The beautiful church thread: please post photos / links to beautiful Catholic churches!

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This was the fourth church I visited while I was in St. Louis, the College Parish of St. Francis Xavier on the campus of St. Louis Universtiy. The only caveat is that the tabernacle is very hard to find and the altar is not very impressive. It is small. Nonetheless, the interior is amazing. This chapel, as they call it, is bigger than some of the parishes in my diocese.

Here is the picture:

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/06IQgHfen3bdQ/610x.jpg

We went to go see the inside and were lucky enough to walk in right before a wedding began. The statuary is beautiful.
 
San Antonio also has several missions that still operate as churches. This is Mission Concepcion. Inasmuch as it might look a little plain, it is simple and beautiful, a lot more than I can say for the modern church in Rome:

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I haven’t been there, but, I have been to Mission San Jose. This is what it looks like on the inside:



Many folks forget that the Alamo was a Catholic mission. In fact, its original name was San Antonio de Valero. If you go inside, you can definitely see that the layout is very much that of a church.
 
I’ m glad the old and new cathedrals in St. Louis have been mentioned (although having visited them, let me just say the pictures do not do them justice … you MUST go visit).

But I would also like to add to this thread my own parish, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

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Again, the picture really does not do the place justice. (If you’re looking for the Tabernacle, it’s kind of hard to see from that angle, but if you look down by the feet of Jesus on the crucifix, that dove is right on top of the Tabernacle.)
 
I like this one, Saviour of the World Chinese Catholic Church in Toronto, very simple and elegant.



 
Well it looks sterile. Was the Crucifix depicting our Savior scraped from the plans.
 
Westminister Cathedral (Catholic), England



Sainte Anne-de-Beaupré, Québec, Canada

http://photos.igougo.com/images/p78528-Quebec_City-Statue_of_Ste_Anne.jpg

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/2664863.jpg

Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0bBSejv52j913/610x.jpg

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Sanctuary of Our Lady of Licheń, Poland

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e8/Stary_Lichen.jpg

 
St. Francis of Assisi Church in Davao City, Philippines

A Nature loving Catholics haven. Garden Wedding Venue for Catholics.

 
These are some pictures of the church I grew up in. In it, five generations of my family have been Baptised, made their First Communions, been Confirmed, were married and had Funeral Masses celebrated for. It recently celebrated it’s 150th Anniversary. I’m lucky that I am still able to attend Masses there during the summer months. I will say, that although I have been to most of the great Cathedrals in Europe and North America, to me this is the most beautiful Catholic Church in the world. It’s home!
The pictures were taken last summer during a Mass celebrated by the Archbishop as part of seminarian appreciation day.

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8751/stfxil8.jpg

This picture was taken from only a third of the way back from the sanctuary. It is a very long main aisle. On the side walls, you can see the original Stations of the Cross. The beautiful statues in their niches remain where they always were.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/3720/mainaltarep3.jpg

The same view of the sanctuary but from a bit closer up.

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/2580/stfrancisxavierya9.jpg

This is a good view of the original Main Altar, made of white marble. If you look closely, you can see the Last Supper carved into the marble below the altar table, directly under the Tabernacle.

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/2940/altarhv4.jpg

Great care was taken to ensure that the new Main Altar was in harmony with the old one. The same kind of marble was used and in fact, the carvings were done by a descendent of the original artist.

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4471/lecternis0.jpg

The ambo also was made of the same marble and I included this picture just to show how much loving care was taken during the re-ordering of the sanctuary.
There were no “wreckovations” of this church. The massive pipe organ is still high up in its’ loft and the four old wooden confessionals are still at the back of the nave.
 
Here’s a modern church in the Archdiocese of Rome that I actually think looks nice. Sure, it’s a little plain, but it is aesthetically pleasing.

AIA
Here is the exterior design of that church

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ST. MARGARET CATHOLIC CHURCH
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