3  Days in New York City-2-6 to 2/8/2022

Day 3-St. Patrick Cathedral-2/8/2022

St. Patrick‘s Cathedral in New York City opened its doors in 1879 is the biggest neo-Gothic cathedral in the USA and was named after St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, in response to the increasing numbers of Irish immigrants in the city. St. Patrick cathedral is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The Cathedral is the seat of the Archdiocese of New York, and one of the City’s most popular landmarks, welcoming 5 million visitors each year from across the globe. For more than 130 years, St. Patrick's Cathedral has graced the City of New York as a house of prayer and a sanctuary in the heart of this great city.

Entering the Cathedral.

View of the center Nave from the main entrance.

Every year, more than one million candles are lit at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

The cathedral can seat 2,400 people

St. Patrick Cathedral is now heating and cooling with geothermal technology. The Cathedral is proud to be early adopters of a technology that will help reduce carbon footprint and serve as an environmentally sound model for others to consider. The geothermal system which is heating and cooling the cathedral costs $35 million now, but will translate to reduced energy costs in the coming decades.  The Cathedral could have opted for less expensive options, but they are committed to aligning their decisions with the health and well-being of future generations and the preservation of our planet.

The main altar is topped by a 57 foot bronze canopy called a baldachin, glitters gold against the white Marble arches contrasts with gorgeous stained glass windows in the background.

Stained glass windows on the side aisles of the Cathedral.   Unfortunately, no original windows survive in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral; the oldest windows date from the middle of the nineteenth century.

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32 tall white marble columns divide the center and side aisles.  The marble columns are  5 feet in diameter and are set up in sections weight in 8 tons each. 

The columns are 35 feet tall to the bottom of the arches that support the nave's ceiling.

The Cathedral has more than 2,800 stained glass panels.

Detailed of the ribbed vault ceiling.

There are 12 altars on the side aisles and located under the side aisles windowsills.

 The altars  have similar vaulted ceilings to the nave and each has its their own altars.

Ambulatory.

Altar of St. John the Baptist.

And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. “I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” – Mark 1:7-8

Another altar.

More altars along the side aisle.

Beautiful stained glass windows.

Marble pulpit was a gift from the clergy from 1888

Our lady of Guadalupe altar

Our Lady of Guadalupe, venerated by Mexicans, also has a special place inside the cathedral with an altar dedicated to this revered image. In 1999, Saint Pope John Paul II declared the Virgin of Guadalupe “Queen of the Americas.”

Side aisle.

More altars located on the side

The stained-glass windows were made by various artists hailing from the United States, England and France. There are a total of 94 stained-glass windows in the cathedral and their completion took place in the 1940s.

Pietà sculpture depicting Mary holding the dead body of her son Jesus by William Partridge was donated to St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1915.

The statue is 3 times larger than Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican, Rome. 

St. Elizabeth Altar

Glass wall in front of the Altar in Lady Chapel.

Robert J. Reiley commissioned Hildreth Meière to design an altar frontal for the Lady Chapel during a renovation of the Cathedral in 1941. Her Annunciation in inlaid marble, executed by Alexander Pelli and Company, relates to the Gothic architecture of the Lady Chapel.

St. Louis altar

Saint Sharble Makhlouf, Monk of the Lebanese Maronite order

St. Patrick grand Rose Window and the organ above the entrance door at the far end.

The Rose Window is one of 70 stained-glass windows in the cathedral.  The colorful work is 26 feet in size and features numerous angels. Below the window is one of the cathedral’s two organs containing 7,855 pipes ranging in length from thirty-two feet to one-half inch

Wooden portal with rose window on top.

We are now on our way out of the Cathedral.

In commemoration of Pope Paul VI visit to New York in 1979, a bronze bust of Pope Paul VI and Saint John Paul II are located near the cathedral’s entrance, which also features its two main front doors, also made of bronze and weighing 9,000 pounds (left).

The busts of Popes Benedict XVI and Francis were also added to commemorate their trips to the cathedral. The busts, each weighing about 250 pounds, were made by New York-based sculptor Carolyn Palmer

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