Basilica of St. Lawrence

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Basilica of St. Lawrence in Asheville, North Carolina

The Basilica of St. Lawrence was designed and built in 1905 by Rafael Guastavino (1842–1908), fellow architect R. S. Smith, and the surrounding Catholic community. The Basilica is on the National Register of Historic Places and was elevated in status to a Minor Basilica in 1993 by Pope John Paul II.

[edit] Other photos of the Basilica of St. Lawrence

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[edit] About the Basilica

Basilicas in the United States EXTERIOR:

The style, chosen by the architect, is Spanish Renaissance. The central figure on themain façade is that of St. Lawrence holding in one hand a palm frond and in the other agridiron, the instrument of his torture. On the left of St. Lawrence is the statue of St.Stephen, the first martyr, and like St. Lawrence, a deacon; while to the right is thestatue of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a native of Spain as was St. Lawrence. The lunette overthe main entrance is in polychrome terra cotta and represents Christ giving Peter the keysand appointing him head of the church. Immediately below this lunette is a stained glasswindow displaying the Basilica of St. Lawrence Coat of Arms.

The massive stone foundations and the solid brick superstructure give silent testimonyto the architect’s desire to build an edifice that would endure for generations.There are not beams of wood or steel in the entire structure; all walls, floors, ceilingsand pillars are of tile or other masonry materials. The roof is of tile with a coppercovering.

INTERIOR:

Entering the vestibule, which is separated from the church proper by screens of leatherand stained glass, one notes the solidity of the structure; the very steps to the organleft are without wood or nails. The vestibule window to the right is Bishop Haid’scoat of arms; the one to the left is the coat of arms of Pope St. Pius X.

From the foot of the main aisle, inside the church proper, one can realize the beautyof the ellipse and the wonder of the dome. It has a clear span of 58 x 82 feet and isreputed to be the largest freestanding elliptical dome in North America.

The four statues in the wall niches are from the Daprato Statuary Company, Italy. Onthe left, St. Cecilia and St. Peter; on the right, St. Rose of Lima and St. Patrick.

THE MAIN ALTAR:

The visitor’s next point of focus, at the head of the center aisle, is the mainaltar and the Crucifixion tableaux above. This group is rare and fine example of Spanishwoodcarving of the middle seventeenth century, and represents Mary, the Mother Jesus, andSt. John, at the Crucifixion. The fresco of the Last Supper and the flanking square panelsmade up the lower façade of the main altar until 1968. At that time they were separatedfrom the base of the altar, moved forward and topped with a 1,800-pound block of Tennesseemarble to form a new altar table.

The ornamental partitions that fill the entire apse wall above the altar are made ofpolychrome terra cotta. Two archangels, St. Raphael (with the fish in his right hand and asword in his left) and St. Michael (grasping a sword in both hands), stand on either sideof the altar. To the left of St. Michael are the evangelists Matthew and Mark; to theright of St. Raphael-Luke and John. The evangelists’ symbols are at their feet; theangel for St. Matthew, lion for St. Mark, bull for St. Luke, and eagle for St. John. Thefigures are more than seven feet high; the partitions on each side measure 11 feet by 18feet in length.

CHAPEL OF OUR LADY:

To the left of the main altar is the Chapel of Our Lady. The white marble statuedepicts Our Lady of the Assumption. Inserted in the upper part of the altar is a panelentitled The Crucifixion, which is attributed to an old renowned pottery in Capo diMonte, Italy. On either side of the tabernacle are niches containing statues of thefollowing from the extreme left.

Ss. Margaret, Lucia, Cecilia, Catherine of Alexandria, Barbara, Agnes, Agatha, Rose ofLima. Forming a frame around the altar front is a series of tiles lettered with the namesof Our Lady selected from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. In the center is a fragment ofItalian marble depicting the Nativity. Arching over the altar are seven doves, whichrepresent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The large stained glass window is St. Mary of the Sea; the small one above is St.Raphael, the archangel.

The ornately carved door to the sacristy is of Spanish design and is dominated by thetheme of the Good Shepard; on the scroll is the Latin, Pastor Bonus. Above the dooris a 17th century painting of the Visitation. The artist is thought to beMassimo Stanzione (1585-1656).

On the walls of the chapel are icons of the Blessed Lady as: Our Lady of Czestochowa,Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, and the Annunciation.

At the rear of the chapel is the crypt of the architect, Signor Rafael Guastavino. Thedoor is of lustre-glazed tiles framed in bronze.

The lustre-glaze process was discovered by Rafael Guastavino, Jr. during ceramicexperiments conducted at the Guastavino tile factory in Woburn, Massachusetts.

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION CHAPEL:

(Sacred Heart Chapel): To the right of the main altar is the chapeloriginally called St. Joseph’s. but it is now referred to as the Eucharistic.

Adoration Chapel. Above the altar is a stained glass window of the Nativity. The largewindow on the east wall depicts the death of St. Joseph in the arms of Jesus and Mary.Both windows were taken from the old wooden church formerly on this site. The smallerwindow above on the right is of St. Lawrence.

The altar and part of the apse wall are a mosaic of broken bits of tile assembled andinlaid by Fathers Peter and Patrick Marion priests in residence during the construction ofthe church.

THE WINDOWS:

An appreciation of the windows and the full effect of the dome can best be viewedfrom the center aisle, immediately in front of the sanctuary, facing the rear of thechurch.

Just under the vault of the dome is a frieze of ten semicircular windows. On the west(right) wall, from the front of the church toward the rear, the scenes represented are:The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Nativity, The Child Jesus Teaching in the Temple,and the conversion of St. Paul. On the east (left) wall, from the rear are: the MarriageFeast at Cana, Raising to Life the Daughter of Jairus, The Calming of the Wind and Waves,The Agony in the Garden, and the appearance of the Risen Savior to Mary Magdalene. The twolarge windows represent Christ healing the afflicted (east) and The Transfiguration(west).

In the organ loft, the large window portrays the Resurrection. To the lower right is awindow which has as its subject St. Paul. The smaller one above commenorates the fourFathers of the early church, Sts. Jerome, Gregory, Ambrose and Augustine. To the lowerleft is a window with St. Peter as the subject. The one above it honors the fourevangelists.

All the windows, except those from the first church on the site and the Basilica coatof arms above the entrance doors, were made in Munich, Germany.