Friday, July 25, 2003 
 
L.A. Cathedral represented at 
St. Peter's Basilica  

 
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels has joined a prestigious group on the floor of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Los Angeles' new cathedral is now inscribed on St. Peter's floor alongside other major cathedrals of the world --- between St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, the Pope's actual cathedral, and the Cathedral Church of La Plata in Sucre, Bolivia, and adjacent to the Cathedral of Mexico City. "Pretty good company," smiled cardinal Roger Mahony, who was recently in Rome.

The story behind the inscriptions is simple, he continued. "Given the very large size of the interior of St. Peter's Basilica, they have placed inscriptions in the floor as if your own Cathedral or Basilica were placed inside St. Peter's," he said. "It shows you how far back your own Church is in comparison to St. Peter's. The dimensions are done in meters, and outside wall to outside wall."

The actual inscription reads: "Ecclesia Cathedralis B.V.M. Angelorum in California, M. 120.62," indicating meters (or 395.735 feet in length).

The only other U.S. cathedrals represented on the floor are St. Patrick's, New York; the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston; and the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.