The year 2011 marks the three-hundredth anniversary of the completion of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, the masterwork of one the European Enlightenment’s greatest geniuses, Sir Christopher Wren.

The Cathedral’s domed structure is widely recognized as an emblem of British national identity as well as embodying its unique spiritual heritage.  The full significance of what St. Paul’s represents, however, is truly global.  During World War II the dome’s stubborn survival against the Nazi onslaught came to symbolize the triumph of belief in individual human rights over the threat of totalitarian and authoritarian philosophies of government.  It was because of this unique symbolic strength that, at the height of the Blitz, Sir Winston Churchill remarked, “At all costs, St. Paul’s must be saved.”

After the war, the British people contributed – penny by penny – to rebuild one badly-damaged portion of the Cathedral as an act of thanksgiving to the American people and a memorial to her 28,000 war-dead who had been stationed on the British Isles.  Immediately behind the High Altar, the American Memorial Chapel houses a hand-inscribed vellum volume containing the names of each and every one of those war heroes, with one page being reverently turned every day to reveal additional names of those who made the supreme sacrifice.

From its perch atop Ludgate Hill, London’s highest point, St. Paul’s has constituted a familiar frame of reference for generations of newcomers making a home in one of the world’s largest and most diverse urban centers.  At its best, the Cathedral has always been a place of warm welcome, and today, through its Schools and Families program, St. Paul’s reaches out proactively to help its new neighbors understand that, regardless of creed, it is their cathedral as well.

“A Night in London During the Blitz” is a fundraising event planned for Houston on Wednesday, February 29th, 2012. 

To learn more about the history of the American Memorial Chapel, click here.