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