Sometimes words are not necessary.
Man can express love and adoration for the mystery of God through exquisite works of art and stunning edifices. The Church’s rich history of sacred art and architecture can turn minds to the truths of faith in a language accessible only to sight.
This summer, the Denver Archdiocese is inviting faithful to take a walk through the sometimes inexpressible beauty of art and architecture found along the Front Range.
The archdiocese’s 2014 Art and Architecture Walk includes seven sites selected for faithful to explore the sacred side of art and architecture.
Adoration chapel at St. John the Evangelist Church The newly-constructed Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel at this Loveland parish was selected for its artistic theological expression of Scripture and the Church’s mission. Former parochial vicar Father José María Quera, an architect from Spain, designed the perpetual adoration chapel that is the first of its kind in northern Colorado.
The chapel highlights a neoclassical design with seven exterior recessed pillars between Spanish alabaster windows. The outside is shaped like a ship, referring to the Church’s mission, and led at the helm by a figure of St. John the Evangelist.
Inside, two angels are engraved in white marble panels around the monstrance to symbolize their protection of the Ark of the Covenant, as described in the Book of Exodus. The tabernacle is formed by three triangular pieces to symbolize the Trinity and two gold pillars that represent the humanity and divinity of Christ.
Archbishop Samuel Aquila blessed the chapel in December 2013. It is open to the public between 8 a.m.-4 p.m. daily.
Visitor question: In the foyer of the chapel is a copper water font engraved with five symbols of the faith. What are these symbols?
Icons in Holy Protection of the Mother of God Byzantine Church This cozy Byzantine Catholic Church in Denver is home to symbolically-rich Eastern icons, typically painted as two-dimensional religious images considered windows to heaven. At the center of the church and behind its altar is an icon of the Mother of God called the Virgin Orans, also known as The Great Panagia. The image can be traced to Ukraine in the 12th century. It depicts Mary with outstretched hands and the child Jesus in a circular “mandorla,” symbolizing his presence in her womb. The Virgin and child are depicted with graceful lines, solemn expressions, and an attitude of prayer, suggesting the priestly role of Mary in bringing Christ into the world.
Visitor question: What biblical event is depicted in the icon located in the arch above the altar?
St. Catherine of Siena Church The building itself of this Denver parish is one of the loveliest churches in town with breathtakingly beautiful brick and stone underneath massive exposed ceiling beams. The interior stained glass windows honor popes and St. Frances Cabrini, a favorite among the Italian parishioners who founded the church. A massive square bell tower flanks the outside and arches to the entrance of the church are done in gold foil.
The more than 100-year-old church was once nicknamed “the carnival parish” for its famous three-day sensational events that attracted more than 5,000 to its grounds. Even the Ku Klux Klan could not stop the lucrative carnival that raised enough funds to build the new church in 1913.
Visitor question: Whose image is depicted in the rose window that faces Federal Boulevard?
Stained glass windows at Annunciation Church This old-fashioned church boasts being one of the most untouched Romanesque Revival buildings in Denver. The traditional Gothic interior is most renowned for its 34 stained-glass windows created by the famous Munich, Germany, artist Franz Mayer, who also provided stained glass for the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception downtown. In 2010, one vandalized window required six months of work before it was restored. Protective shields were placed over all the windows and other repairs were made.
The church also boasts of a 25-foot-high altar, Carrara marble, golden oak pews and florid capitals carrying vaulted ceilings. In 1988, the church and rectory were used in filming the TV series “Father Dowling Mysteries.”
Visitor question: Which stained glass window depicting Christ required repair after it was vandalized in 2010?
Grotto at Our Lady of Lourdes Church This Denver parish’s first construction project was an outdoor shrine made in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes. The first pastor Father Damen McCaddon organized the “Rocks of Lourdes” club comprised of some 200 volunteers who began constructing a 35-foot-high stone shrine and outdoor altar in 1947. Workers hauled large rocks from Golden near Mount Olivet Cemetery to the site that has the shrine near Iliff Avenue and South Logan Street. The grotto took 624 tons of stone and steel, 101 tons of gravel and 1,500 sacks of cement to build. Inside is a statue of Mary, who appeared to St. Bernadette and announced to her that she was the Immaculate Conception. In 1949, the shine was dedicated with water from Lourdes, France.
Visitor question: What saint statue is depicted kneeling before Mary inside the grotto?
St. Peter Church This Gothic-style church in Greeley is notable for its rusticated white stone and gray manganese brick exterior that is decorated with a variety of Gothic, rose and roundel windows. The church is an echo of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris that also features two bell towers on either side of the church. Inside visitors will find soaring rib-vaulted ceilings and elegant furnishings with graceful arches. Parishioners will boast of the church’s unique Stations of the Cross made out of wool and dyed with plants from New Mexico.
Visitor question: When was the cornerstone of the church laid?
Art and Architecture Walk The Denver Archdiocese’s summer Art and Architecture Walk is an opportunity for faithful to visit seven notable sites of beautiful and historic art and architecture. See the graphic with addresses and contact information below. Participants are invited to answer the questions listed for each site in the story above and submit them to the Denver Catholic Register. Email answers and share photos with the Register by emailing info@archden.org. For questions and more information, call 303-715-3230.