Stories from the First Cathedral 55

During my first term as Dean of the Cathedral we were fortunate to host a concert of the Vienna Boys Choir. We were given the chance to provide the Cathedral as a venue by a faculty member of Shattuck-St. Mary's school who was in charge of the school's yearly concert series. Our venue was larger and we opened our space to the surrounding community. We packed over 600 people in the Nave of the Cathedral. My Dean's chair had to be moved so I watched the Vienna Boys choir perform from the pulpit. It was a wonderful, exciting, and festive occasion loved by all who attended!

Another such event happened June 24, 1869! "The Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour was officially consecrated on June 24, 1869. Bishop Jackson Kemper, in one of his last official acts, came from Wisconsin with his associate bishop, William Armitage, to preside over the ceremony. Bishop Henry Whitehouse of Illinois preached the sermon. Nearly all of the diocesan clergy took part, processing down the aisle, behind the bishops while reciting Psalm 24 antiphonally with Kemper. More than a thousand persons crammed into the church, filling the pews and side aisles, the empty organ chamber and the unfinished base of the bell tower. A choir of students from the schools sang, and flowers by the hundreds scented the sanctuary. The following day, Bishop Whipple ordained four men to the priesthood in a formal demonstration of the new Cathedral's proper purpose." (The Wilderness Shall Blossom: Henry Benjamin Whipple: Churchman, Educator, Advocate for the Indians by Ann Beiser Allen pgs 142-143.)

I am hoping during my second term as Dean of the First Cathedral we can host another post-pandemic event and fill the nave of the Cathedral!