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Show j CHEYENNE, WY0. j With all the pomp and ceremony of the Catholic church, in the presence of hundreds of reverent people, the fine new St. Mary'a Cathedral was solemnly dedicated last Sunday. To Right Rev. Maurice Burke, first bishop of Wyom-ir.g, Wyom-ir.g, fell the honor of celebrating the solemn pontifical high mass, and the most eloquent sermon was delivered by Right Rev. Bishop Carroll of Montana. The new cathedral, of which the zealous zeal-ous prelate of Wyoming. Right Rev. J. J. Keane, is justly proud, is certainly a monument to which the Catholics of Bishop Keane's diocese turn with rapt reverence and earnest devotion. The music for the services, which was composed of many of the best voices of the city, materially assisted in making the exercises a success. Under the ef- ficlent direction of Mrs. Susan F. Ca-hiil, Ca-hiil, special music had been carefully prepared. The evening services and benediction were celebrated by Bishop Lenehan, and Bishop Garrigan preached the sermon. ser-mon. Hundreds were turned away from the church, as it was packed to the doors. Messrs. Dinecn, Hopkins, Horisky, Crowley, Bon, Muller, Carroll, Car-roll, Conley, Keeley and Troastle acted as ushers in handling the big crowd. The following from the Cheyenne (Wyo.) Tribune will prove interesting to all Catholics of this western country: coun-try: Tie farewell mass was celebrated at old St. Mary's at 9 o'clock by Right Rev. M. T. Lenihan. who also delivered the sermon, the choir being furnished by the convent children. The bishop discoursed on the many pleasant reminiscences remi-niscences the old church called forth, and the relucance many would have on leaving it for the new cathedral. The service was largely attended by those who wished to assist at mass in the building where they were wont to seek spiritual solace for so many years. Old St. Mary's was built in 1878 to take the place of the wooden structure on West Twenty-first street, between O'Neil and Thomes street, built by the pioneer priests. Father Kelley, who re-recently re-recently died at Omaha. When Father Kelley arrived at Cheyenne the railway had just reached here and the Magic City of the plains was too busy making mak-ing a name for itself as a "wild and wooley" place to lend much aid to the establishing of a church. But Father Kelley it appears was able to meet any condition, and after laboring for a while among the railway builders, cattlemen and the few merchants of those days, was able to secure enough support from these hardy pioneers to enable him to erect his modest wooden church and claim the famous metropolis, me-tropolis, which was the rendezvous for some of the most notorious characters char-acters in the country, for his church. The city in those days (1S67-69) was mostly in the-west part of town in the Crow creek bottoms, and St. John's, as the church was then known, bore witness that there was a good element in the character of the men who blazed the trail in the west. Cheyenne slowly outgrew St. John's, and endeavoring endeav-oring to keep pace with its material development, St. Mary's was erected during the pastorate of Father John Hayes, and old St. John's was turned-into turned-into a school conducted by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, who had come here to attend to the educational wants of the parish. After the sisters moved into their present convent the church was abandoned and was either destroyed by fire or removed to the south side and remodeled into a. residence. resi-dence. It is not known exactly what the disposition of it was. Diocese of Cheyenne. Previous to this time Wyoming had been under the Jurisdiction of Bishop John O'Connor of Omaha, and for the better interests of the Wyoming churches the diocese of Cheyenne was established in 1887, with Right Rev. Maurice F. Burke as the first bishop, with six priests scattered throughout the state, and a population of 25,000. Bishop Burke was succeeded by Bishop Lenihan in 1897. and terminated in 1901 by his death, due somewhat to living in this high mountain region. Bishop Keane was then appointed to the Cheyenne diocese from St. Paul, Minn., and after looking the state over caused all the churches to be incorporated in-corporated under the state law. Progress Pro-gress was the watchword, and a new- era of prosperity was dawning in the west then, and with industrial activities activi-ties came an influx of settlers, and the 'zealous bishop struggled to meet the new conditions, and he has been rewarded re-warded by seeing eight new churches dedicated to God in Wyoming last year; and yesterday .resulted in . the most important event of all when the dedication of the cathedral was witnessed by some of the pioneer Catholics who also remembered the humble beginning of Father Kelley's little church In a village that held no promise of ever being anything but a temporary camp. The New Cathedral. The new cathedral dedicated yesterday yester-day is a fine example of the modern English Gothic, which style has recently recent-ly been adopted for church buildings throughout the country. The Gothic style has been carried throughout its entire construction, being without any curved lines in any part. The corner stone was laid July 7. 1908, and has been in the course of erection since then. The plans are the work of Fisher Fish-er & Lowery, architects of Omaha, and the construction., has been under the supervision of Mr. William Dubois of this city. Moses P. Keefe, the well known contractor, did the buildine. and the cathedral adds another to the large list of beautiful buildings he has constructed. The cathedral has a seating seat-ing capacity of about 900, all on one ' floors which is slightly elevated, so that a perfect view is obtained of the altar, thereby dispensing with the pulpit. pul-pit. It has three entrances main front, side front and a private entrance in the rear, facilitating the emptying of the church. When the interior decorations, decora-tions, electrical fixtures, organ and stained glass windows are Installed the total cost of the cathedral will be about $125,000. The cathedral is In an Ideal location on Capitol avenue and forms a chain of fine public buildings from the depot to the state house, and can easily be reached from any portion of the city. It is entirely constructed of Wyoming Wyom-ing white sandstone, and as there is very little wood used in the building, It is practically fireproof. The large arches spanning the roof are a composition com-position of steel and concrete, with oak trimming. Receding from the m.-n auditorium are two wings In whiah are galleries, under which are the confessionals. con-fessionals. There are three altars, very ornamental and highly finished in white, pink and gold. Adjoining the sacristy are the vestment rooms, which are large and commodious. The pewa are of oak. natural finish, and are laid in two rows, making three aisles. The cathedral is a very imposing building, both from inside and out appearances, appear-ances, and besides being a beautiful house of worship is also an ornament to the city, and would do credit to a much larger community. . Receding in, harmony, with the Ca- negje library from the cathedral is the bishop's residence, a very fine brick building, with stone trimmings. Mrs. Elizabeth C. Boland died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. James Horn, at Granite canyon, Thursday, Jan. 29, at the age of 70 years 11 months and 1 day. She leaves to mourn her loss five sons and three daughters. The remains re-mains were brought to Cheyenne Sunday Sun-day afternoon. The funeral took place Monday morning, Feb. 1, at 9 o'clock, from St. Mary's cathedral. Mrs. Boland is the mother of E. J. Boland, former roadmaster of the Union Pacific of this place. Interment was in the Catholic cemetery. |