Солт-Лейк Ситидегі Магдалена соборы

Historic church in Salt Lake City, Utah, U. S.

The Cathedral of the Madeleine is a Roman Catholic church in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was completed in 1909 and is the cathedral, or mother church, of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. It is the only cathedral in the U. S. under the patronage of St. Mary Magdalene.

The cathedral was built of sandstone in the shape of a cross under the direction of Lawrence Scanlan, the first bishop of Salt Lake City, who dedicated it to St. Mary Magdalene. It was designed by architects Carl M. Neuhausen and Bernard O. Mecklenburg. The exterior is predominantly a Neo Romanesque design, while the inside displays more Neo Gothic details. Construction began in 1900 and was completed in 1909. It was dedicated by James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore. It is theorized that Bishop Scanlan chose Mary Magdalene as the patron saint of the Diocese of Salt Lake because her feast day is on July 22, two days before Pioneer Day, a celebration commemorating the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in Salt Lake Valley, so that Catholics would have something to celebrate alongside the region's dominant faith. The interior of the cathedral was created under the direction of Joseph S. Glass, the second bishop of Salt Lake. Bishop Glass enlisted John Theodore Comes, one of the preeminent architects in the country, to decorate the interior of the cathedral. His plans for the interior were largely based upon the Spanish Gothic style. The colorful murals and polychrome were added at this time, as were the ornate shrines. In 1916, Bishop Glass also changed the name of the cathedral to the French spelling after visiting her purported tomb. Resting atop the tomb is a case containing a small relic of Saint Mary Magdalene. The cathedral in Salt Lake City and the Basilica of Saint Maximin la Sainte Baume in France are the only cathedrals in the world holding first class relics of the saint and are named in her honor. The major restoration of the interior of the cathedral was accomplished through the vision of Monsignor M. Francis Mannion. The cathedral is home to the only co educational Catholic Choir School in the United States. The Madeleine Choir School, established in 1996, now serves over 400 students in Pre Kindergarten through Grade Eight. The Cathedral Choir has recorded several CDs and routinely tours both nationally and internationally. In addition to singing daily services at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, choristers have sung at St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City), Notre Dame de Paris (France), and in churches across the United States of America, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, and Germany, among other places. Composer Amédée Tremblay notably served as the church's organist from 1920 to 1925.