Main Chapel Entrance

By
Webmaster
– September 11, 2011Posted in: Construction, Featured, Top Stories, Updates


This video is the Architecture’s rending of Terra Sancta’s new Main Chapel Entrance.

Fr. Steve Biegler provided the following background information which went into the design of the new entrance.

Biblical background for the design

Revelation 21

2 I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband ….
9 One of the seven angels … came and said to me,
“Come here. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
10 He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city
Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God …
14 The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed
the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb …
18 The wall was constructed of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass.
19 The foundations of the city wall were decorated with every precious stone;
the first course of stones was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz,
the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh hyacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb.
23 The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light,
and its lamp was the Lamb.

1 Peter 2

4 “Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God,
5 and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 2

19 “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God,
20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
21 Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
22 in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

About the design

  1. Above the exterior entrance doors:
    1. Terra Sancta engraved above the doors
    2. Stained glass window of the LAMB (by Fr. Ray Deisch).
  2. Capstone of the interior arch: first two letters of the Greek word for Christ:
  3. Rows of stones inside the arch: TWELVE APOSTLES (See the list below)
  4. First row of stones (near the floor): SAINTS for the diocese. (See the list below)
  5. Second and Third rows:
    1. Religious male (17) and female (50) orders who served in the diocese. (See the list below)
    2. Stones for each of the following groups:
      1. Diocesan Priests
      2. Permanent Deacons
      3. Lay Catechists
      4. Others: Commissioned Lay Ministers, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Daughters?
  6. Fourth row: BISHOPS of the area (1859 – 2011). (See the list below)
  7. Additional rows: DONOR RECOGNITION

Twelve Apostles

  • Peter
  • Andrew
  • James son of Zebedee (the Greater)
  • John
  • Philip
  • Bartholomew
  • Matthew
  • Thomas
  • James son of Alphaeus (the Less)
  • Jude
  • Simon the Cananean
  • Matthias (or Judas Iscariot)

Saints to include (This list may be revised, but it is almost complete.)

  • Blessed Virgin Mary
  • St. Joseph
  • St. Paul
  • St. Patrick
  • St. Alphonsus Ligouri
  • St. Benedict
  • St. Scholastica
  • St. Martin
  • St. Gertrude
  • St. Francis of Assisi
  • St. Clare
  • St. Bonaventure
  • St. Anthony of Padua
  • St. Bernard
  • St. Ignatius Loyola
  • St. Francis Xavier
  • St. Aloysius Gonzaga
  • Servant of God Pedro Arrupe
  • St. Vincent DePaul
  • St. Ursula
  • St. Frances Cabrini
  • St. Kathryn Drexel
  • St. John Neumann
  • St. Rose Duchesne
  • St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
  • St. Thomas More
  • Bl. Charles de Foucauld
  • St. John Vianney
  • Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha
  • St. Juan Diego
  • Bl. Miguel Pro
  • Servant of God Oscar Romero
  • Pierre Jean DeSmet (missionary 1839-1873)
  • Ven. Leo John Dehon (founder, Priests of the Sacred Heart)
  • Ven. Jean Claude Colin (founder, Marist Fathers)
  • Ven. Nano Nagle (founder, PBVM)
  • Bl. Theresa Gerhardinger (founder, SSND)
  • Bl. Basil Moreau (founder, Congregation of Holy Cross)

Religious Orders (female) See p. 26 in Centennial History

  • Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul
  • Daughters of the Heart of Mary
  • Benedictine Sisters
  • Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal
  • Dominican Sisters
  • Franciscan Sisters of Blessed Kunegunda
  • Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, MN
  • Handmaids of the Precious Blood
  • Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis
  • Notre Dame Sisters
  • Oblate Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
  • School Sisters of Notre Dame
  • School Sisters of St. Francis
  • Servants of Mary
  • Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
  • Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth
  • Sisters of Charity of St. Joan Antida
  • Sisters of Charity of the BVM
  • Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word
  • Sisters of Christian Charity
  • Sisters of Divine Providence
  • Sisters of the Humility of Mary
  • Sisters of Mercy
  • Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity
  • Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration
  • Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Family
  • Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Conception
  • Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
  • Sisters of the Divine Savior
  • Sisters of the Holy Cross
  • Sisters of the Holy Family
  • Sisters of the Presentation of the BVM
  • Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity
  • Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
  • Society of the Sacred Heart
  • Ursuline Nuns of the Congregation of Paris

Religious Orders (male See p. 77 in Centennial History

  • Benedictine Fathers and Brothers
  • Congregation of Priests of the Holy Cross
  • Jesuit Fathers and Brothers
  • Marist Fathers and Brothers
  • Maronite Monks
  • Order of Preachers
  • Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
  • Redemptorist Fathers
  • Sacred Heart Fathers and Brothers
  • Servants of the Paraclete
  • Third Order Regular of St. Francis

3 Bishops of frontier:

  • Bishop James O’Gorman, Nebraska Territory, 1859-1874
  • Bishop James O’Connor, Nebraska Territory, 1876-1879
  • Bishop Martin Marty, OSB, Dakota Territory, 1879-1894

1 Bishop of Sioux Falls

  • Bishop Thomas O’Gorman, Sioux Falls, 1896-1902

8 Bishops of the Diocese of Lead/Rapid City

  • Bishop John Stariha, Lead, 1902-1909
  • Bishop Joseph Busch, Lead, 1910-1915
  • Bishop John J. Lawler, Lead, 1916-1930 and Rapid City, 1930-1948
  • Bishop William T. McCarty, CSsR, Rapid City, 1948-1969
  • Bishop Harold J. Dimmerling, Rapid City, 1969-1987
  • Bishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., Rapid City, 1988-1997
  • Bishop Blase J. Cupich, Rapid City, 1998-2010
  • Bishop Robert D. Gruss, Rapid City, 2011–