St. Paul Cathedral truly is a shrine

Vatican bestows a national honor on the St. Paul Cathedral.

Last update: June 16, 2009 - 7:45 PM

The Vatican designated the St. Paul Cathedral as a national shrine on Tuesday. Already a popular destination for tourists because of its architectural grandeur, the cathedral expects the designation to result in an even bigger influx of visitors.

"In addition to serving as a home parish for about 3,000 households, the cathedral is as a spiritual center for the entire region," said its rector, the Rev. Joseph Johnson. "Now we're likely to start drawing people from all over the country."

The cathedral, which draws about 200,000 visitors a year, opened in 1915 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Vatican's designation is more spiritual in nature: According to Catholic Church law, "The term shrine signifies a church or other sacred place to which the faithful make pilgrimages."

Archbishop John Nienstedt of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis requested the designation.

"We thought we had a good chance because this is the jubilee year [2,000th anniversary] of St. Paul's birth," Johnson said. It becomes the only national shrine in North America honoring the saint.

With that designation comes some bragging rights. "I love my friends at the State Capitol," Johnson chuckled, "but our dome was already bigger and higher than theirs, and now we have this to tease them about."

JEFF STRICKLER

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