Wood carvings in the Cathedral were completed by famous sculptors. Those in the reredos are by Johann Kirchmayer, considered the best wood carver in the United States. The linen folds on his carvings are a characteristic trademark of Kirchmayer. Above the main altar on each side of the picture of Mary Magdalene, the Kirchmayer statues represent founders of religious orders: on the east, Benedict, Clare and Dominic; and, on the west, Ignatius of Loyola, Terese of Avilla and Francis of Assisi. Several sculptors in the same family worked on the Cathedral and one father and son pair regretted not having anyplace to leave their signature. So the father and son each took a block of wood and facing one another, carved the likeness of the other. They then affixed these two carvings to the sedilla, (seat or bench for presiders at Mass), which now serves as the Ambry (place of reservation for the Holy Oils). The carvings remain a fitting signature to the ingenuity and talent of these sculptors.
