My day at the Cathedral

Today was the presentation of Catholic Boy Scouting awards for our archdiocese. Last year, I was a co-counselor teaching the Pope Pius XII religious award to a group of scouts, seen here.

The cathedral, St. Peter in Chains, is built in a neo-classical Greek revival style, with a Corinthian-style colonnade in the interior, Latin inscriptions, and a large mosaic of Christ in a toga.

Christ is handing Peter the keys (of the Church, to the gates of heaven, etc) and the triple crown of the papacy floats above Peter's head. The two scenes below are images of Peter in prison in Jerusalem and Rome. The inscription is: "Et Petrus Quidem Servabatur in Carcere vinctus catenis", "and Peter was therefore kept in prison... bound with chains" (Acts 12:5).

The stations of the cross are also done in a Greek motif, using the black and white figures on a red clay background, drawing inspiration from ancient Hellenic pottery:
To give an idea of scale, the stations are 26 ft high, and 11 ft wide.




I really enjoyed seeing ancient art used to depict the Passion; I had been used to seeing more "traditional" art forms used, although St. Lawrence has icons done in a Byzantine style. Cincinnati itself is named after the Roman general Cincinnatus, who saved Rome from the Aequians in 450 BC. He is considered the model of Roman virtue - he served his country briefly, and without ambition.

And, for everybody, the DPOTD:
Cheers!!