1. What Florentine artists with works in Grace Cathedral were contemporaries of Da Vinci?
2. Why are four pentacles depicted on the vaulting bosses above the High Altar?
3. What castle named in the novel has murals by cathedral muralist John DeRosen?
4. Why are flaming roses shown in the border of the Mary Magdalene window?
5. Which cathedral door displays French royal symbols?
6. Which cathedral altar shows arms of a medieval knight of an order?
7. What chivalric order meets at Grace Cathedral?
8. What do Grace Cathedral and the nearby Masonic Temple have in common?

1. Da Vinci was 3 when Lorenzo Ghiberti (Doors of Paradise) died in 1455, and 27 when Antonio Rossellino (Madonna and Child plaque, north choir aisle porch) died in 1479. At Da Vinci’s death in 1519 Antonio del Ceraiolo (Madonna and Child, Chapel of the Nativity) was starting his career, and the Chapel of Grace altarpiece was being carved.
2. The bosses do not show pentacles but five-pointed Epiphany stars. They symbolize the Star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to the birthplace of the Christ Child. The High Altar was not placed below until 1964.
3. Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome, has murals of Polish Christian history in the private papal chapel by Polish-born DeRosen.
4. The flaming rose symbolizes Mary Magdalene's ardor and devotion to Christ.
5. The vestry door displays carved royal fleur-de-lys, and a shield with leaping dolphins, symbol of the royal heir or dauphin. The carvings are purely decorative.
6. The ca. 1430 medieval French altar is located in the Chapel of Grace. The coats of arms may be those of the Mortagne family, and show chiefs (top bands) with the cross of the Knights Hospitaller or Knights of St. Lazarus. (See image above.)
7. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, a revived but entirely philanthropic organization, holds annual services in the Cathedral. Its flag (1922) hangs in the north transept, honoring a late governor of the order and major cathedral donor.
8. Both look back to Solomon’s Temple as a prototype.

 
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