Architecturally the Church of the Holy Ghost in
Denver is an original conception, a fusion of Spanish and Italian
Renaissance art. Suggestion of both types are to be found blended
in majestic beauty with a unity of centralized space and completeness
of richly modeled and colored surfaces. All of the order and design
are made subservient to the inspirational setting for daily exposition
of the Blessed Sacrament at the high altar. Holy Ghost Church
is Denver’s Eucharistic shrine. The church has a warm, light,
and elegant ambience made beautiful by the purity of its lines
and the delicacy of its detail. It is a masterpiece of rhythmic
symmetry.
Exterior Features
The visitor to Holy Ghost Church is met with astounding beauty
even in the exterior of the edifice. A magnificent tower rises
110 feet above the street, surmounted by a six-foot bronze cross.
Narrow vaulting Renaissance windows mark the four sides of the
tower from the front and rear. Above the main entrance of the
church is a tympanum containing a nimbus of the Holy Ghost. On
either side stand pelicans, symbols of the Eucharist who, according
to legend, fed their starving young by tearing flesh from their
own breasts. Wheat and grapes form a border around the doors of
the church, which aptly symbolize the gates to heaven. Sentinels
guarding the entrance are bronze miniatures of St. Paul and St.
Rita, who are also symbolized in terra cotta plaques or medallions
above and to the sides of the entry arch. Capping each door column
is a metal cross resting on a globe. Still higher above the entrance
to the church, approximately 30 feet above the street, is a second
tympanum surrounding a panel of three stained-glass windows. The
tympanum bears symbols of the persons of the Trinity: the hand
of the Father, the Lamb, and the dove. The windows depict the
descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Virgin Mary and the Apostles
(Acts 2).
Narthex
Upon entering the church one is witness to the largest installation
of colocreme travertine in the United States. Approximately 300
tons of marble, almost entirely mined in Colorado, were used on
the walls, piers, and columns. Dividing the narthex from the nave
are lovely colonnettes containing oak panels that may be lifted
or lowered to admit or close the view to the body of the church.
At the extreme left of the narthex is the former baptistery, which
is finished in travertine and entered through an iron gate. The
baptistery windows represent the Baptism of Jesus, Jesus blessing
the children, and a phoenix, symbol of resurrection.
Nave and St. Rita Shrine
In the church proper one is first struck by the beauty and brilliance
of the marble. Three basic shades are used: cream, dark pink,
and ruby. The shrine of St. Rita on right side of the nave is
done in travertine, while the front of the altar has a mosaic
plaque containing a Christogram, and the floor is of Botticino
marble. The left side of the nave contains four confessionals,
which are used daily in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Fifty
feet above the floor of the central nave is an intricate ceiling
of wooden trusses and acoustical tile panels. Across the chancel
arch of the cruciform structure is the inscription “Holy,
Holy, Holy God Almighty” (Rev. 7), and the vaulted transept
is richly symbolic of the Holy Eucharist.
The pilaster caps on both the left and right sides of the church
parallel each other in symbolism, and the architraves are filled
with delicate arabesques. Capstones in the colonnades are representative
of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Sacred Heart, and the Church.
Immediately above the entrance to the nave as you look back is
a plaque depicting the Trinity. At either extremity of the central
arch in the chancel are medallions of the four Evangelists, two
on each side. The stations of the cross are oil paintings inset
in frames with individual lights, the only stations of their kind
executed by Conrad Scmitt of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Sanctuary and Altar
The high altar is of Breche violet marble, imported from Italy,
and is canopied by a glorious baldachino and flanked by a reredos
of oak. Inset mosaic plaques in the altar depict the Holy Ghost,
the Chi Rho, and the Alpha and Omega. The floors of the sanctuary
contain Botticino marble, dark pink travertine, and terrazzo with
inlaid brass. The communion rail is of Breche violet marble with
several inlaid mosaics of Eucharistic symbols. The top of the
communion rail itself has a glimmering finish of polished brass.
Each of the side altars is finished in Botticino marble, and highlighted
by beautiful wood sculptures made by the same artist who carved
the baldachino and pulpit.
Stained-Glass Windows
The stained-glass windows of the church are rich with symbols
of the Old and New Testaments. On the left side (as you face the
altar) of the church, beginning near the narthex, the clerestory
windows successively represent four Old Testament prophets: Daniel,
Ezechiel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. Each of these is flanked by two
windows: Ureil and Raphael, St. Matthias and St. Simon, St. James
the less and St. Thomas, and St. Andrew and St. John, respectively.
Facing the windows of the four Prophets on the opposite (right)
side, are the four Evangelists: Matthew (nearest the altar), Mark,
Luke, and John. The Evangelists are flanked by (beginning nearest
the altar), St. Peter and St. James the Greater, St. Philip and
St. Bartholomew, St. Jude and St. Matthew, and St. Gertrude and
St. Michael, respectively. Seven lower windows in the nave and
transept represent the seven sacraments: (beginning near the narthex)
Marriage (Wedding at Cana), Eucharist (adoration of St. Thomas
Aquinas), Penance (Christ breathing on the eleven), Baptism (Nicodemus),
Confirmation, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick. The four
small circular windows above the baldachino contain a shield,
birds, a chalice, and a symbol of the Holy Ghost. Other windows
depict the prophecy of Isaiah, the Annunciation, the Ascension,
St. Peter before the Sanhedrin, St. Peter preaching to the Nations,
the Conversion of St. Paul, Ordination of bishops, the Election
of a pope, the Inspiration of Holy Scripture, St. Stephen’s
Martyrdom, St. Paul, St. Basil, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St.
John Chrysostom, Christ the King, and Christ the Judge.
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