Debt Collections

A St. Vincent de Paul Society poor box stands by in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral. A member of the society usually holds it after Mass on Sunday so that parishioners may give alms on their way out.

When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice. 

                 – St. Gregory the Great

Catholic Lily

The fleur de lis on the wall of the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral. As a Christian symbol, the fleur de lis is associated strongly with Mary, purity, and chastity.

I would that the whole world knew you and acknowledged you as being that beautiful Dawn which was always illumined with divine light; as that chosen Ark of salvation, free from the common shipwreck of sin; that perfect and immaculate Dove which your divine Spouse declared you to be...and finally, as that white Lily, which you are...

                    – St. Alphonsus Liguori to Mary

Mother Mary: An Abiding Anchor

An anchor in a stained glass window in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.

We fasten our souls to Your hope, as to an abiding anchor. It is to Her that the saints who have saved themselves have been the most attached and have done their best to attach others, in order to persevere in virtue. Happy, then, a thousand times happy, are the Christians who are now fastened faithfully and entirely to Her, as to a firm anchor! 

                       – St. Louis Marie de Montfort

The Fire

Fire alarm in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.

After communion if you do not feel some spiritual nourishment, this is a sign of spiritual infirmity or spiritual death. The fire has been put in your breast, but you have not felt the heat. The honey has been placed in your mouth, but you have not tasted the sweetness.

But if you do feel some consolation, it is no credit to you, but to His immense goodness, which reaches out to the bad and consoles the ungrateful, and so you say in your heart: I have detested your mercy and cursed your gifts. If God has done such good to me, a sinner, what would He do, if I were to correct my life? Thus of all people I want to change myself and come close to You forever.  

                                       – St. Bonaventure

The Price

A cash register in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral is used for the sale of religious items for restoration of the organ.

Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur married a non-practicing Catholic (Felix Leseur) who became increasingly hostile to her Catholicism. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1912 she told her husband:

I am absolutely certain that when you return to God, you will not stop on the way because you never do things by halves…You will someday become a priest.

To this he responded: “Elizabeth, you know my sentiments. I’ve sworn hatred of God, I shall live in that hatred and I shall die in it.”  After she died in 1914, her husband discovered a note written to him among her papers:

In 1905, I asked Almighty God to send me sufficient sufferings to purchase your soul. On the day that I die, the price will have been paid. Greater love than this no woman has than she who lay down her life for her husband.

In 1923, at the age of 62, Felix Leseur was ordained a priest.

The Duty of the Moment

A garbage can in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral has been shined like new by some dutiful person.

The duty of the moment is what you should be doing at any given time, in whatever place God has put you...There are all kinds of good Catholic things you can do, but whatever they are, you have to realize that there is always the duty of the moment to be done. And it must be done, because the duty of the moment is the duty of God.  

             – Servant of God Catherine Doherty 

Students

A poster in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral reminds Catholic Ryerson students about the upcoming Annual Mass and BBQ at St. John's Chapel.

Do you wish to study to your advantage?
Let devotion accompany all your studies.
Consult God more than your books.
Ask Him to make you understand what you read.
Never begin or end your study except by prayer.
Science is a gift of God.
Do not consider it merely the work of your own mind and effort. 

                          – St. Vincent Ferrer, OP

Crosses

A cross in a stained glass window in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.

Thanks be to God I am having my share of these crosses in my life. I live, but my life is that of Christ’s, and in possessing me, my poor Lord possesses a nothing, and I, in possessing Him, possess everything.  

                           – St. Anthony Mary Claret

The Gift of Himself on the Cross

A cross in the moulding around a window in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.

I dare say that God

in His omnipotence could not give more;

in His wisdom, He knew not how to give more;

in His riches He had not more to give. 

– St. Augustine

Sing To The Lord

The prophetess Mary, sister of Aaron, leads the women with timbrel in hand in a stained glass window of St. Michael's Cathedral.

Let us sing to the Lord: for He is gloriously magnified, the horse and the rider He hath thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my praise, and He is become salvation to me: He is my God and I will glorify Him: the God of my father, and I will exalt Him.                                – Exodus 15:1-3

Purity

A hand-sanitizing station in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.  It is just steps from the vital soul-sanitizing station inside.

How far the unhappy human race has strayed from the path of Christian purity!  

St. Maria Goretti, child martyr, pray for us on your feast day!

Like a Light Behind a Glass

Poster congratulating the new diocesan priests hangs in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.

The Year of the Priest ends today (June 19^th). 

The priest speaks two words, and Our Lord comes down from Heaven at his voice, and shuts Himself up in a little Host. God looks upon the altar. “That is My well-beloved Son, ” He says, “in whom I am well-pleased. ” He can refuse nothing to the merits of the offering of this Victim. If we had faith, we should see God hidden in the priest like a light behind a glass, like wine mingled with water.  
                             – St. Jean Vianney

Sacred Heart of Jesus - Proof of God's Kindness

Detail of the stained glass window in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral depicting Jesus and His Sacred Heart.

Among the many proofs of the boundless benignity of our Redeemer, there is one that stands out conspicuously, to wit the fact that when the charity of Christian people was growing cold, the Divine Charity itself was set forth to be honored by a special worship, and the riches of its bounty was made widely manifest by that form of devotion wherein worship is given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Coloss. ii, 3).  

                          – Pope Pius XI

Does your heart grow cold?  Flee to that burning furnace of charity today on His feast.

Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of the Archdiocese of Toronto is painted above the doors leading from the narthex to the nave in St. Michael's Cathedral.

The double cross and green galero hat with ten tassels indicate that the holder is an archdiocese.

The Latin motto of the archdiocese Quis ut Deus is a translation of Mich-a-ël, the name of the Archangel which means “who is like unto God”.

The colours red and white represent Canada. Across the shield is placed the spear of St. Michael, the patron of the diocese. His spear overcomes the Dragon’s head, symbolic of the Devil. The shaft has at its upper end a cross and attached are three gold maple leaves, a symbolic reference to the Province of Ontario.

Behold Thy Mother (Jn. 19:27)

Statue of Mary in a high niche in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.

With your substance you have fed that same Jesus who every day gives me life, your life, O Mary, that very life which He owes you.  Every drop of His blood you gave Him so that it should be mine.  With your virgin milk you fed Him so that He might die on the Cross and open the gates of heaven for me.  My beloved Mother, it is to you, then, that I owe the happiness which I enjoy in contemplating Him.  

    – Servant of God, Concepcion Cabrera de Armida

Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia!

A carving of the Risen Lord hanging on the wall in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.

Et apparuit Simoni, alleluia!

Relief

A bas-relief in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral

This small painted bas-relief probably represents the reception of Holy Eucharist.  The Christian soul (the dove) is nourished by the Precious Blood (the grapes prefigure the wine which is consecrated at Holy Mass). 

Such depictions were not unknown to the early Christians, as this one from the Catacombs of Priscilla attests:

Fort Knox Poor Box

Narthex       

You cannot begin to imagine the good which is done with the loose change and crumpled bills in this locked, nay, double-locked poor box.

Extend mercy towards others so that there can be no one in need whom you meet without helping. For what hope is there for us if God should withdraw His mercy from us?

                          -St. Vincent de Paul                                    

Remember Your Prelates

In the Narthex

No man is deader than a dead priest. 

His celibacy means that when he dies he leaves behind no wife or children.  No grandchildren will remember him.  In his retirement he loses touch with the parishioners he once served (who now have a new priest to think of) and if he was a prelate his authority may have separated him a little even from his fellow priests.

Remember Your Prelates Who Have Spoken the Word of God Unto You.

La Pietà

In the narthex.

Never was a work of art more aptly named.

Vergine madre, figlia del tuo figlio.

See Sr. Wendy Beckett on Michelangelo's masterpiece here at 5 min. 26 sec. Better yet, go to Rome and ask jp to show it to you in person.