Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul, Minnesota

Southwest view of the Cathedral:  the sanctuary dome is on the left, surrounded by the smaller domed
Shrines of the Nations.  Center front is the Chapel of St. Peter, and on the right is the South Entrance,
with the south Rose Window and the three South Transept windows.

Our second stop during our visit to St. Paul was the Cathedral of St. Paul, which has many beautiful stained glass windows, 18 of which were designed by Charles J. Connick:

1. Two lunettess, at the entrance of the St. Joseph and Blessed Virgin Mary chapels 
2. Three rose windows
3. Six transept windows (three on each transept)
4. Seven windows above the sanctuary, depicting the seven sacraments

I will be dividing my description into two separate blog posts (linked here):

1. The transept windows, including the Rose windows in the transepts
2. The chapel lunettes, East Rose Window, and the sanctuary windows

In preparation for our visit, I watched the virtual tour of the Cathedral, available online; I highly recommend this series of videos; in addition, the self-guided tour booklet (available at the Cathedral) is also very useful to understanding the various artistic treasures of the church.

While the first mass was celebrated in this building in 1915, the interior decoration took many more years to complete; in fact, it was not ready for consecration until 1958.  The desire of those planning, building, and decorating the church was to "inspire those who worship with her walls to go out with charity and fervor to evangelize the society in which they live and work" (Self-guided tour booklet, p.1).

The Cathedral houses many inspirational treasures, including mosaics, carvings, statues, and lovely stained glass made by other artists.  

Copy of Michaelangelo's Pieta
  in the Founder's Chapel

In the narthex, for example, the Founder's Chapel houses a lovely, exact copy of Michelangelo's "Pieta," made of bonded marble from a mold of the original in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  The statue shows the Virgin Mary holding the body of her son Jesus after his death.

Another notable series of stained glass appears in the Shrine of Nations, a series of six chapels along the ambulatory behind the sanctuary.  

Each chapel honors the spiritual heritage of the immigrant peoples who settled in the St. Paul area.  Each chapel contains a central marble statue of a saint associated with a particular individual associated with a particular culture -- for example, St. Patrick represents Irish immigrants.  

Each statue is flanked by full-sized stained glass windows depicting other saints from the same culture.  In the Irish chapel, for example, St. Patrick is flanked by stained glass windows of St. Columbian and Saint Bridget.  

These windows were designed by Bancel La Farge, son of the famous artist John La Farge, who, along with Tiffany, developed the use of opalescent glass in the late 19th century.

In the basement, we found a Lego version of the Cathedral!  Currently it sits in a glass box at the base of the southeast stairwell.

We also visited the basement museum and were able to see some of the casts used for the Evangelist statues. 

 The museum includes a model of the original log cabin chapel built by Father Lucien Galtier in 1841.  

The current cathedral building is the fourth iteration; the cornerstone for the current building was laid on June 2, 1907, and the first mass was celebrated here on Palm Sunday, 1915.

As we walked along the basement hall, we found  these three casts of the angel choir (see below) which were used for the bronze casting of the intricate grill surrounding the sanctuary.

Casts of some of the angel musicians, used for the bronze grill surrounding the sanctuary.  
Located in the back hallway in the basement, near the Museum entrance.