The five galeros — red hats belonging the former cardinal archbishops of Chicago — still hung over the altar, but all movable items were taken out of the sanctuary.
Mayall, who on Feb. 5 called on Chicagoans of all faiths to pitch in to help fix the structure, said it will take time for the damage to be repaired.
The cathedral was in the midst of a $10 million capital campaign to repair and renovate its facilities. But money from that campaign could not be used to pay for repairs to the ceiling and roof structure that closed the cathedral from February to the end of August last year.
In a January bulletin, Mayall said work on the ceiling had cost more than $4 million. He has no estimate for how much the fire damage will cost to fix, or how much insurance will cover.
According to Mayall, a worker arriving after 5 a.m. reported the fire, setting off alarms in the building. The 11 priests who live there were evacuated as a precaution, Mayall said.
Father Matt Compton, an associate pastor, with the help of Father Tom Mulcrone, the fire department chaplain, was able to enter the sanctuary and remove the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle for safekeeping. It was taken to the chapel of Casa Jesus, a formation seminary for Hispanic young men on the cathedral grounds.
Firefighters were able to save the building by pouring water on the roof from hook-and-ladder trucks while others crawled along narrow planks in the attic, fighting the fire from inside the roof.
Weaver said she learned of the fire when a friend sent her a text message at about 6 a.m., and she turned on the television and saw the pictures.
“I cried,” she said. “Last year, we felt like we were in exile all summer.”
Printed with permission from Catholic New World, newspaper for the Archdiocese of Chicago.