This parish is staffed by the Oblates of the Virgin Mary (OMV).
This parish is staffed by the Oblates of the Virgin Mary (OMV).
Dear Friend in Christ,
On behalf of my brother Oblates serving at Holy Ghost Church, welcome! We are so glad for your interest in this church. Whether you just stop in to pray or go to confession, or whether Holy Ghost becomes your spiritual home here in Denver, we are here for you!
We pray that everyone who comes here would find a deep relationship with the Lord our God that overflows into a community of holiness and charity, both within our own parish and throughout the surrounding region.
In Christ,
Fr. Paul Nguyen, OMV
Come Holy Spirit
Fill the hearts of your faithful
Enkindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit, Lord, and we shall be created.
And you shall renew the face of the earth.
O God, who instructed the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit,
Grant by the same Spirit that we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation.
Through Christ, our Lord.
Amen
Architecturally, the Church of the Holy Ghost in Denver is an original conception, a fusion of Spanish and Italian Renaissance art. Suggestions of both types are to be found blended in majestic beauty with a unity of centralized space and completeness of richly modeled and colored surfaces. All of the order and design are made subservient to the inspirational setting for daily exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at the high altar. Holy Ghost Church is Denver’s Eucharistic shrine. The church has a warm, light, and elegant ambience made beautiful by the purity of its lines and the delicacy of its detail. It is a masterpiece of rhythmic symmetry.
Upon entering the church one is witness to the largest installation of colocreme travertine in the United States. Approximately 300 tons of marble, almost entirely mined in Colorado, were used on the walls, piers, and columns. Dividing the narthex from the nave are lovely colonnettes containing oak panels that may be lifted or lowered to admit or close the view to the body of the church. At the extreme left of the narthex is the former baptistery, which is finished in travertine and entered through an iron gate. The baptistery windows represent the Baptism of Jesus, Jesus blessing the children, and a phoenix, symbol of resurrection.
Sentinels guarding the entrance are bronze miniatures of St. Paul and St. Rita, who are also symbolized in terra cotta plaques or medallions above and to the sides of the entry arch. Capping each door column is a metal cross resting on a globe. Still higher above the entrance to the church, approximately 30 feet above the street, is a second tympanum surrounding a panel of three stained-glass windows. The tympanum bears symbols of the persons of the Trinity: the hand of the Father, the Lamb, and the dove. The windows depict the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Virgin Mary and the Apostles (Acts 2).
Upon entering the church one is witness to the largest installation of colocreme travertine in the United States. Approximately 300 tons of marble, almost entirely mined in Colorado, were used on the walls, piers, and columns. Dividing the narthex from the nave are lovely colonnettes containing oak panels that may be lifted or lowered to admit or close the view to the body of the church. At the extreme left of the narthex is the former baptistery, which is finished in travertine and entered through an iron gate. The baptistery windows represent the Baptism of Jesus, Jesus blessing the children, and a phoenix, symbol of resurrection.
In the church proper one is first struck by the beauty and brilliance of the marble. Three basic shades are used: cream, dark pink, and ruby. The shrine of St. Rita on right side of the nave is done in travertine, while the front of the altar has a mosaic plaque containing a Christogram, and the floor is of Botticino marble. The left side of the nave contains four confessionals, which are used daily in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Fifty feet above the floor of the central nave is an intricate ceiling of wooden trusses and acoustical tile panels. Across the chancel arch of the cruciform structure is the inscription “Holy, Holy, Holy God Almighty” (Rev. 7), and the vaulted transept is richly symbolic of the Holy Eucharist.
The pilaster caps on both the left and right sides of the church parallel each other in symbolism, and the architraves are filled with delicate arabesques. Capstones in the colonnades are representative of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Sacred Heart, and the Church. Immediately above the entrance to the nave as you look back is a plaque depicting the Trinity. At either extremity of the central arch in the chancel are medallions of the four Evangelists, two on each side. The stations of the cross are oil paintings inset in frames with individual lights, the only stations of their kind executed by Conrad Schmitt of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The high altar is of Breche violet marble, imported from Italy, and is canopied by a glorious baldachino and flanked by a reredos of oak. Inset mosaic plaques in the altar depict the Holy Ghost, the Chi Rho, and the Alpha and Omega. The floors of the sanctuary contain Botticino marble, dark pink travertine, and terrazzo with inlaid brass. The communion rail is of Breche violet marble with several inlaid mosaics of Eucharistic symbols. The top of the communion rail itself has a glimmering finish of polished brass. Each of the side altars is finished in Botticino marble, and highlighted by beautiful wood sculptures made by the same artist who carved the baldachino and pulpit.
The stained-glass windows of the church are rich with symbols of the Old and New Testaments. On the left side (as you face the altar) of the church, beginning near the narthex, the clerestory windows successively represent four Old Testament prophets: Daniel, Ezechiel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. Each of these is flanked by two windows: Ureil and Raphael, St. Matthias and St. Simon, St. James the Less and St. Thomas, and St. Andrew and St. John, respectively. Facing the windows of the four Prophets on the opposite (right) side are the four Evangelists: Matthew (nearest the altar), Mark, Luke, and John.
The Evangelists are flanked by (beginning nearest the altar), St. Peter and St. James the Greater, St. Philip and St. Bartholomew, St. Jude and St. Matthew, and St. Gertrude and St. Michael, respectively. Seven lower windows in the nave and transept represent the seven sacraments: (beginning near the narthex) Marriage (Wedding at Cana), Eucharist (adoration of St. Thomas Aquinas), Penance (Christ breathing on the eleven), Baptism (Nicodemus), Confirmation, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick. The four small circular windows above the baldachino contain a shield, birds, a chalice, and a symbol of the Holy Ghost. Other windows depict the prophecy of Isaiah, the Annunciation, the Ascension, St. Peter before the Sanhedrin, St. Peter preaching to the Nations, the Conversion of St. Paul, Ordination of bishops, the Election of a pope, the Inspiration of Holy Scripture, St. Stephen’s Martyrdom, St. Paul, St. Basil, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, Christ the King, and Christ the Judge.