The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1880-11-13
0al0gns Oathedral.

The present Dom kirchc Of Cologne.
though it was begun 10 1913, when Fred
eriok H. was Emperor Of Germany aud
St. Louis King of France, is not the first,
but the third, cathedral Of that ancient
city, founded by the mother Of Nero as
q Roman colony and converted to Christi
anity by the mother Of Constantine. or
this it used to be said that .'he who had
not seen Cologne had not seen Germany
although Coleridge disntisses il 50 unciviIiy
in his familiar eouplet. The original
church, said to have been built by st. Ma
ternus in the first century, has only ira
ditional reputation. The second was
founded in 1856, by Hildebold, nineteenth
Bishop aud FIRST Archbishop Of Cologne,
but was not ready for conservation Till 1913,
when eleven Bishops met in provincial
synod TO attend the ceremony. II was,
according to contemporary records. stately
byzantine building with double choirs and
crypts and three towers; it took FIRE in
1889, but was sayed-by miraculous in
Prevention, as was commonly reported
and in 1913 it was burned TO the ground.
But there was anotheT--and to the religi-
Gus mind Of that age still stronger-reason
at that time for erecting a new and grand
err Dom-Kirche at Cologne. We cannot
enter here at length on the popular legend
Of "the Three Kings"-better known to
English readers as the Wise Men or the
Magi-who have given their name in
Germany to the Feast Of the Epiphany.
Suffice it to say that Caspar, Mclchior aud
BalthaEar were respectively Kings of Thar
sis, the land Of myrrh; Of Arabia, where
the soil is ruddy with gold, and of
Saba, where frankincense flows from the
trees After their return from Bethle-
hem, they were visited in their old age by
81. Thomas, when he came to preach the
Gospel in India, and he baptized and or
dained them. They died soon afterward
and were buried together, and many mir
acles were wrought at their tomb. Thith-
er came the dcvout Empress Helena and
found their bones, which she carried to
Constantinople and laid 10 the Church Of
st. Sophia, but in later days they were
presented to Eustorgius, Bishop of Milan,
and thence Barbarosa took them at the
siege Of Milan, and presented them TO the
city Of Cologne, where they were housed
for the time in tho old Cathedral Of Hide
bold. But it was felt always that this was
no fitting shrine for such precious treas
ures, and in the time of Archbishop En-
colbert, long before the FIRE, the design Of
building new cathedral had been enter
tanned. 1t was Of course facilitated not
only by the wealth Of the city, but by the
shrine Of the Three Kings becoming a
popular place of pilgrimage, and the broth.
erhood Of st. Peter was formed under
papal sanction for collecting contributions
In 1922, just As years after the consecra.
ton Of the former cathedral, the choir Of
the new one rising to height Of POS feet
was eonsecrated with great solemnity and
state, and began to be used for the services
Of the church. There the Elector Pala.
tine Rupert was crowned Emperor in 140O
on the feast Of Drei KoAige, Epiphany, }
and then, in 1402, his ron, the Elecio,
Louis, was married to Blanche, daughter
Of Henry Nv. But the building advanced
slowly, aud it was not until 1437, nearly
that the southern tower was completed and
! ready to receive the bells previously hum
; 10 wooden belfry. Then followed a pc
Rod Of religious decline and artistil
change not favorable to church building O
to Gothic architecture, and from 1909 tn,
work seems to have come to stand still
? altogether, the north isles only being com
pleted besides the choir; the walls Of tn,
south aisles aud transepts were partially
T built, the nave was not even begun, tn
2 southern tower had reached the height 0
4 40 feet, the northern tower had scarcel'
! shown as yet. During the sixteenth AM
: seventeenth centuries nothing was done 4
9 the building, but in the eighteenth th
Z Chapter exemplifed the vile taste Of Ii
= age in redecorating, and, Of course, spoil
! ing the interior. But at the close Of III
}. century the Chapter itself, comprising a
I members, of whom nearly all were Dukes
b Princes, or Counts, of the Holy Roma
Q Empire, was dissolved, and the last Prime
y Archbishop, Archduke Macmillan, ha
e to retire from his diocese. Soldiers b
) youacked in the cathedral and broke OF
n naments aud windows, but seem to hay
4 done less mischief than Cromwell's soldier
q did 10 our eathedrals Il was reduced /
}. a parish church, in the French diocese
Aix-la- Chapelle, with three priests attacl
Z cd TO Il, and Berthelet, the new Frenc
! Bishop, unconsciously added insult TO il
! jury when he gravely advised the peop
u to plant poplar trees around their fiu