Originally published at National Catholic Register
Salt Lake City — the locale for SEEK25 (along with Washington, D.C.), the annual FOCUS conference being livestreamed on EWTN this week — is home to the only cathedral in the United States (and in the world) dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene.
The Cathedral of the Madeleine was constructed by Bishop Lawrence Scanlan, Salt Lake’s first bishop. If all the people present at its dedication on Aug. 15, 1909, were able to see the cathedral today, they would find the neo-Romanesque exterior practically the same, except for a few later-20th-century changes such as the tympanum added above the main entrance, a new roof and newer gargoyles.
Cathedral of the Madeleine exterior(Photo: Kevin Buehler/courtesy of the Cathedral of the Madeleine)Kevin Buehler – All Rights Reserved
But the neo-Gothic interior would hold several surprises for a number of early parishioners. Much of the extensive artwork that began being added to the plain inside in 1917 under Bishop Joseph Glass, the diocese’s second bishop, would still be familiar — but not the changes made especially during the major restoration and remodeling from 1991 to 1993. Several original aspects were conserved, but a symphony of color was added, in the restored murals and stained
