Evening star., 1919-12-17
MANY SEND GIFTS
AIDING MEMORIAL
TOFALLEN HEROES
Five-MiIIion-DoIIar Shrine to
Be Erected at Catholic
University.

Gifts ranging from costly diamonds
to children's rings are pouring in from
all parts of the world to aid in the
construction Of the s5.OO0.0O0 shrine
to be erected at Catholic University
as a memorial to Americas fallen
heroes and as the national expression
of Catholic devotion to the Blessed
Virgin. patroness of the United States.
Hundreds of thousands of individuals
from every state in the Union and
from foreign countries as well are
flooding the mails of the Catholic
University with their donations. The
sums being received include gifts of
$4,000 and mites of few pennies.
In the presence of Cardinal Gibbons
and others of the church hierarchy
Right. Rev. Thomas J. Shahan, ID. D..
rector of Catholic University, broke
ground upon the site of the shrine
last Friday. His act marked the spot.
on the Soldiers Home side of the
Catholic University grounds, where, it
is stated. one of the finest churches
in America is to stand.
Ceremony Planned for May I.
magnificent ceremony in Washing
ton will attend the start to be made
in the erection of the shrine, about
the first of May. A pilgrimage of
Catholics will converge from all parts
of the United States. Cardinal Glib
bons will preside and many bishops
and priests will come from far and
near.
There also will be representatives
of the great shrines of the Blessed
Virgin, both in South America and
Europe, making the ceremony an in
ternational event to fifty inaugurate
the first great common religious work
undertaken by the Catholic people or
the United States.
Edffice Described.
The national shrine will be a noble
Romanesque church, 420 feet long.
The main nave will be fiftyfour feet
in breadth and eighty-five feet in
height. The lateral naves will be
flanked by series of beautiful
chapels. five on each side, while
around the apse and the transeptS
will be distributed a number of small
er chapels. There will be two tran
septs, the main one being 1874 feet in
breadth and the secondary one being
somewhat shorter.
The facade will be 124 feet in width
and a noble dome will surmount the
whole vast edifice, the cross on its top
being 254 feet from the ground. A
splendid campanile or belltower, $50
feet in height, rises at one end of the
facade, comparable with the most
beautiful specimens of northern Italy.
The general impression Will be that or
majesty and power, while all the lines
of the edifice are marked by grace ana
elegance. AS this church will have
no pews. the interior view Will be un-
euualed for Splendor and grandeur.
The church will hold about 5000,
and the great sanctuary will accom-
modate the entire hierarchy and sew
eral hundred ecclesiastics, with ample
room for the most impressive cere-
monies.
Location of Cardinals Throne.
The episcopal throne of Cardinal
Gibbons will be close to the high
alter. which will be surrounded by
fifteen beautiful small chapels in
honor of the fifteen mysteries of the
holy rosary. There will be In all
twenty-nine affairs in the church, nos
counting the affairs In the spacDus
crypt beneath the sanctuary. This
crypt will hold 1900 persons and will
be finished in carly Romanesque style.
making it a unique ecclesia sticai ere
alton in our country, as tnls Is Ine
first edifice in which all the ,peculiari-
ties of that style can be reproduced
with success. Its facade rises about
500 feet from the university gates.
The church will thus be set in its
own delightful park, and it's national
character emphasized from the first
view of its noble proportions.
The architects of the national shrine
are Maginnis and Walsh of Boston,
with whom is associated Frederick v.
Murphy, professor of architecture at
the Catholic University. Their de-
signs for, the great church have been
prepared after g. careful study of the
best masterpieces of the Romanesque
style. and in conjunction with the
landscape architect. Mr.. Frederick
Olmsted Of Boston. These designs
are of wonderful beauty. and were
exhibited at the conference of the
American hierarchy in September,
winning cordial approval
Pope Donates Mosaic.
The Pope has donated a full-size
mosaic of Murillo's Immaculate Con-
ception" as his gift to the high altar
of the church, and the Catholic clergy
of the United States are assoc.ating
themselves with him in erecting the
high altar, more than 1000 priests
having already made generous dona-
tions to the high altar fund.
The trustees of the university are
thirty in number, twenty archbishops
and bishops and ten prominent lay
men. They have confided the work
of the national shrine to committee
of their members, of which Archbishop
Dougherty of Philadelphia is chair
man. The other members of the COM
mittee are: Bishop Canevin of Pitts
burg, Bishop Shahan Of the Catholic
University, Mr.. Walter George Smith
and Mr.. James j. Ryan of Philadel-
phia.