We drove into the city today, so we could tour the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. It’s an amazing church!

I was very interested in the coat of arms over the door. I can’t quite identify it…I think it’s the diocesan coat of arms, impaled with the Cardinal’s personal coat of arms, and possibly something else as well, in addition to the papal regalia.

Speaking of the papal regalia, we also saw the umbraculum, the tintinnabulum, and the cathedra:

The children were amazed by the size and height of the pulpit…it’s pretty incredible!

There are several chapels in the Cathedral Basilica, which completely mystify the children:

There is also a crypt, which is the final resting place for Cardinals Glennon and Ritter, among others:

The real beauty of the Cathedral Basilica is the mosaics that grace nearly every surface. The mosaics cover 83,000 square feet, and have more than 8,000 shades of color in them (I didn’t know there were that many colors!). It took twenty artists 75 years to complete them all. They depict scenes from the Bible as well as church history, in addition to the many different crosses and patterns that are to be found. Photos really don’t capture how intricate and beautiful they are, as well as how much they gleam, even in a fairly darkened church.

The baptismal font was also ornate and beautiful:

After we toured the inside of the church, Turkey, Bunny, and I walked around the outside.

It was Turkey who noticed that they wings of this angel are made of wind chimes (I was too busy being scared to death by a nun to notice it myself…you can imagine how bad I felt!):

Even the back of the building is lovely:

It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon right before Christmas, and reflect on the true Reason for the season!