Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-08-08
CATHEDRAL BUILDING.
In Whose Honor Are These Miqhty
Piles Erected Now?

In Whose Honor Are These Miqhty
Piles Erected Now?
1t is not unlikely that a good many
persons of certain temperament find
it regrettable that this country seems
seriously to have entered ON an epoch
of cathedral building, and on reflection
we incline to share their point of view
! through rather mixed considerations.
says the American Architect. In the
/ frst place, it seems to us that every
modern cathedral church, whether sue.
cessful or unsuccessful architecturally.
whether built in this country or in
Europe, in very real degree belittles
the dignity and degrades the character
of the churches that have come down
to us from the grand cathedralbuildmg
epoch. These masterpieces of art
are universally acknowledged to have
been possibilities only through the
self-sacrifice and reverent enthusiasm
/ OF the men who designed and built
them, and it is the knowledge of these
conditions, legendary though they
may be, that lends to ones impressions
a human poignancy that blends with
the higher emotions which a temple of
| God however modest and unbeautifuI.
always evOkes. As it is very gener-
ally known that very little self-sacri-
/ flee and still less reverent enthusiasm.
is built into the walls of a modern ca
thedraL those who have this under
standing viii be likely to dsbelieve
that the old cathedrals were builded in
any other frame of mind, and SO will
deny to them one of their most living
and impressive characteristics, and
this will be a loss.
Further, the soul of man i'm these
times of ours, is to be reached mainly
by the spoken word; it can he affected.
subdued chastened, perhaps. by the
pleasurable sensations that reach the
brain through the eye; but it cannot
be informed in morals, ethics and re-
ligiOn save through the spoken word.
and word spoken unless it can be
heard is wasted. Now, the new Ca
thedTa Of SIS. Peter ana Paul, at
Washington, the design for which by
G. F. BOdley and Henry Vaughan has
! just been approved by the chapter and
council of the diocese is to seat a con
gregation of 5000 persons-provided
such numbers ever present them
| selves and we venture to think that.
in church which measures 476 by
1872 feet, the spoken word will be quite
inaudible to a large part Of the audi
enCe seated in the double-aisled nave.
| Such result, of course, implies a
great waste and, when one reflects
! that for the $4,000 900 this cathedral
| is to cost 500 mission chapels could
be built, it seems impossible to be-
| lieVe that the churchmen are alto
gether right in their undertaking
As nearly as we can make ont, tho
cathedral promoters are carried away
by sort of post hoe propter hoe be
| lief, in a very mistaken fashion In
their desire to stem the current of
modern materialism and irreligion
! they seem suddenly to have turned
their eyes to the cathedrals of the old
world and then imagined that they
| recognized in them not an enect, but
a cause; they seem to have under
| stood that it was because cathedraIs
existed that people were fervent Of
! faith, not that through and because
of the existence of an abiding and
Astounding faith the men of those
times were able to create those i'm
! pressiVe monuments Although such
| reasoning surely is inverted we all
may hope that a satisfying, if not
far-reaChing reformation may attend
their efforts. Meanwhile it must be
conceded that as a part Of the munich
pal scenery, as one Of the items Of
| cOmmunity's wealth, as a landmark
along the pathway of art, a cathedral
building may be fairly held to be
worth its cost, whether in fourteenth
century guise it seems to ape the
work of the men who created the
style or whether, like the Westminster
cathedral it seems to explain more
clearly the humanities Of the day
that gives it birth. Even then It viii
be found bordering the question, Is
the modern cathedral really erected to
the glory Of God, or of the bishop or
Of the architect?