Photo of Cardinal Ritter Prep

Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School. From its website:

Cardinal Ritter Prep opened its doors on September 6, 1979. Named for Cardinal Joseph Ritter, Archbishop of St. Louis in the mid-1900s, Cardinal Ritter Prep honors its namesake as one of the most prominent and influential church and civic leaders of the century... 

On May 18, 2003, Cardinal Justin Rigali dedicated the new Cardinal Ritter Preparatory High School at 701 N. Spring Avenue, St. Louis. The school opened its doors for students in August 2003.

The school in recent years has seen 100% of its seniors go on to college.

Photo of Window at Saint Francis Xavier

These stained glass window are at Saint Francis Xavier Church, at Saint Louis University. Located above the old high altar in the apse, these windows depict angels and cherubim, the sun, moon, and stars, and a rainbow.  The windows of this church were made by Emil Frei, Sr., inspired by the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, and are considered his finest work. As I've mentioned before, this church's windows are exceptionally difficult to photograph faithfully; in particular, the blue colors are a bit off, being relatively darker than seen here, but still showing a saturation not possible on a computer monitor.

I took this photo at the request of Tina, a.k.a. Snup.

This rainbow is seen in scripture, in Revelation 4, where Saint John describes his vision of Heaven: “And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.”; this passage parallels Ezekiel 1, which also mentions a likeness of a rainbow. See also Revelation 10. We are also reminded that the rainbow is a sign of God's covenant, as seen in Genesis 9. This window is also reminiscent of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) chapter 43, which also praises the sun and moon: “Look upon the rainbow, and bless him that made it: it is very beautiful in its brightness. It encompasses the heaven about with the circle of its glory, the hands of the most High have displayed it.”

In his encyclical letter Ad Caeli Reginam (1954), Pope Pius XII noted that the rainbow is a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of Peace. The beauty of a rainbow often occurs after the violence of a thunderstorm, and so a rainbow is a symbol of heavenly promises: this encyclical recalls the violence of the Second World War, and points to the promise of peace to come. Prophetically, the rainbow was invoked by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge (1937, written in German and not Latin), which denounced the Nazi policies of Germany; regrettably this encyclical went unheeded and “the storm of religious war, instead of the rainbow of peace,” blackened the German skies.

The scientific explaination of rainbows — light being doubly reflected inside of water droplets — was independently discovered in the 14^th century by the Persian physicist Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī and by the Dominican theologian and scientist Thierry of Freburg.

Rainbows are similar in nature to other refractive optical phenomena such as the nimbus and glory, and are a natural inspiration for the halo around the head used in depictions of Saints, as well as in the larger aureola or mandorla surrounding the body of Christ and the Virgin in many artistic depictions — although there are certainly other factors which make these symbols appropriate.

The beauty of a rainbow may exceed the beauty of a flower, but it is more transient and unobtainable. Although a flower is a concrete, possessable thing, a rainbow is not.  But a rainbow is more universal, and each rainbow is more similar to its peers than a flower is to those of its fellow species. So a rainbow is a natural symbol of higher things.

Tea and cookies are served for a guest at the convent of the Sister Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus, at Saint Francis de Sales Oratory in Saint Louis. Photo taken last week.

Beyond the mountain is another mountain

DYE MON, GEN MON— a Haitian proverb — translates to “beyond the mountain is another mountain”. This saying explains the extreme difficulties of life in desperately poor Haiti, even under the best of circumstances. After the terrifying earthquake, horrible got worse.

Listeners to local Catholic radio may be familiar with Dee Leahy and the charitable organization People to People Haiti; Dee was in Port-au-Prince at the time of the quake, but is reported to be OK and plans to remain in Haiti. More information on Haiti from that charity's original founder may be found here. The Crudem Foundation of Saint Louis operates Hôpital Sacré Coeur in northern part of the country which reportedly was not harmed by the earthquake, but will certainly be overwhelmed because of the destruction of other hospitals in that country. Other charities are found here.

Bad as the situation is now, it will get worse for those who survived in the devastated area, due to the great loss of life, property, and organization. Charity can be both spiritual and material, so perhaps you can meditate on Christ Crucified and offer that for the victims.

A Brief Train Ride

YESTERDAY I took a brief train trip, from the suburban Saint Louis County town of Kirkwood to Washington in Franklin County, which took only about 40 minutes each way.



The train station in Kirkwood, Missouri. The city of Kirkwood is named after James P. Kirkwood, a civil engineer, who oversaw the construction of the Pacific Railroad here in the 1850s. Groundbreaking on this railroad started in downtown Saint Louis in 1851, with first traffic starting in 1852. The railroad reached Kirkwood and the town of Franklin (now Pacific) in 1853, and Washington and Jefferson City by 1855.

Saint Louis was known as the ‘Gateway to the West’ due to its nature as a center of transportation and supplies to settlers heading towards the Great Plains and California. The steamboat trade generally disliked the railroads, which they saw as being inefficient — the cost of a single mile of railroad could finance five steamboats — but major railroads were eventually built from Saint Louis westward. However this large cost meant that transportation was no longer self-financed by individual businessmen, but rather required large investments by international banks as well as government seizure of land.



Most of the route covered familiar areas. Here is Sacred Heart Church in Valley Park; the white stripe on the left is a reflection on the train's window. The scenery passed by so quickly that it was difficult getting good pictures.

Part of this railroad parallels the historic U.S. Route 66, and several famous landmarks of the highway are visible from the train.



Ice floes on the Missouri River.

Early colonial settlement in the Mississippi Valley was along the great rivers, with French and Spanish colonists living near existing Indian settlements, having easy access to river transportation. The inland areas were largely unsettled— and to a relative extent remain even now sparsely populated. The railroads and early motor vehicle highways tended to parallel the river valleys, both to link already-established towns and also because it made construction easier.

This railroad mainly runs along the southern edge of the Missouri River, and this section was constructed rather quickly. However, the stretch between Kirkwood and Gray Summit goes across the Ozark terrain of the deeply-entrenched Meramec River valley, requiring significant cutting and tunneling.



At the train station in Washington.  Most passenger rail service in the United States is now provided by the U.S. Government controlled Amtrak, which was organized in 1971. While train travel is relatively slow and limited in its destinations, it is vastly more pleasant than taking an airplane, being inexpensive, having few regulations, quick boarding, and a quiet, comfortable ride. However, you have to be punctual, as the train stops for only a few minutes at these stations.



Back in Kirkwood. Many students from the University of Missouri at Columbia were on board.