Hubert Humphrey once wrote, "The pursuit of peace resembles the building
of a great cathedral. In concept it requires a master architect; in
execution, the labors of many." Many different artists have created
cathedral furnishings with peace as the themes.
The ferocious battle of Israelites and Philistines, in the David and Goliath panel of the
Ghiberti Doors of Paradise, is sharply contrasted with the adjacent
panel depicting the peaceful meeting of King Solomon with the Queen of
Sheba. In the Saint Matthew window, Jesus, about to be arrested, rebukes
Peter for wounding the servant of the high priest, in a scene
representing his beatitude, "Blessed are the peacemakers." The motto of
the Diocese of California, seen on the modern cathedra, or bishop's
chair, is Pacifica et Impera, "Peace and Rule."
In the nave
clerestory, the Social Work window commemorates Jane Addams, first
American woman recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. The cathedral's
Churchill plaque, commemorating the centennial of the birth of Britain's
great wartime prime minister, is made of stone from old Coventry
Cathedral, firebombed by the Nazis. The charred ruins stands today, a
mute witness to the destructiveness of war and to the power of
forgiveness, next to the modern new Coventry Cathedral.
Grace Cathedral's United Nations mural shows the 1945 founding of the
organization in San Francisco, and people of all nations advancing
together. At the sides are San Francisco's bridges, representing
international dialogue, and the symbolic figures of the scourge of War
(damaged Nike of Samothrace statue) and the promise of Peace (Roman
statue of Irene with olive branch).
The cathedral's Peace window is
crowded with doves holding leafy olive branches, presided over by an
allegorical crowned and enthroned figure of Peace, encircled by six
doves and holding an olive branch.
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