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Show 166 Early Western Travels [ VoL * 6 stone. 117 It was consecrated with great pomp in the autumn of ' 34, having occupied three years in its erection. The site is unfavourable, but it possessed an interest for many of the old citizens which no other spot could claim. Here had stood their ancient sanctuary, with which was associated the holy feelings of their earliest days; here had been the baptismal font and the marriage altar; while beneath reposed the sacred remains of many a being, loved and honoured, but passed away. The former church was a rude structure of logs. The dimensions of the present building are a length of about one hundred and forty feet, to a breadth of eighty and an altitude of forty, with a tower of upward of an hundred feet, surmounted by a lofty cross. The steeple contains a peal of six bells, the three larger of which were cast in Normandy, and chime very pleasantly; upon the four sides of the tower are the dial- plates of a clock, which strikes the hours upon [ 139] the bells. The porch of the edifice consists of four large columns of polished freestone, of the Doric order, with corresponding entablature, cornice, pediment, and frieze, the whole surface of the latter being occupied with the inscription " In honorem S. Ludo-vici. Deo Uni et Trine, Dicatum, A. D. MDCCCXXXIV," the letters elevated in basso- relievo. Over the entrances, which are three in number, are inscribed, in French and in English, passages from Scripture, upon tablets of Italian marble. The porch is protected from the street by battlements, surmounted by an iron railing, and adorned by lofty candelabra of stone. The body of the building is divided volume xvi, p. 275, note 127, and Maximilian's Travds, in our volume xxti, p. 235, note 168; for Pratte and CabanneVsee our volume xxii, p. 282, note 239, and p. 271, note 226, respectively.- ED. m Within six years after the founding of St Louis, the first Catholic church was built. This log structure falling into ruins, was replaced in 1818 by a brick building. The corner- stone of the St. Louis cathedral ( incorrectly written in Flagg as cathedral of St. Luke) was laid August 1, 1831, and consecrated October 26, 1834-- ED. |