Faith Filled Friday: Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle

Matthew, my son, and I took a weekend trip to Washington, D.C. together a few weeks ago for our annual father and son “adventure” for Father’s Day.  More on that in a different post, but for Sunday Mass we decided to go to the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle since it was within walking distance of our hotel.  I had not heard of St. Matthew the Apostle Cathedral, and I’ve been to Washington many times.  Of course I’ve never read a tourist book on Washington either.  Normally if you’re out of town and want to go to a Catholic church in Washington, one goes to the Basilica of the National Shrine.  But it is away from the National Mall, out in the Northeast of the city by Catholic University.  But St. Matthew’s is only about a mile from the White House, and our hotel was right in between.  The church was named after St. Matthew the apostle and evangelist, and fittingly for Washington D.C. a former tax collector.  And of course my son wanted to go to a church named after his patron saint.

Now this particular building of St. Matthew’s goes back to 1895 (there was a predecessor building from 1840) and had to be the primary Catholic Church for Washington well into the 20^th century.  The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, on the other hand, was opened in 1959, and you would have expected President John F. Kennedy to attend Mass at either the Basilica or St. Matthew’s.  While the Basilica is out of the way and though you could find a picture of Kennedy at St. Matthew’s, he was a parishioner at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown, both as Congressman, Senator, and President.  The same goes for Joe Biden, the only other Catholic president.  He attended Holy Trinity as a Senator and Vice-President, and now attends as President.  Despite all that, St. Matthew’s was the church where President Kennedy’s funeral was held.  I’ll show a commemoration on that later.

From the outside, St. Matthew’s hardly looks like a Cathedral.   It has a rather plain Romanesque façade composed of red brick and red terracotta. 

But when you enter the church and look down the nave to the sanctuary, your breath is taken away. 

 

All the color, the arches, the height of the columns, the cupola, it’s all stunning.  The sanctuary face has a mosaic of St. Matthew with an angel. 

Matthew as a writer of a Gospel is holding a book.  The information pamphlet says the book is opened to “Jesus saw a man sitting in the custom house named Matthew and He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’  And he arose and followed Him” (Mat 9:9).

Now if you turn around and look at the narthex, you will find it just as beautiful.

 

And if you zoom in on the painting at the top, you will find a mural titled “Saintly and Eminent Personages of the Americas,” 

 

At the center is Archbishop John Carroll, the founder of Georgetown University, the first bishop and archbishop appointed in the United States and cousin to Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence.  I won’t list everyone in the painting, but among the eminent Catholics are Saints Katherine Drexel, Elizabeth Ann Seton, John Neumann, Kateri Tekakwitha, and Philippine Duchesne, the first American saints to be canonized. 

The cupola is absolutely stunning.

 

Leading to the cupola are four column, each with a mosaic of one of the Evangelists.  If you know your iconography associated with each, you can figure out that is St. Mark on the lower left with the winged lion, St. Matthew on the lower right with the angel, St. John on the upper right with the eagle, and St. Luke on the upper left with the winged bull.

Around the church there are many side chapels.  I won’t have the space to present them all, but here are a few.  First, to the left of the altar is the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, which houses the tabernacle.

 

It doesn’t say who the figures in the mosaic are, but I think it’s two of the evangelists, Saints John and Matthew.  To the right of the altar is the Wedding Chapel, highlighted by the wooden carved statues overlaid in gold depicting the wedding of Mary and Joseph.

 

 

There is a Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi.

 

 

There are more chapels as well, but I don’t have the space for them.  I should show you the organ.  It is impressive.

 

I must show you a couple of the fourteen Stations of the Cross.  These are reliefs with gold overlay.  Station #3, Jesus falls for the first time.

 

And #14, Jesus is placed in the tomb.

 

Finally there is a commemoration to President John F. Kennedy’s funeral Mass.  Typically at a funeral Mass the casket with the deceased is brought up to the foot of the altar.  Inlaid to the floor marble at that spot is a commemorative plaque.

 

My son and I standing on that spot.

I haven’t even mentioned the statues, the beautiful marble floor, the columns, ceiling, and other amazing aspects to this church.  You can take a virtual tour online where you can get the full impact of the space and color that a camera just cannot capture.  

Better than a tour is to visit the church yourself.  Once you’ve done the Mall monuments for the umpteenth time, take a side pilgrimage to this lovely church, The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.  You don’t have to be Catholic.