Inside St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church in Madison, work steadily progresses on the church’s plaster, stained glass, and statues, which will beautify the future diocesan cathedral.
While major efforts on the church has been ongoing since the start of the year, only recently have fine art teams begun their work, with those parts expected to be complete in late-2025.
Entering the church
Once complete, entering the Cathedral of St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Madison will be stunning, said Paul Lang, chair of the diocesan building commission.
Upon entering from Atwood Ave., visitors will stand in the church’s narthex, which will be painted in the same style as the rest of the church, Lang explained.
Adding details about what visitors will see, he said that visitors will be greeted by statues of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. John Vianney, situated in niches.
Looking around the narthex, visitors will see the church’s royal doors directly in front of them, which will be made of glass and placed in an archway that leads into the sanctuary.
Looking up, visitors will see that they stand under a coffered ceiling and that the royal doors transition from a frosted glass at their bottom to a clear glass at their top.
Looking through the clear glass, the nave’s stained glass will be visible, even while the doors themselves are shut.
When imagining the narthex’s design, Lang said that he wanted visitors, even from their first step inside, to “get a ‘gist’ of what’s to come, the further they go in”.
The church’s beauty “starts here [in the narthex], but it opens up into the magnificence of the sanctuary,” he said.
The sanctuary
Processing through the royal doors into the sanctuary, the first noticeable feature will be the cyan blue paint along the walls and ceiling of the church.
The painting style will include a few designs — a plaid pattern on many of the walls, stars on the ceiling, and more — but because gold foil is incorporated throughout, the church will be brought to life.
Above, the choir loft extends over a few of the back pews in the sanctuary.
When it’s finished, the choir loft will hold as many as 80 musicians and will house a 1908 Chickering grand piano and a 1916 Skinner organ.
John Sittard, diocesan director of music, is overseeing the acquisition of the major Skinner organ, which was purchased from a dairy farm in Portland, Maine.
The organ was originally built for the Portland Civic Auditorium nearby and has survived unaltered for more than a century — a feat not many of its peers have accomplished.
Sittard happily shared that the 1916 Skinner, coming to Madison’s future cathedral, is one of Skinner’s major builds while he was alive and that the organ is even detailed in The Life and Work of Ernest M. Skinner by Dorothy Holden, the preeminent biography on the great American organ builder.
A few weeks ago, the organ’s 32-foot pipes were installed in the church, which Sittard said won’t be seen, or necessarily even heard, but rather “felt” in the last moments of a hymn or Communion improvisation.
Sittard also called attention to the stained glass that decorates the walls of the church.
While the stained glass is not a new addition to the church, the windows are currently being cleaned and restored, before the church’s elevation to the diocesan cathedral.
Sittard recalled one particular Sunday, saying, “They’re beautiful windows, stunning windows.
“When you come in the morning and the sun from the east is pouring through, they’re on fire with reds and oranges.
“When the light is not directly coming in the church’s windows, they’re this iridescent blue.”
He remembered that day; he was at the church for a morning Mass and came back later for evening Vespers.
He said he “watched the reverse happen on the west side,” where “the east side, which had been on fire that morning, just turned to this beautiful blue,” while the west was full of reds and oranges as the sun set.
The front
Approaching the front of the church, saints of the Roman Canon will decorate the tops of walls that surround the sacrificial altar.
Renderings of the saints are beautifully designed and stay true to their life and work on Earth.
Some of the renderings include St. Agatha, St. Cecelia, and Ss. Cosmas and Damian.
Closer to the floor, Pastor Fr. Michael Radowicz explained how Christ and His saints will be honored near the altar.
Father Radowicz said that the church will have a new mural behind the tabernacle and reredos, saying that it “will mimic part of the old one” that was in the Cathedral of St. Raphael in Madison.
The mural “will still have the image of Christ reigning in glory, which was the original mural from 1927”.
And as an addition for the new mural, he continued, “we’re going to have the men of the covenant on the left side” and “for the right, we chose saints that are near and dear to the diocese and the bishop”.
Two of those saints include St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St. Isidore the Farmer.
These two saints, Father Radowicz said, are “a nod to our young people and to our farming families”.
More than anything, Father Radowicz wants the sanctuary to “meld together its original design in 1927 [from St. Raphael] with what we have now”.
A special inclusion in the Cathedral of St. Bernard of Clairvaux will be statues of “the Twelve Apostles in their own niches, placed exactly as they were in 1927”.
In the new cathedral, though, the Twelve Apostles will take form instead of shape and be displayed as statues, instead of paintings, like in the former cathedral.
Father Radowicz said, “I’ve told a lot of people, this is a really special project. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
“[St. Bernard is] becoming the diocesan home for so many people, and I hope that people will really feel a sense of welcome and a sense of belonging.”
He added, “It’s been a very humbling experience to be a part of something that I know will last for a very long time.”
For more information and to support the project, visit madisoncathedral.org.