Morning journal and courier., 1892-05-09
ST. JOsEPH,s CeNsECRATED.

ST. JOSEPH'S CeNsECRATED. Ceremonies at Hartford Yesterday-NIany Catholic Notables Present-HistOry of the Cathedral Sketch of the Life of Bishop MIG. Mahon.
 HARTFORD, Conn.,, May S.-St Joseph's was dedicated to-day with all he pomp, circumstance, power and re- sources of the Roman Catholic church. The services began at o'clock this morn ing with the conservation of the cathedral proper and the main altar named St. Jo- | seph's altar, by the Right Rev. Lawrence T. McMahon, bishop of the diocese, assist l ed by nineteen priests from various churches in the state. Then followed in succession one hour later the consecration of the five side altars, each consecrator being an eminent divine assisted by six priests and five laymen.
 At 1O:30 o'clock the ponti6cal high mass was celebrated by Archbishop Williams of Boston, assisted by Very Rev. Vicar Gen. eral James Hughes and by thirteen priests. The entire body of attending archbishops, bishops, monsignors, heads of semi naries, colleges, religious orders and three hundred or more priests, from the bishops residence into the cathedral by the main entrance. The ser mon was preached by Archbishop John J. Hennessy of Dubuque, Iowa. An elabo- rate musical program was rendered by quartette from New York and choir of 100 selected voices, with the St. Cecilia orchestra of New York. In the afternoon at o'clock Bruno Oscar Klein of New York gave an organ recital which lasted about an hour. Large audiences thronged the cathedral all day. In the evening the the ponti6cal vespers, presenting a most beautiful appearance. The celebrant was Archbishop Corrigan of New York, who was assisted by Monsignor John Farley of New York and nine priests. The sermon was preached by Bishop Healey of Port land, Me. The vesper service closed the consecration ceremonies, but many in the large crowd fingered to gaze upon the bril- liant effects of the dazzling interior of the cathedral as lighted up. At the morning service Archbishop Henne-sey preached pressing his delight at the structure and | appreciation of the generosity of the dio- cese and untiring efforts of Bishop Mo Mahon in bringing the great work to close, he enlarged upon the great growth of the Roman | Catholic church in America and compared ! the growth of the church with the growth ! of the American people. He foretold them fin 1880 nearly one-half the population of | the United States will be Roman Catholic in religion. In the evening Bishop Healey preached from Proverbs xviii, 20, and GU. logizsd St. Joseph, the patron saint of the l cathedral.
 NEW HAVEN PRIESTS.
 Among the New Haven priests present were: Rev. M. O'Sullivan, Rev. Patrick Mulholland, Rev. John Russell, Rev. A. B Higgins, Rev. P. V. Hartigan, Rev. P McKeon.
 FREE FROM DEBT.
 A Catholic church, or place of worship cannot be consecrated until it is entirel, free from debt. St. Joseph's cathedral il entirely free from all debt. So libera have been the contributions of the peopl
 of the diocese that the expenses were me as fast as they accumulated.
 HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL. l The history of St. Joseph's cathedra
 commences with the administration o
 Bishop Mcfarland in 1872. It represent
 a period of twenty years and the labors O
 three bishops. Just as soon as Bishop Mo
 Farland came to Hartford when the dio | cese of Providence and Connecticut hat | been divided, he thought of building
 cathedral and bought the old Morgan estat
 on Pennington avenue from Major Jame Goodwin, paying s75, 900 for it. The cor
 ner stone of the convent wa
 laid Sunday, May F, 1873, ant ! dedicated on November 29 of th
 same year. It was then that he planned
 the erection of the Episcopal residence
 and the cathedral On October 9, 1874
 Bishop Mcfarland died and the cathedra
 was left for his successor to finish. Bisho]
 Galberry continued the labors of his pre-
 decessor, and in the fall of 1876 the frs stone was placed. The cornerstone wa
 laid April 29, 1877, and included in tn
 audience were several hundred New Lon doners, who went to Hartford by specia train. Bishop Galberry died in the fall o ] 1878. The next follower was the Rt. Rev
 Lawrence s. McMahon, the present bishop He took up the work and has lived to se
 the completion of his earnest endeavors. DESCRIPTION OF THE CATHEDRAL. \ St. Joseph's cathedral is cruciform ii
 shape. Its extreme length is 264 feet an the extreme width of the transept 178 feet
 The nave is 93 feet in width. The tw
 towers give an additional width of 23 fee
 and when completed it will have two mag
 nifcent towers each 250 feet high ant
 crowned by spires and turrets. The tow
 CTS are now 150 feet high and are mucl . ' li1o fhoco i, ho otr o1 !,
 Montreal. The interior is plain Roman
 esque architecture. The material used i
 rough Portland brown stone. The neigh
 of thssbasement is 23 feet above the foun
 dation and has seating capacity of 200
 persons. The sanctuary, immediately un
 der the other sanctuary, contains thre altars, the high altar in the center, St
 Joseph's on one side and the Blessed Vir
 gin on the other. There is marriag
 altar and baptistry. In the rear of tn altar is @ crypt containing sixteen vault for the burial of deceased bishops.
 The Grotto of Lourdes, to which the pope ha | attached equal indulgence to the one in France
 Ssas been made to represent the original as ia
 beautiful. There are three open porches whci open into a wide tiled vestibule, the distanr l The organ gallery is over the man entrance ant
 p1ojects in semi-circle. The choir arrange
 m-nts of the groups of statuary is to represen
 everything in the rory of life from the crea | tion to the death of man. The first group repre
 sents Adam and Eve enjoying Paradise, and tn,
 last the priest administering the final rites O. l the church.
 The prominent feature of the sanctuary is its | G,thic in design and tr- atment On the righ
 side of the sanctuary is St Patrick's chapel, con | Laining a beautiful marb altar to be known al | St. Patrck's s. over which is a painting represent | ing St. Patrick. Each of the lavishly decorated | transeptS have a chapel
 The architect of St. Josephs cathedral was P l c. Keeley of Brooklyn, N. Y., who has designed l a great many of the churches of the diocese with I in the past quarter of century. He it was Wh, I took St Mary's s ar of the Sea church of thi
 city in md after the disastrous collapsing of thu I south wall in 1S72 and made it the substantia I structure that it now is.
 | The completion of the cathedral relieves { | heavy responsibility from the mind of Rt Rev l Bishop McMahon, who has worked with untirins | energy for the last fourteen years to accomplish | this great result. Bishp McMahon is prelatt | now in the prime of life, and previous to lis as | suming charge of the Hartford diocese had beer ! for fourteen years pastor of the Catholic churcl l dence diocese. He also served throughout tn, ] civ1t war at the front as chaplain of the Twenty l eighth Massachusetts volunteers. When he cam,
 to Hartford in 1878 he found the diocese in rather | an unsettled condition, owing to the death il l quick succession of his two predecessors and tho | consequent demoralization in church affair. | occasioned from this and other causes. Al | though not brilliant man, strictly speaking, tht l bishop is & profound theologian, a great thinker ! and man of uncommon executive ability. A l whose spiritual wants are carefully looked aftel
 by over 200 clergymen. There are also forty ! parochial schools and several convents ane l orphan asylums.