WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 31, 5 February 1910, Page 9

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL.

A XOBLE CHURCH EDIFICE. Our cables the other day announced the consecration of the Roman Catholic Cathtdral at Westminster in June next. The following description of this noble church edifice will be read with interest: — The first stone of this Byzantine Cathedral, designed by Mr. John Francis Bentley (who died March 2, 1002), was laid June 20, 1895. From Ascension Daj - , 1902, the hall adjoining the Cathedral was used daily for High Mass, and for the chanting or recital of the Divine Office; and on I/ady Day, 1903, one of the chapels of the Cathedral (the future Lady Chapel) was screened off from the main building, to be used temporarily as a parochial or mission chapel. The Cathedral was first opened temporarily for the Requiem and funeral services of its great founder, Cardinal Vaughan, who died June 19, 1903; and, though still unfinished, it was, without any special opening ceremony, again occupied for daily use at Christmas, 1903. The Catnedral consists of a noble porch; a narthex, or vestibule; a campanile, called "St. Edward's Tower"; a nave and two aisles, with, transepts, a ■baptistery, and eight aide chapels; a sanctuary, 4J feet above the level of the nave, having on one side the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament', and on the other side the Lady Chapel; beyond the sanctuary an apsidal choir, raised 13 feet above the nave, with a crypt beneath it; over the aisles and at the west end, capacious tribunes cr galleries; and, behind the Lady Chapel, two large sacristies, and rooni3 connected with them. The dimensions are —externally: extreme length 300 feet; width 156, height of nave 117, height of facade (not including the turrets) 99, height of campanile 273, and to the top of the cross 254 feet Internall}-, the dimensions are: length from the main entrance to the sanctuary 232 feet, depth of the sanctuary 02, and of the raised choir beyond it 4S—making a total internal length of 342 fee!; width oi nave 60, width across nave and aisles 08, across nave and isles and side chapels 14S, height of the main arches of the nave 90, and of its three domes 112 feet.

With the exception of the mosaic in the grea-t entrance aroh of the west front, the exterior is now complete. In the inferior, two of the side cha-pels are finished; the marble and bronze work has been done in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, and the marble work in the Lady Chapel; the Archbishop's throne and the marble front of the .sanctuary have been erected, and the upper part of the sanctuary paved with marble; the noble baldachino of marble and mosaic, supported by eight columns, has been erected over the high altar; and there is a fine recumbent statue of Cardinal \aughan, together with some beautiful marble work, in the Chantry Ohapel, and much work has 'been done to the Mortuary Chapel of St. Edmund in the crypt, which contains the tombs of Cardinal Wiseman and Cardinal Manning.

The expenditure, including payments for the Cathedral Hall and the cloisters, has amounted (September, 1909) to £252,523. There is still money remaining for a few special purposes, including two of the chapels; but on the general ■building account there is a deficit, on. ■which interest has to be paid.