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The exterior of
the church building is made of native Kansas Silverdale
limestone with Indian limestone trim and a fired clay roof.
Positioned directly over the sanctuary on the roof is an
aluminum steeple rising 36 feet high, with a six foot
celtic cross at the top. Another celtic cross rests on the
south side (pictured above).
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A fourteen-foot,
8,640-pound statue of our Lady, with her heart
exposed (in keeping with our parish name) faces 17th street.
It was hand-carved in Italy of snow white carrara marble. It
remains one of the largest statues in the city of
Topeka.
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The statue
(at left) facing the south entrance to church is of Mary and
Jesus as a young child. It is called "Our Lady of the
Smile." It was stolen and smashed in the early 1990's and
replaced.
The Shape and
Positioning of Churches
Our church is in the traditional shape of a cross. (The
sacristy is the head of the cross, the nave is the body, and
the transcepts are the arms.) It has been said that
traditionally churches have faced the east because:
• the rising sun would shine on the altar, and the
congregation would pray toward it, the sun being a symbol of
the Light of the World, Christ Jesus.
• it would face Jerusalem (the city of David); many
medeival maps of the world have Jerusalem in their
centers.
The cornerstone of the church was donated by the
three council of the Knights of Columbus in Topeka. A copper
chest is laid inside containing Topeka newspapers of the
day, commemorating the Centennial year of Kansas and the
story of the church construction, a scroll bearing the names
of early parishioners and other personal mementos and
journals of parishioners.
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