Maybe the "Hourglass Angel" was an attempt by the Cathedral to get some funding from Red Bull by a little bit of product placement :)

Actually, I suspect it's supposed to be an image of, and reminder of the fact that time, indeed, flies.
Tim Ferguson | 06.29.08 - 5:00 pm | #

The "flying hourglass" motif is common in cemetery symbolism, for the same reason that Mr. Ferguson stated - tempus vere fugit!

Visual evidence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tod...lem/2426289603/

Although I had definitely seen the symbol before, I'll concede it's the first time I have seen or heard of it being used in a (Catholic) church (although while doing my cursory Internet research to verify my assumptions, I ran into its use in a Capuchin ossuary: http://www.zormeir.com/italy/dem...y/dembones.htm) .
W. A. Schrift | 06.29.08 - 6:10 pm | #

I wish we'd have known you were coming! We almost went there for the first time today, since moving nearby. We saw the Our Lady Of Snows Shrine today, though, which took some time.
Karen | 06.29.08 - 8:00 pm | #

That time flying motif was very popular on the graves of New England Puritans.

BTW, according to the St. Louis Archdiocesan website, Archbishop Burke ceased to be the Archbishop of St. Louis the moment the announcement of his promotion was published in Rome on Friday. They elected and installed a diocesan administrator by COB the same day.
Mr. WAC | Homepage | 06.29.08 - 10:28 pm | #

I work 2.7 miles from that Cathedral and often attend the noon Mass. I am a rich woman indeed for having such privileges :-)
N.None | 06.30.08 - 11:34 pm | #

quite right, Mr. WAC.
AmericanPapist | Homepage | 06.30.08 - 11:46 pm | #