From the outside, St. Joseph’s in downtown Columbus, Ohio, could be any big-city cathedral.

Hunched over the corner of East Broad and North Fifth Streets in downtown Columbus, it’s dwarfed by several modern skyscrapers. And yet the immense terra cotta building makes its presence known.

Plus, it has some surprises inside its doors and downstairs in its basement.

French Gothic in design, its roughly 100-foot-wide front elevation on

Broad Street

features three main entrances and a soaring, square bell tower. The stone building stretches nearly 200 feet down

Fifth Street

, with numerous cross-topped pinnacles poking out all over.

Volunteer tour guide Charles Brant was waiting inside to show us around for our scheduled tour. He told us that St. Joseph’s was founded in 1866 to ease overcrowding at St. Patrick’s Church and to provide a church community for English-speaking residents. Construction was well under way when, in 1868, the Diocese of Columbus was created from a section of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Father Sylvester Rosecrans, pastor of St. Patrick’s, was named bishop.

Bishop Rosecrans immediately selected St. Joseph for the cathedral, which meant the almost-completed building needed to be demolished so a bigger, grander structure could be built. The church’s walls were torn down and its foundation dug up. Ten years later, the new cathedral was completed.

Consecration ceremonies began early in the morning of Oct. 20, 1878. Tragically, Bishop Rosecrans fell ill that evening and died the next day. He was laid to rest in a tomb beneath the bishop’s throne. “You’ll get to see that later,” said Brant.

Stepping inside the nave, our attention was immediately drawn to the stately wooden baldacchino covering the simple, white marble-and-granite altar. The baldacchino — a tall, rectangular, arched canopy — features four adoring angels in its corners and is topped with a gilded spire and cross. Its presence is to remind us of the tent covering the Israelites’ Ark of the Covenant in ancient times.

Set high in the north wall of the apse is a small rose window. Beneath the window are three arched indentations set into the stone wall. Bright paintings of Mary, Joseph and Jesus were recently set in these niches. Initially, the altar was tucked against this wall. But after the Second Vatican Council, the altar was cut down in size and moved away from the apse wall so the celebrant could face the congregation.

Today rows of chairs sit neatly in the apse. During weekday Masses, the congregation gathers in this intimate space and the celebrant simply stands on the other side of the altar to face the people here.

Pipes of Prayer

Tour guide Brant next pointed out 12 white marble crosses set into the nave walls. These were the exact spots anointed during the cathedral’s consecration. He also showed us the Shrine of St. Joseph in the west aisle (the almost-life-sized statue is, appropriately, carved from wood) and the Shrine of Our Lady in the east aisle. Mary wears a crown, indicating her role as Queen of Heaven, and the blue-square ceiling of her shrine is festooned with white roses representing the mysteries of the Rosary.

Turning around, Brant gestured toward the choir loft, starkly empty at this moment. St. Joseph’s will soon have a new “grand gallery” organ by Paul Fritts & Co, he said. The 100-rank, 5,000-pipe instrument, which will be dedicated this Advent, will be one of the largest mechanical-action organs in North America. “It’s a good thing we don’t have a big rose window up there,” said Brant, “because the new organ would totally cover it up.”

Brant led us downstairs into the undercroft (church basement), which was excavated in 1967 and now houses a stylish parish hall.

But there’s more down here than just tables, chairs and exposed brick archways: Here lies a crypt in which two former bishops are interred — founding Bishop Rosecrans and Bishop Edward Herrmann, Columbus’ ninth leader, who shepherded the local flock from 1973 to 1982.

A tiny room separates the small bays in which the two bishops lay. The cathedral’s first permanent high altar stands at one end of the room, topped with the crucifix from the second high altar.

Behind the crucifix is a stained-glass window of the Resurrection. Three prayer-inviting pews sit in front of the altar.

Behind the pews, a commemorative hammered-copper panel depicts the coats of arms from the cathedral’s first seven bishops, cordoned off by a portion of the cathedral’s former marble Communion railing.

Bishop Rosecrans’ tomb is prominently set in one bay, topped with a marble relief with four roses. It’s crafted to represent his name in Dutch — “Rosecrans,” or “Crown of Roses.”

Across the bay are two much newer tombs stacked on top of each other. One contains the body of Bishop Herrmann, who died in 1999, while the other will someday contain the body of Bishop Herrmann’s successor, Bishop James Griffin, who retired in 2004. (The current bishop is Bishop Frederick Campbell.)

“Back when they were re-doing the crypt, they knew there would be room for two more tombs down there,” explained Brant. “So Bishop Griffin said to Bishop Herrmann, ‘Well, which one do you want — the upper or the lower?’ And Bishop Herrmann said, ‘I guess I’ll take the upper.’ So that’s why he’s in the top tomb.”

 Just any big-city cathedral this isn’t.

Melanie Radzicki McManus writes from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Planning Your Visit

For a schedule of Masses, confessions and devotions, along with concerts and other activities, visit saintjosephcathedral.org on the Internet or call (614) 224-1295, ext. 101.

Getting There

St. Joseph Cathedral,

212 East Broad St.

, is a 10-minute drive from Port Columbus International Airport. From the airport, take Interstate 670 West toward Columbus, then Interstate 70 South (Exit 5) toward Cincinnati. Exit on U.S. Rte.-40 (Exit 108B), heading right on

Broad Street

. St. Joseph is on the right.