The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-17
FIRST STAGE IN BUILDING
 OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE

stands on the site of an earlier church, the Chappelle de la Recouvrance, which was built by Champlain, the great ex- plorer, in 1633.
 In Montreal an attempt was made to reproduce on smaller scale the famous St. Peters in Rome, the greatest church in the world, the entire cost of which is estimated at s7o,ooo0O0. The Canadian builders of course had no such resources at their command as did the 43 Popes who lived and died while St. Peters was building The Montreal cathedral is 25O feet high as against the 4S6 feet which marks the elevation of the towering cross of St. Peters. The chief interest of this Montreal church comes from its resem- blance to the more famous Roman struc- ture.
 In actual size indeed none of the ex- istng cathedrals of America can com pare with the huge structures of the old world, and they will be dwarfed by St. John the Divine in this city. The 16 years that have elapsed since the beginning of work in 1892 have been devoted to laying the deep foundations, to building one of the four great arches which are to supz port the central lantern 445 feet high and are to be the Structural core of the whole edifice, to the piers of the three other arches and to work on the walls and col umns of the choir-the part of the cathe- dral which is to be finished at once The nave and the transepts are to be built later, but when the choir and the "cross- ing, as the junction of the nave and transepts is technically known, are roof ed in they alone will constitute a church capable of holding 5000 persons This is the part of the work which is now near ing completion. The limits of the cross ing are defined by the huge piers of the central tower and eight great monoliths. the erection of which was attended by many difficulties, form a distinctive fea- ture of the interior.
 One of the noteworthy features of the new cathedral are the seven chapels which have been named the Chapels of ethe Tongues, from the fact that in them services for the benefit of New Yorlx's foreign population will be held in Eng fish, German, Swedish French, Spanish and Italian. Only one of these, that at the eastern extremity of the cathedral is. entirely completed. It is a complete church in itself, structure which com pensates for its lack of size by the beauty of its proportions and the richness of its decorations The gift of August Bel mont as memorial to his mother it's final cost has been estimated at close to s2OO,OOO although it is only about 3Ox5O feet in size. The vaulted and tiled roof. 40 rect above the floor, is supported by columns whose capitals have been elab- orately carved. inches in the walls are fllled with statues of saints and angels. and a great stained glass window is des- tined to take up practically all of the iofo Ilxr +l.t bit of ecclesiastical architecture is known as the Chapel of the Oriental Rite, but Rl common use it is called St. Saviours The Six other chapels, one of which, St. Columba's is already well under way have been dedicated in each case in the name of the saint most closely associated with the history of the people whose language will be used in the services
 Interesting from an architectural point of view as these chapels are, they are equally significant of the wide scope of the activities of which the cathedral is the center. These activities, indeed have already begun, though 1t will still be many years before the great bunoing it. self with its area of 99,500 feet, is com pleted. Services are regularly held in the portion of the building now completed and. they attract many visitors to the city who come to see what probably wilfslong rank as the most famous and costly church edifice in the western hemisphere. The choir school where the cathedral choristers are trained to use their minds as well as their voices, has been installed in an old building on the grounds and the Deaconesses' institution, which trains women for varied life of usefulness in many fields of charitable and church work, will have its home close by in the future. The dream to which the great bishop devoted the later years of his life