At the start of the renovation, it was discovered that the church floor’s thickness varied widely, anywhere from 4.5 inches thick down to 1 inch thick, and it was rapidly deteriorating in places, presenting a structural
and safety emergency. A new concrete floor was poured in early 2024, 6.5 inches thick and reinforced with two layers of rebar. The new floor—the first since the church’s construction in the 1920s—serves as a firm
foundation for new pews and other structural additions to the interior, and will easily serve the church for another 100 years or more.
Many additions will make our new cathedral ADA-compliant and accessible to people with a variety of physical needs, ensuring that the beauty and community of the cathedral and the grace of the sacraments are available to all who desire them. These include new restrooms with widened stalls, a lift at the Atwood Avenue entrance that provides access to the choir loft, widened confessionals for easier
wheelchair access, and the installation of assistive listening technology to the church sound system and to one of the confessionals.
The church’s old roof had not been replaced since its construction in the 1920s, and as such, it was showing signs of erosion. New roof tiles are being installed, from the same manufacturer as the originals (though larger, allowing us to use fewer tiles and to lighten the overall load on the roof), along with ice guards, beautiful new copper roofing in the lower sections of the nave, and new roofing to the rectory and garage that will unify the overall look of the campus and protect the buildings from everything from rainy springs to snowy Wisconsin winters.
The interior paint scheme has been intentionally designed to remind us of our pilgrimage from earth to Heaven. Paint colors will include subdued earth-tones closer to the floor, giving way to yellows and golds
further up the walls of the church, and finally to an array of stars set amidst rich blue tones on the ceiling. Every square inch of ceiling and wall will be touched by the painter’s brush.
The crown jewel of the cathedral interior has always been and will continue to be the stained glass window of St. Bernard of Clairvaux in the sanctuary. In addition to the window being restored, a new mural will be added above the window, depicting figures of the Old Covenant (Abraham, Moses, and others) with saints of the New Evangelization (such as St. Thérèse of Lisieux, co-patroness of our diocese, and St. Aloysius Gonzaga, patron saint of youth), all gathered around Christ on His Throne.
The renovation project aims to use beauty as a means to evangelize and to draw people into the Heart of God through prayer and contemplation. Many more artistic additions are planned to enhance the beauty of the church’s interior, including: Statues of the Twelve Apostles, paintings of the saints of the Roman Canon, etchings in the floor of the nave aisles of the instruments of Christ’s Passion, custom and handmade woodworking, and niches devoted to St. John Vianney and St. Bernard. The existing stained glass windows, rich in detail and depicting the life of Christ and several saints, will also be restored.
As renovations on St. Bernard began, numerous old fixtures and artifacts were discovered, such as an old ambry (the cabinet that houses the sacred oils) and an earth vault containing leftover stones from the building’s construction, reminders of the age and historical value of the church. There is hope to use some of the recovered original stone somewhere in the renovation, and some old paintings in the church have been removed and framed for display in other parts of the campus.
St. Raphael Church was built in 1854 and was elevated to the Diocese of Madison’s cathedral when the diocese was established in 1946. Tragically, the church was lost in a fire in 2005, but many pieces from the structure were salvaged. Some of these, such as stained glass windows and the bells from the old steeple, will be incorporated into the new cathedral, and other pieces will be displayed in a history exhibit elsewhere on the campus, providing a sense of connection and continuity with our first mother-church.
Architect: ADCI
Engineering: Ramaker
General Contractor: P&L Construction
Project Manager: P&L Construction
Electrical: Accurate Electric, Brian Virnig (Rectory)
Stained Glass: Staige Stained Glass
Plumbing: NAMI, Otis Plumbing (Rectory)
Design Consultants: Studio IO
Artistic Designs (plastering, painting, brass work): T.H. Stemper Co.
Lighting Design: Viking Electric
Concrete: Sugar River Lawn and Landscape
Excavation and Demolition: Interstate Demolition and Sawing
HVAC: NAMI
Steelworkers: Selden Steel Erectors