The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-02-11
SYMBOLISM OF THE NEW
" CATHEDRAL.

The New Cathedral of St. Paul aims
to portray in special manner the
preaching of Chrfst's Gospel to the
nations of the earth. CAS- the Father
sent me, so also I send you."-"Going
therefore, teach We all nations" The
name of it's patron saint, Saint Paul,
suggests the form of it's symbolism.
st. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles,
is, after Christ Himself, the most
marked embodiment of the preaching
of Christ to the nations. And, then,
will not the coming of the nations to
Christ be specifically illustrated amid
the worshippers of the New Cathe-
dral who, in their racial origin, will
be men of many tribes and languages
sons of the chief nations OF Christ's
kingdom on earth?
We enter the Cathedral-at once
we have Nazareth and Bethlehem
before us-the Chapels of Mary and
of Joseph. 1t was through Nazareth
and Bethlehem that the Son of God
lowered Himself into the world.
There He was made the Son of Mary;
there He was nurtured and protected
by Joseph; there He spent infancy
and youth, while preparing for His
public ministry.
We salute Mary and Joseph, and
look forward to the sanctuary. Here
is Christ Himself; there is the altar
of Calvary, topped by the cross, the
instrument of the Redemption And
within the tabernacle Christ resides
in Eucharistic miracle to love and to
serve, to be loved and to be served.
From the tabernacle there goes out
unceasing the Divine Voice, the never
ceasing cry of Christ's Gospel. Il
am come to send fire on the earth;
and what will but that it be kindled"
We turn to right and to left. We
discover the two chief agents and mes
sengers of the loving heart of Jesus
Peter and Paul-the princes and after
Christ the founders of the Christian
Apostolate. To each one is giving a
chapel. To the right of the sanctuary
is the Chapel of st. Peter There will
be venerated the chieftaincy of the
visible church, it's principle of author
ity and of unity. To Peter was it
said-tFeed my lambs, feed my sheep
none ito teach without leave from
thee, none to guide except as thou
didst order. To the left of the sane
tuary is the Chapel of st. Paul. There
recognition will be given to the burn
ing zeal, which is ever the spirit, the
interior life of the Christian Apostle,
without which the external organism
of the Church should be only an un-
informed mass, deprived of power of
motion or expansion, incapable of
building up on earth the true King
dom of Christ. This burning zeal was
not, assuredly, the exclusive belonging
of ST. Paul; but in him it shone with
conspicuous brightness, in him it
wrought conspicuous miracles. And
he was, in special manner, the
apostle of the nations-the standard
bearer, in special manner, of the.
principle of the divinely ordered qex-
pansion Of the Church and OF its Cath.s
olicity through space no less than,
through time.
And now around the sanctuary
where the Master is enthroned, linked
on one side with st. Peter, and on
the other with st. Paul. are ranged
the Chapels of st. Patrick, st. Au-
gustine, St. Remy, st. Boniface, SITS.
Methodius and Cyril, and st. Ans
garius-the immediate apostles of six
of the chief racial families of Christen-
dom-the six that go far in making
up the present population of Mime
sofa. They speak for Ireland, Eng
land, France, Germany, for Slavic and
Scandinavian lands. Other marking
races that might be thought of as
parts of Christendom, though not
largely represented in the Northwest,
may still If they wish salute patrons
and founders of their national tradi-
lions. St. Paul, the patron and found
err of all the Churches, is especially
the apostle of Greece and of the
Orient, and St. Peter. while Prince
Of all AChristendom, belongs very init
mately to Italy and other lands of the
Western Mediterranean.