 Top
Right:
The Child Jesus in the Temple -- East Nave Window Detail.
Clockwise
from Top Left:
"Happy are they who dwell in your house . . ." Psalm
84:6
"How awesome is this shrine . . . an abode of God . .
. the gateway to heaven." Gen. 28:17
"Come to the water . . ." Isaiah 55:1,
"Do this
in memory of me . . ." Luke 22:19
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August of 1881, Jesuit Father Joseph Cataldo converted a carpenter's
shop into the Church of St. Joseph, the first Catholic church
in the Spokane Township. Like the smallest of seeds, the mustard
seed, the Catholic faith here had humble beginnings. Only five
people attended the first Mass in that wooden shed which measured
just fifteen by twenty-two feet.
Soon
the seed sprouted and found sustenance in this soil. Five
years later, a large brick church dedicated to Our Lady of
Lourdes replaced the original structure, and a school opened
under the direction of the Sisters of the Holy Names. The
seedling's continued growth required an even more significant
move. The cornerstone for the present church was laid in 1903.
In 1906, the new school was completed. In 1913, this mustard
seed became what the Gospels celebrate as the "largest of
plants," when Our Lady of Lourdes became the Cathedral for
the newly created Diocese of Spokane.
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