As a former medievalist, I have what I can only describe as a soft spot for cathedrals. More than just a place of worship, more even than the seat of the bishop (“cathedra,” as many of you undoubtedly remember from your high school Latin classes, means seat or chair), the cathedral was the heart of community life in medieval Europe, a veritable of hive of social, political, and economic activity. Christ Church Cathedral will be transformed into something approaching that medieval model of aesthetic splendor and public engagement during the weekend of May 3 and 4 as it throws its doors open to the public for the 116th Flower Festival.

As the Cathedral’s website puts it:

Sponsored by the Diocese of Missouri, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Cathedral, the event celebrates the blessings of nature’s abundance and beauty and our responsibility as stewards of the earth. This year’s theme is “Ecclesiastical Environmentalism.”

The Flower Festival traces its roots to 1890. Missouri Botanical Garden founder Henry Shaw stipulated in his will that after his death an annual sermon be preached “on the wisdom and goodness of God as shown in the growth of flowers, fruits and other products of the vegetable kingdom.”

That sermon blossomed into an accompanying street festival. During Flower Festival, the Cathedral’s medieval splendor is transformed by the hundreds of flowers from the Garden. There’s good music, good food and good fun for children and adults.

The festivities begin with a worship service at 11:00 a.m., to which all are welcome. Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church USA, will preach. Anderson has been an adjunct lecturer at the University of Michigan in the School of Natural Resources and the Women’s Studies Department. Among her published works is Spirituality and the Earth: Exploring Connections.

The Flower Festival brings people from all over the region to experience downtown St. Louis at its best. I will be attending for the first time this year; I hope many readers of this blog will stop by and then post a comment to let me know what you thought.