Cathedral

A cathedral is a type of Christian church where the bishop of a diocese, or district, sits. Cathedra, which means chair in Latin, is the root of the word "cathedral." The chair of the bishop is central to the cathedral’s role as the heart of the community. Cathedrals are the mother churches of their dioceses, serving as focal points for celebration and services for worshippers at all of the churches within the diocese.

Cathedrals are only used in religious groups that have an episcopal polity, where there is a hierarchical form of church governance and a belief in the authority of tradition. This includes the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and some Methodist and Lutheran churches.

The primary role of a cathedral is to serve as a place for serving God in the community. In many places, the cathedral’s and bishop’s functions extend beyond the religious, and they become involved with the civil life of the city. Often, community members take advantage of a cathedral’s large size and use it as a meeting place and activity center.

Background

A cathedral is a place set aside by a diocese for the most important member of that diocese, the bishop, to sit. It is a major symbol of authority, but cathedrals are not necessarily large and grand. In some cities, one of the regular churches in a district has been elevated to cathedral status.

Cathedrals were first built in 675 CE, as Christianity rose to prominence. The earliest structures were short lived, as they were subject to Viking attacks and fires. Between 700 and 1600 CE, stonemasons built medieval cathedrals, which were architectural and engineering wonders. Most medieval cathedrals were found in Europe, and those that later became famous were built between 1000 and 1600 CE, during the Middle Ages.

The architecture of those cathedrals was based on the Roman basilica, with an altar in the rounded apse at one end of the church. The early medieval cathedrals were Romanesque style, bearing heavy walls that were decorated with bright tapestries and having few windows.

Toward the 1200s, Romanesque cathedrals fell out of style, and Gothic cathedrals replaced them. Gothic cathedrals were built with soaring architecture that drew people’s eyes upward toward heaven. These cathedrals were meant to open the spiritual world to the masses, attracting their souls away from materialistic objects and ideas. Gothic cathedrals had lighter and thinner walls, plentiful stained glass windows, and pointed arched windows, which were adapted from Middle Eastern architecture.

Cities took pride in their cathedrals, often competing with other cities for the highest spire and most impressive building. Ordinary citizens and wealthy patrons contributed money and goods to the building of their local cathedrals. The construction of most cathedrals took more than a century, and several generations became involved in their funding and building.

Even though all important religious events took place in the medieval church, worship was largely ceremonial and reserved for the religious leaders, while the common people merely observed. The priests performed the Mass ceremony at the altar, the choir sang the chants, and a screen often separated the congregation from the altar.

The Reformation movement stemmed, in part, from the people’s rebellion against the status quo in medieval cathedrals. They resented the role that the increasingly wealthy clergy held and sought to return worship to the people and restore the basis of the religion to the written Bible.

Overview

Cathedrals contain the seat of the bishop and serve as the center of worship in many Christian communities. They are meant to convey a sense of the spiritual and sacred. A cathedral’s main purpose is to serve as a place of Christian worship. They are often the oldest building that has been in continuous use in the area, and they bear significance to the culture and community life of the areas they serve.

Cathedrals are the mother churches of their dioceses; they are considered to be like mothers, by nourishing and protecting believers. They are the focal points for celebration and services for worshippers at all other churches within the dioceses.

In medieval times, cathedrals were the focal points of the locals’ religious and communal life. Marketplaces were usually located adjacent to the cathedrals, and people would conduct business within the buildings. People prayed in cathedrals, where they also took communion, spoke to their priests, became baptized, married, and had their funerals performed. Additionally, cathedrals were used as auditoriums where people gathered to hear bishops, lords, or kings address the public.

The design of cathedrals was intended to lift people’s thoughts toward spiritual ideas. The form of the cathedral was designed to emulate a cross, with a long nave crossed by a transept. The church was meant to be the body of Christ, with altar as the head, the transept serving as the arms and hands, and the nave as the rest of the body. The nave was supposed to remind visitors of suffering, the breadth of Christian love, and the height of the hope of future reward.

Within the cathedral, the altar of the church usually sat in the direction of the East, toward the rising sun and toward Jerusalem. The main entrance was on the west side, which was decorated with carvings of symbolic importance. The church was decorated with statues of saints and biblical figures. In many cathedrals, a powerful painting of Christ at the Last Judgment acted as a symbol of the eternal hell that would befall nonbelievers.

Stained glass windows inside the cathedral represented the divine scriptures, or books of the Bible. Like windows, those books were said to repel rain and wind while admitting the light of the true sun. Scenes depicted in the windows, as well as the sculptures and paintings, reflected church history and Bible narratives. Symbols commonly used in these artworks included fire to suggest religious fervor, a lily to signify chastity, an owl to imply the messenger of Satan, and a lamb to represent Christ our Sacrifice. Overall, the ornateness of the design and décor of the cathedrals were meant to epitomize the wealth of God’s grace and foretell the glory of the New Jerusalem.

In modern times, cathedrals are open 365 days a year, offering spiritual spaces for Christians and non-Christians alike. Often, due to their large size, they are used as venues for lectures, concerts, and graduations.

Bibliography

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"Cathedral." Catholic Online. Catholic Encyclopedia, 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.

Emery, Elizabeth. Romancing the Cathedral. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. Print.

Sanabria, Sergio. "The Engineering of Medieval Cathedrals Lynn T. Courtenay." Speculum 77.1 (2002): 159–61. Web. 8 June 2016.

Simson, Otto Georg von. The Gothic Cathedral: Origins of Gothic Architecture and the Medieval Concept of Order. New York: Pantheon, 1956. Print.

Stockton, I. "Blackburn Cathedral: William Temple’s Vision for a New See and Cathedral Finally Fulfilled." Theology 118.6 (2015): 413–20. Web. 8 June 2016.