Raw Faith
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
I am not seeing anything besides “Raw Faith.”
Is there a picture not loading?
Thanks for catching that Kathryn. Corrected.
Motivating Faith & simple machines with a bit of engineering goes a long long way.
And they weren’t in a rush.
David WS, exactly. Starting a project like that, knowing you won’t live to see it finished takes faith.
Is that the Cathedral of Cologne, Cathedral Church of St. Peter? If so, it was begun in 1248 but not completed until 1880. The twin spires are 515 feet high. I have been there. It is 533 steps to the top of the steeple.
My better half took a civil engineering course in college on the wind loading of gothic cathedrals and how medieval engineers accounted for them. (hint: spires and buttresses) It’s also amazing what you can do when you don’t have a govt bureaucracy withholding your certificate of occupancy until all the paint and trim is complete.
Raw faith, competent talent and continual prayers from all the faithful.
What a masterpiece.
[…] Links: Raw Faith – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at The American […]
“Is that the Cathedral of Cologne…”
I assumed it to be Notre Dame in Paris before the fire. I don’t think so though. I don’t see the river. …It thus also can’t be Regensburg; that has a river almost right beside it too. No idea where this might be.
Incidentally, I have a book about the construction of Gothic cathedrals. I haven’t had much time to read through it, yet it seems to focus a good deal on ceiling vaulting.
I’m so bad with architecture…I looked a Google maps and the city layout looks like it’s Cologne.
Raw Faith indeed. And grit. Modernism in architecture has a lot to answer for.
Another fascinating one is Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia which began construction in 1882. It’s seen all sorts of modern building and engineering advancements. Gaudi had all the forces against him with this project, including his own untimely death. The Cathedral is due for completion in 2026, however despite the build setbacks the Cathedral draws around 3 million visitors a year. The world inadvertently tells us religion is dead, and that Christianity is for the fool yet the house of the Lord draws people in droves.
https://www.archdaily.com/438992/ad-classics-la-sagrada-familia-antoni-gaudi
Well… I’m pretty sure there was SOME math and bricks involved with the faith.
True Nate, but the great cathedrals would never have been built over hundreds of years without the driving force of faith.