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…