Prayer in Stone

“’Haec est domus Dei’, ‘This house is the house of God’, it is like heaven. We love going into a true chapel, a true church, because when we are in the church, we are like in heaven. It is the beginning of heaven. God Himself is in this house – God, and also holy images, statues…The holy images give us good ideas which prepare us to pray, because this house is also the house of prayer: ‘Haec est domus orationis’…”
- Archbishop Lefebvre, during one of his visits to America, for the blessing of a church

“The (church) is itself an act of worship – as its planning, building, and furnishing were acts of worship – it is prayer in stone. We worship with a church as well as in it…The material building and its contents flow from, and are an expression of, the faith, the hope and the love of God of those who erected it. Accordingly, the church is a place of awe and majesty, the tabernacle of God among men…A church by its very appearance should proclaim its character and the grandeur of its high and enduring purpose. It should not only be a church but look as one; it must be distinguished from the town hall, or the factory, or the cinema theatre not merely by the cross on its roof top…The church should be an edifice worthy of its high purpose, with that atmosphere of holiness, dignity, majesty, nobility, reverence, calm, peace and joy that befits the perfect House of God.”

- Church Building and Furnishing, by John Berthram O’Connell