine and receive the same Lord Jesus Christ! So often we use labels like liberal or conservative in discussing the faith. What if we replaced these labels and returned to calling ourselves Catholics! Each week in the Creed we profess the following: “I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” We don’t say I believe in a liberal or conservative church.

May our prayer this week be one of unity! Let’s pray for one another and remember we belong to a universal faith that unites us in one thing alone, Jesus Christ!