Labyrinth at St. James Episcopal Cathedral
Chicago, Illinois, United States
At St. James Episcopal Cathedral on Chicago's near north side, a labyrinth continues the cathedral's contemplative program in the medieval lineage the American revival descends from. Walks are offered on the cathedral's own schedule in a building that has anchored Episcopal Chicago since the 1850s.
At St. James Episcopal Cathedral on Chicago's near north side, a labyrinth continues the cathedral's contemplative program in the medieval lineage the American revival descends from. Walks are offered on the cathedral's own schedule in a building that has anchored Episcopal Chicago since the 1850s. The Labyrinth Locator's record lists it as Medieval 7-circuit, Chartres style; installed 2013.
Every labyrinth is a walking practice, not a puzzle: a single path winds to a center and back out, and the walk is done slowly, as prayer or meditation. The pattern descends from the medieval pavement labyrinth at Chartres, and the modern urban revival began in the 1990s when Lauren Artress brought replicas of that path to American congregations and public grounds through Veriditas and the Labyrinth Society, whose World-Wide Labyrinth Locator now catalogs thousands. There is no branching and no trick to the path; walkers of every religion and none use it.
Visiting
saintjamescathedral.org carries the site's own information and schedule.
Photo: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicago_-_St._James_Episcopal_Cathedral_-_01.jpg), CC BY-SA.
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