St. Mary's Basilica, Minneapolis, MN

The first time I ever entered so grand a building as a cathedral or a basilica was when I went inside St. Mary's. It literally filled me with awe. It was, of course, a dreary, gray, winter/spring day outside. My friend and I were the only people in the darkened interior. The statues of the saints in the niches were covered with purple cloth for lent which added to the quiet subdued quality of the air. The very walls exuded a peaceful, warm embrace.

I was confused, however, about the architectural discrepancies between St. Mary's and what was described in the book, namely the rounded apse at each end. I found this on Wikipedia:

The Latin word basilica was originally used to describe a Roman public building (as in Greece, mainly a tribunal), usually located in the forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC. After the Roman Empire became officially Christian, the term came by extension to refer to a large and important church that has been given special ceremonial rites by the Pope. Thus the word retains two senses today, one architectural and the other ecclesiastical.

Here is the URL if you want to read more (it's interesting) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica