The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-12-05
SPOKANE, WASH.

4 ask the blessing of God on the
bishop of the diocese. on the clergy.
particularly your pastor, and on every
one of your Catholics or Catholics.
who has given to help the erection of
| this great temple
Most. Reverend Alexander Christie.
D. D., archbishop of Portland, Ore,
| closed his address with the foregoing
words at the dedication of Our Lady of
Lourdes church in Spokane the morning
of Thanksgiving day. From the text,
Matthew vi, is, the distinguished pre-
late pointed out the ancient origin and
the changeless peTpetuation of the
Catholic faith, naming the principal
tenets, and saying among other things:
mo doubt your pastor has labored
day and night to complete this magnifi-
| cent church home, and now we see. the
fruits Of his untiring toll in an edffice
that any city might well be proud of.
Here will your pastor, from this pull
| pit. give to you the message commits
stoned to him by the successor to the
apostles, here he will administer the
body and blood of Christ in tn ehoIy
sacrament. This is place destined for
the saving of souls.''
The impressive and beautiful dedica-
tory ceremonials were witnessed by a
large concourse of residents OF. Spokane
ana lOO priests from various parts of
the northwest. The Rt Rev. Edward
j. O'Dea, bishop of Seattle, ceIebrant.
was assisted by Rev ]. P. Vermilgen,
as deacon, and Rev. Theophilus Pypers.
as subdeacon The formal dedication
began with the services and music of
the pontif1cal high mass, the responses
being by an augmented choir, containing
the best solo voices in Spokane. The
scene before the altar was one to stir
the blood of a loyal churchman. The
great marble altar, beautifully carved
in the images of Mary and the Christ
child, the yellow candle flames against
the white of the carved stone. and in
front the priests and prelates in their
ceremonial robes, made an effect worthy
of the occasion.
At the singing of the "Sanctus," after
the address by Archbishop Christie. the
sanctuary was lighted with electric
lamps. showing to advantage the beau
ties OF the altar Seated in the front of
the church, to the left, were the Sisters
OF Charity whose work is In Spokane
these having been admitted to their
seats before the general public. The
offertory, the effective "Salye Regina 4"
was sung by Mrs. George W. Manning
her magnificent soprano voice being
heard with effect, Frank T. Schoedler's
organ accompaniment adding much to
its value
The ceremonies of consecrating the
great altar, which was donated to the
parish by Mrs. Patrick Clark, occupied
three hours. Bishop O'Dea was assist
ed by Father Kauten of Seattle, former
pastor of Our Lady of LOurdes: Father
OBrien of Cheney and Father Faust of
Uniontown. This part of the services
was private
The visiting clergy and ministers of
this city were the guests of Father
AloySius Verhagen, pastor of Our Lady
Oh LourdeS, at banquet in the Hall of
the Doges, DaVenpOTt'S. at 1.30 o'clock
in the afternoon. Thirty priests were
present, the occasion being one of con-
graduation for Father verhagen on the
completion of the work he has given so
much of his life to accomplish. AL
though the banquet was an informal
one, short talkn were made by most of
the guests.
Rt. Rev. ]. P, Carroll, D. D., bishop
OIL Helena, Mont, delivered the lecture
at Vespers in the evening He spoke
on "The Triumph of Christianity" He
said that ito demonstrate, to evidence
the triumph of Christianity over an in
tellectual but immoral world, we have
only to draw two pictures; one of the
conditions of things under Paganisn,
the other of their condition since the
Introduction of Christianity" The serv-
ices ended with the invocation of the
divine blessing on the congregation.
Rev. Father Kauten of Seattle, assist
ed by Fathers Coopman of Anaconda
and Purcell of Couer d'Alene, officiat-
ing.
The remarkable progress of Spokane
in quarter of a century is splendidly
typified in the growth of Our Lady of
Lourdes church. Beginning in 1883 in
a small log house, 1Ox20 feet, with a
dozen communicates, the parish now
boasts of having a property value of
100000. The Jesuit Fathers were the
pioneers in this northwestern country.
Father Josette, S. j., has said that when
sixteen persons attended mass he con-
sidered that large congregatio Fa-
ther A. Jacquet, S. j., now of San Fran
cisco, began the erection of a larger
church in 1885, and on July 6, 1885,
1886, Bishop A. Junger named it Our
Lady of Lourdes, and Rev. James Reb-
mann, S. j., was appointed pastor. The
first parish school was built in 1873
and on July 20, 1883, the first Sisters of
the Holy Name came to take charge of
the school. They were headed by Sister
Mary Michael of San Francisco, now
mother provincial of the New York
branch. The first school for boys over
II years of age was opened in 1889, with
Rev. Thomas j. Purcell of Coeur
d'Alene. Ida. as teacher. 1t was called
st. Ignatius school, a preparatory for
Gonzaga college, Of which Rev. Herman
j. Collier is now president
The site for the present church build
ing was bought by Father Kauter, now
chancellor of the diocese of Seattle, in
1898. for $4,000. Ground was broken In
1902 the first subscription
having been taken in September, 1901,
when s25,000 was contributed to the
building fund by the congregation.
Work on the superstructure was begun
in 1908, and in 1904 the towers were con-
structed, the first mass being said in
the basement on Christmas day, 1905.
The last subscription list was made in
1907, making possible the completion of
the church.
The edifice is of Romanesque design.
1t is 173 feet in length and ninety-eight
feet wide. The main body is sixty-eight
wide and the ceiling sixty feet high
The walls are tinted in ivory colors and
the ceiling in cream and gold. Twelve
soft-shaded electric lamps fur
nish illumination, distributed through
out the church, in the sanctuary, in the
wings and over the stations, heighten-