The seven stars and candlesticks refer to the Revelation of St. John the Divine, i. 20.
Services
The Cathedral is open for private prayer and meditation every day of the year from 7.30 a. m. to 5.30 p. m. There is a service in one of the chapels every week-day at 7.30 a. m. The principal Sunday services are at 8 a. m., 11 a. m. and 4 p. m., the latter two being with full choral service and sermon. Other services are held on week-days and Sundays as announced from time to time. As before stated, all seats are free, and residents and strangers of all denominations are cordially welcome.
The Cathedral service is neither “high” nor “low.” It is the prescribed liturgy of the Church, with a fully choral rendering and congregational participation. Except during the vacation season, there are usually about 60 persons in the procession. The processional hymn is begun in the Ambulatory, through the south gate of which the procession enters the Crossing and goes to the Choir. First comes the crucifer, followed in order by the boys of the choir, the men of the choir, the Head Master of the Choir School, the Verger and the clergy in inverse order of their rank. The Bishop, if present, comes last, and is immediately preceded by the Verger and an acolyte bearing the Bishop’s pastoral staff.[5] If the Bishop is absent, the Dean comes last, preceded by the Verger. If neither Bishop nor Dean is present, the Verger precedes all the clergy. The Verger (in black gown with purple facings), carries a silver staff surmounted by the figure of an angel holding a tablet on which is engraved the symbol of St. John the Divine, the chalice with emerging serpent. When preceding the Bishop he carries his staff upright at his right shoulder, but when going before the other clergy he carries it in the hollow of his left arm. The organist and Master of the Choristers, wearing the gown and hood of Doctor of Music, is usually invisible, being seated at the console in the gallery on the screen at the south side of the Choir. At extraordinary musical services, an orchestra is seated in the Choir, between the stalls, and then the Master of the Choristers stands in the Choir, from which point he directs the singers, orchestra and assistant organist. The recessional is in the same order as the processional. After entering the Ambulatory, the procession halts while a dismissal prayer or hymn is said or sung there, and the solemn service ends with a far-away “Amen” from the unseen choir.[6]
Visitors
Visitors may see the Cathedral at all times between 7.30 a. m. and 5.30 p. m. except during the hours of service. The Verger is usually in attendance.
Architecture
The architects of the Cathedral have been: Messrs. George L. Heins and C. Grant LaFarge from July, 1891, until Mr. Heins’ death in September, 1907;[7] Mr. LaFarge from September, 1907, until the completion of the Choir in April, 1911; and Messrs. Cram & Ferguson from April, 1911, to the present time. Mr. Henry Vaughan was architect of three of the Seven Chapels of Tongues, Messrs. Heins & LaFarge of two, Messrs. Cram & Ferguson of one and Messrs. Carrere & Hastings of one, as mentioned hereafter.
The prevailing style of the Cathedral will be French Gothic. The north of France, it will be remembered, is the birthplace of Gothic architecture. There, in the region so recently devastated by war, Gothic architecture rose and reached the flower of perfection in such monuments as Amiens, Rheims, Notre Dame (Paris), Chartres, Beauvais, and Rouen Cathedrals and many other churches, great and small.