I listened last night to Music of St. Paul's Cathedral, which includes an anthem setting of Psalm 122, I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me, by Charles H.H. Parry. An earlier setting of the text was composed by John Blow, Minister of the Choristers, and was performed at the dedication of the rebuilt St. Pauls' Cathedral on this date in 1697.



The magnificent structure of that extraordinary and diligent man Sir Christopher Wren -- Si monumentum requiris, circumspice -- was built after the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed its predecessor. Wren is entombed in the cathedral crypt, as are Wellington and Nelson.



As the cathedral was among the principal markers of London's renewal after the Great Fire, it's fitting that St. Paul's with its great dome also stands as a smoke-wreathed symbol of indomitability in the photographic record of the Battle of Britain.