The idea, basically, is for there to be a glow hovering high over the head of the spectator, and it's way beyond where you can reach, and you don't fully understand where it's coming from. It creates a very solemn effect.

The Basilica ranks as one of the great buildings in Western architecture. At the Baltimore Basilica, it is a newly visible and much more brilliant Latrobe whom we encounter and a newly knowable and much more precious edifice that we have in our care.