Most Beautiful Church

  • Thread starter Thread starter JKirkLVNV
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
does anyone know if they use all of the side chapels at the national basilica? because if they did, they would face the altar. i imagine some “progressive” priests and bishops think side altars are too mideval. i surprised it’s such a traditional church unlike what mahony did in los angels. they even built a high altar too. but they probably don’t use that either.

if FSSP could run that church or the monks of clear creek, all of the side altars would be used.
 
St. Mary’s in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, qualifies for both beautiful and ugly.

It was an beautiful old church, and they expanded it by knocking down the wall behind the alter and adding a seating area there. So now you can go there and sit in this gorgious church with beautiful sculpted walls, moving stained glass images, and a super-elevated ambo, or you can sit in this ugly cinder block room with stained glass windows that are nothing but colored squares and rectangles.

If you sit in the old area you get to look at the priest’s back, which is kind of traditional for the Eucharistic Prayer but you also only see the backs of the readers.
 
I would have to say that the most beautiful Catholic Churches are those few that have not been torn apart in the “spirit of Vatican II.” In other words, the high altar remains with the tabernacle front and center, no Protestant “table,” a crucifix in the sanctuary, the altar rail still standing (and used) and lots of beautiful stained glass and statues around the church for all to see.

I would add that the sweet smell of incense should always be in the air.

Just a few thoughts from a former Protestant who continues to shake his head at the continuing down hill slide of Holy Mother Church over the past 40 years!
 
40.png
JKirkLVNV:
Impressive photos and an impressive website! We share a favorite prayer (I’m having a portion of it carved on my headstone) and a favorite hero in Fray Junipero Serra, may God hasten the day when he is raised fully to the honors of the altar. You are also blessed to live in one of the most beautiful parts of God’s world, IMHO. I’ve spent every vacation in CA for the last 4 years and I’ve never seen anyplace more beautiful than Santa Barbara and Ventura, with Fray Junipero’s missions. I’m going to San Luis Obispo, Monterey, and Carmel this June, so I’ll get the chance to pray at his grave.
Click to expand...
When you visit God’s Country, be sure to drive Highway 1 between San Luis Obispo and Monterey. While on Highway 1, stop for the Mass at the New Camaldoli Hermitage. It’s an awesome experience:

contemplation.com/Hermitage/community.html

While Santa Barbara is one of my favorite places in the entire world, Ventura cannot hold a candle to the Central Coast.

Finally, if you want to experience the very epicenter of God’s Country, be sure to take 17 Mile Drive on the coast of Monterey. They’ll charge you as you enter (it’s actually a state park) but it truly is Heaven on Earth.
 
Check out the church links on this site

I thought the pictures on St. Albertus were particularly beautiful.
Be sure to take the virtual tours of these churches.

And, for smaller parish churches,
these
 
Has anyone been to St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow? Or does anyone know of virtual tours on the Cathedral on-line?

I’m with Katherine2 on the Cathedral in St. Louis. Breathtaking mosaics!!

Fiat
 
I live in the DC area and would have to agree that some parts of the National Shrine don’t quite do it for me. They do use some of the side chapels. There is a beautiful chapel for Our Lady of Lourdes and there is even a side chapel in the crypt level that is for Eastern rite Catholics and has an iconostasis. I even think there is a Latin mass in the afternoon in one of the side chapels. One of the most beautiful churches I have been to in this country is one I mentioned on another thread, St Mary’s Oratory in Wausau, WI. It is the home base for the US-based priests of the indult order, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Here are some pictures. The statue in the middle was actually unearthed somewhere, refurbished, and is about 500 years old if I’m not mistaken.

institute-christ-king.org/wausau/galleryDetail.cfm?id=111

institute-christ-king.org/wausau/galleryDetail.cfm?id=112

The side altars, which are also fantastic, aren’t seen in these pictures, unfortunately. The bishop consecrating the place in the first picture is Bishop Raymond Burke before he became Archbishop of St. Loius. The order recently took over St. Gelasius in Chicago which was scheduled for the wrecking ball and will be pouring about $5.5 million into the place to make it look fantastic as well. They go through a foundation called the Scholtz Family Foundation, which provides money for the rehabilitation (NOT “wreckovation”) of churches.
 
I have been to the outside of Saint Basil’s, not the inside although I did find this website which has an interior panoramic view.

mirabilis.ca/archives/001436.html

For my money, the churches insided the Kremlin were just as beautiful. This site has some exterior views:

moscow-taxi.com/sightseeing/kremlin/index.asp

Interior views are to be found at these sites below. Just go halfway down the page. The second link is to a sample interior of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Moscow.
worldisround.com/articles/18801/%between%
worldisround.com/articles/18801/photo52.html
 
Regarding the Mary Queen of the Univese Shrine in Orlando, I think it’s probably the nicest in the Orlando area architecture wise. However, from a traditional point of view there are many modernist elements - e.g. the table, and so called “pulpit.” Not to mention some questionable (to put it nicely) things have gone on there - Lutherans using the Shrine to ordain their bishop, Catholic Masses that had altar dancers, etc.

I love St. John Cantius church in Chicago. I wish we had such a church in Orlando with a nice church building, and a variety of liturgies (NO English, NO Latin, and Traditional Latin Mass). Truely, a model for all churches.
 
Would agree w/ St Matthew’s in DC…
also… there is an overlooked gem to be found just off I70 in Victoria, KS. It’s called Cathedral of the Plains. Built by immigrant Volga Germans shortly after the turn of last century from native limestone quarried entirely by hand, loaded onto horse drawn carts, hauled miles into town. It’s an awesome display of the settlor’s committment to their Faith.
 
The first cathedral in the US isn’t too shabby either. It’s also got a really long name: The Basilica of the National Shrine Of The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
When the Baltimore Cathedral was dedicated on May 31, 1821, it was on of the most architecturally original cathedrals in the world and heralded a “new movement” in cathedral building. Today it is considered one of the finest 19th century buildings in the world and Latrobe’s masterpiece.
Click to expand...
baltimorebasilica.org/index2.html
 
40.png
drforjc:
Check out the church links on this site

I thought the pictures on St. Albertus were particularly beautiful.
Be sure to take the virtual tours of these churches.

And, for smaller parish churches,
these
Click to expand...
Yes.my favorite local churches! Now just to get them overflowing with faithful!!😦
 
I’ll agree about St. Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan.

I must mention the Sacred Heart Basilica in Newark (formerly a cathedral, elevated to basilica after the visit of JPII)
Special mention goes to my own parish church, Our Saviour in Manhattan. We are actually in the midst of a restoration, which has resulted most recently in the installation of magnificent icons which took my breath away when I first entered. (The icons were the most memorable thing, natch, of all the Russian churches I’ve visited).
here’s George Weigel naming Our Saviour as his first in a list of great Catholic places in America. archden.org/dcr/news.php?e=113&s=3&a=2601
The secret is, the spirit is being restored along with the edifice.
Sto lat Fr. Rutler!
 
I was once at Mass at Our Savior in Manhattan. Lovely church and excellent choir as I remember. Its in Murray Hill, right?
 
My favorite outside the US is the Cathederal in Toledo, Spain. My favorite inside the US is the old cathederal in St. Louis.

Peace

Tim
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top