Schola on the Hudson

The chapel was built in 1921 to serve a community that had been made permanent through unprecedented American Episcopal life vows by James Otis Sargent Huntington in 1884. Huntington’s Order of the Holy Cross moved to West Park in 1902 and took residence in a striking, sturdy building by English architect Henry Vaughan (1845–1917). Worship originally took place on the northern end of the main floor of the building, with small chapels for private masses; the room is now a parlor with books, comfortable couches and reading chairs, jigsaw puzzles, and periodicals. In its day, it had a Ladies’ Gallery to the left in order to allow women to “witness and participate in worship” without entering the monastic space.

Cram’s design of the chapel after his work at Princeton, the Church of the Advent in Boston, Sweet Briar College, St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, and All Saints, Ashmont was funded by a bequest from the widow of William Masters Camac (1852–1918) of St. Timothy’s, Roxborough and St. Mark’s, Locust Street in Philadelphia. Cram conceived of his work at West Park as an extension of his earlier monastic chapel for the Order of S. Anne in Arlington, Massachusetts (OHC would later have a close connection with the OSA at its house in nearby Kingston, New York). Cram planned his building from the inside out, composing it of three contiguous cubes culminating in an apse. A crypt sometimes overlooked by visitors is now joined by a columbarium for brothers and associates alike. Cram’s work by 1921 resulted in a bright and open space characterized by Cistercian-inspired simplicity, with clear lines of sight and an eastward-facing altar with choir stalls facing north and south.

Like everything in religious communities, this centennial book about the chapel at Holy Cross is a collaborative effort. It opens with a foreword by OHC superior Brother Robert James Magliula, who reminds readers helpfully that “as Christians we can never forget the spatial concreteness that the Incarnation entails.” Brother Adam McCoy’s delightful chapter From Dining Room to Chapel investigates the early worship spaces of the order between 1881 and 1921. He is followed by the Rev. Dr. Arnold Klukas in a masterful exploration of the lay architect Ralph Adams Cram as “Evangelist of Anglo-Catholicism.” Klukas situates the West Park chapel in the context of Cram’s other work, and offers insights on the use of local materials and the active back-and-forth in correspondence between the brothers and their architect during the process of building.

Brother Robert Leo Sevensky, OHC archivist (and superior from 2008 to 2017), carries the story forward from Cram’s time to the present. This means a chronicle of major changes in worship during the twentieth century: new lighting, renovations of the altar, changes in the guest court, attention to downdrafts, the addition of glass and tile-work in 1940s, the reuniting of the former altar with its reredos at Trinity Church in Ossining, and the addition of icons throughout the space. Private masses mainly ended during the period after the Second Vatican Council, the large Franciscan cross familiar to visitors was added, and one daily Eucharist became the rule for the community. Brother Robert also weaves changes to the arrangement of daily Breviary services into his narrative of the structural changes of the chapel itself.

The handsome book ends in interviews with four senior brothers of the community who reflect on their long common life in and around the chapel, and a selection of anniversary commemorative sermons. Forty photographs in 56 pages make the attractive layout come alive with a visual sense of an impressive and living space over its long history.

This is more than yet another book about the earthly history of the heavenly banquet. It touches on Anglican history and New York history, to be sure, but also on architecture, commerce, philanthropy, music, textile arts and glass, ironwork and sculpture, protestant interactions with Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, and the role of the dead in Christian prayer. It is also a testament to the importance of every detail in a community who use a room in the same and yet varied ways for an infinity of little hours over the course of a century. (I am reminded of an elderly Anglican nun in nearby Peekskill who told me that the greatest penance of her life was sitting for 15 years immediately across from an unattractive window of the Infant Christ; she eventually asked to change her choir stall, and things began to look up as she was herself happier looking up.) The eyes and every other sense are engaged in a space such as this chapel in ways that form the soul quite as much as the waves of ancient words and their attendant patterns of sound and light.

Related posts:

On June 30 the hubs and I took Frosty for his last walk at his favorite park. He had become so used to getting in the car lately only to arrive at a Vets office so this day he didn’t seem too excited…

Check those savings accounts right now! Over the last few years, we’ve had a tumultuous time in the financial sector. Investments have dropped, savings interest rates have dropped, and in general, a…

bibit leci kuning biwa sudah berbunga kondisi berbunga Seperti di Display Foto tinggi 30–50cm Hasil Cangkok ## Penanganan penerimaan Bibit## 1. Segera Buka paket dan Basahi media tanam (tanah pada…