Photo courtesy of the Cathedral of the Incarnation
Spotlight On...
Cathedral of the Incarnation,
Nashville, TN
The Cathedral of the Incarnation is the second parish in the Diocese of Nashville. Construction of the cathedral began in 1910, lasted four and a half years and was formally dedicated on July 26, 1914.
The cathedral resembles a typical Roman basilica: rectangular in shape serving as a court of law during the Roman Empire. The exterior is comprised of yellow glazed brick and a red tile roof which was modeled after the church of San Martino ai Monti in Rome. The tower, rising 100 feet above the Cathedral, is a replica of St. Damase in Rome.
The cathedral interior is decorated in 13th-century Italian Renaissance style. Just two of the many beautiful features are the ceiling and clerestory windows. The ceiling is made of an ornamental plaster called rigalico. Upon the plaster, symbols associated with the death of Jesus are placed in the north end of the nave, while His birth is represented near the sanctuary on the south end. The clerestory windows were designed to provide light and to focus one's attention on the sanctuary. They include blue-flashed glass hand blown in France, antique lead crystal glass, a clear glass that forms a checkerboard effect, prisms and floral patterns made from glass paint. On sunny days, the prisms cast rainbows throughout the Cathedral.
Catholic newspapers in their editorial pages have strongly and consistently criticized the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services since its Jan. 20 announcement that there will be no change to a narrowly drawn religious exemption to a new federal mandate that all private employers provide no-cost contraception and sterilization in their health care plans. The HHS said [...]
Here is the text of 'Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization,' Pope Benedict XVI's message for this year's World Communications Day, marked in most dioceses the Sunday before Pentecost, which this year is May 20. The message was released Jan. 24, the feast of St. Francis de Sales. Dear Brothers and Sisters, As we draw near to [...]
VATICAN CITY ' The Vatican doesn't hold back when it celebrates today's feast day of St. Francis de Sales ' patron saint of journalists and writers. The Vatican press hall held an impromptu party serving spumante, chocolates and Italian panettone cake, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications held a special Mass for journalists, and then [...]
In a winter that has only sporadically come close to normal cold temperatures, 'real' winter made an unfortunately timed appearance Jan 21. The season's first measurable snow, with an extra coating of ice, arrived in time to ensure a handful of activists got a serious chilling for their Polar Bear Plunge into the Potomac River. [...]
Did you know there are Catholics in Bangladesh? Oblate Father Andrew Small, head of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, won?t get to visit all 344,000 Catholics, but he is visiting as many as he can during a weeklong visit to the predominantly Muslim Asian nation. You can read about Father Small?s visit [...]