11 am service 7/23/23 The Cathedral of the Madeline, Roman Catholic Church, down town Salt Lake City. Named for Saint Mary Magdelan, whose feast day had been yesterday. Magdelan is the patron saint of the Utah diocese.
The Cathedral was begun in 1900 and completed in 1909. Large and designed to look older then it is, the interior of the sanctuary is done up in what I think you'd call a Byzantine style, ornate fixtures, lots of iconography on the walls, stained glass windows. The color scheme is vaugly "Easter Egg", eggplant, teals, tans, off whites. In good shape save for the floors which they are currently raising funds to restore.
A cross shaped space, I was sitting near the front, not a good angle to count attendees, but by the end of the service I would say it was around 60% full. Good cross section of ages and races, white, black, Latino, Asian, particularly Filipino. Probably the most diverse congregation I've visited. Parishioner range of dress, formal, semi-formal, casual.
Large procession, big organ, solid choir. Guest speaker was a monk, in his 30's, visiting from New Hampshire but grew up in Utah. He gave a short sermon about Saint Mary and the history of the faith in Utah. Was a little hard to follow, the place echos.
I think a good share of the people who show up each week are visitors, place is a tourists attraction. After the service alot of peopel started taking out their cameras. Free tours are offered, I considered taking one but missed it. There is a gift shop downstairs, it was open, which seemed a bit off.
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