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Show A GKEATSmuCTURE 'THE BIG CHURCH OF THE LITTLE iCITY OF JASPER. An Ii3iueiiB naillis That lias Been lor Thirt jr-elsht Years In , Course of Kroctlon b, Rnfrpetlo Catholics of Dubois County, Iud. The little city of Jasper, capital of Dubois Du-bois county, I nd., has a church structure v. liich is po largo that almost any one t.f the Indianapolis churches could be : jluced inside, steeple and all. This I immense structure, dedicated as St I Joseph's, has enough stone in its struc- ture to build around a city of 13,000 or f M.iW Inhabitants a wall four feet high :1 ;,!ul two feet thick, and the amount of I lumber used in the roof alone would be ; I f.uilicient to build many homes. Though ; this preat edilice cost one-tenth as r.iuch as the statehouse, It was built by ' I f . Catholics of one of the. smallest II counties of the state of Indiana, and j tcday it stands without a single cent of j indebtedness against it. . ; Three years after the civil war closed I Father Fidel is Maute began the erec-I erec-I i"U ef St. Joseph's. On Sept. 14, 18GS, I ;:hop St. Palais laid the cornerstone. I After the death of Father Maute the j I work was taken up by Father Basil I I lleusler. who expects to complete tho . I structure in 190.", when 37 years of I continuous work have been occupied in , 1 its erection. Except for the ornamenta- ) I ti-ui. the materials used in the con- j fj struction of St. Joseph's were prepared 1 and put in place by members of the I congregation, who for three decades j f have been making sacrifices of all I kinds to realize the ambition of their I lives, Besides the vast amount of la- j I bnr contributed SS0,00 in cash has j i 'vvn raise(1- If twecn ?2."i.000 and $."0.- i 1 I Ono more will be necessary to complete j 1 the work. ! I When Father Maute conceived the I iiloa of the great structure, he was nns- I i"us that it be buiit in a most substan- ; tial manner, and certainly his wishes have been followed. The roof is supported sup-ported by huge trees, the largest in southern Indiana, that serve as im-' im-' posing 00 foot columns. The roof structure is composed of forest trees used as rafters and braces- Between the outer roof and the ceiling there is over 1.000.000 feet of the finest hard wood in the state. There is besides an immense amount of stone in the structure. struc-ture. The story is that after the farmers farm-ers had hauled stone for months and had all the surrounding Gelds covered " ' they thought there was enough for the entire structure. Instead there was ou-ly ou-ly half enough for the foundation. The foundation and walls of the church went up under the direction of , Father Maute, who after preaching the serinon Sunday morning announced, who had been selected to work during tho coming week. By this means about one-seventh of the entire congregation labored each week. Father Maute not only assigned the men to work, but he, the busiest, directed it all. Year after year this continued until gradually the f-tructure took shape. The dimensions of St. Joseph's are 1:j by 90 feet. From the foundation j To the eaves it is G7 feet, and from the j floor on the interior to the ceiling it is ft feet. The walls are 4 and 6 feet thick. The steeple when completed will be 200 feet high. In it is a bell , which, with its hangings, weighs eight f tons. Its sonorous and grand voice can l-f heard w'th a favorable breeze at ('destine, 10 miles east of Jasper, and r.t Ferdinand, 12 miles south. ! , The church, though the seating ar- j rnngements have not been completed, . run seat 2.000 people, and another 1,000 cm stand on the lower floor of the fc'ruct ure. Father Basil lleusler, now in charge of the pastorate, is doing all he can to beautify the great structure left unfinished unfin-ished by old Father Maute. Besides putting in a splendid heating system there have been added fine art windows. win-dows. Over the entrance is an art window showing Christ feeding the multitude. It cost ?G00. Near the altar i another of the Good Shepherd that est S47.V On the other side is the Na tivity of the Lord that cost $450. Over i The center altar is a small window the glass in which cost ?300. The other smaller windows cost $173 and side windows SC0O. But the windows are not the most expensive part of the ornamentation. The three altars are especially fine, being be-ing constructed entirely of Italian marble. mar-ble. The high altar, with the two s roups, each seven feet high, cost $10.-ooo. $10.-ooo. The side altars, one crowned with the Blessed Virgin, the other with St Joseph, the patron saint of the church, cost $G,00O. The high altar has before it six great candlesticks, each of which I cost $50. The railing separating the ! sanctuarv from the church auditorium is of onyx and brass that cost $1,000. The other decorations are proportion- j ate in expense and beauty. j When Father Maute died, he had failed fail-ed to make any provision for heating and lighting the vast structure. At I present candles are used for Muni tion, but soon the building will be equipped with electricity. . The congregation of St. Joseph s intrudes in-trudes 330 families, or about 3,000 communicants. com-municants. In the city of Jasper - 90 per cent of the inhabitants are Catholics, and Dubois county is in the strongest Catholic district in the state. The Lave made many sacrifices to cons.nKt this edifice. The monastery at St. amn-rad amn-rad has received considerable aid from these people. It is thought that the aggregate ag-gregate amount of Catholic property in the county of Dubois is $1,090,000.-Chicago $1,090,000.-Chicago Record. |