Saint James' Church A Suburban Melbourne House of God

The Church of Saint James in Brighton, formerly known as Gardenvale, and before that Elsternwick is one of many Gothic Revival churches of the Archdiocese of Melbourne (Australia). For Easter Day, we are writing this post about Saint James', because its parishioners cannot fully share the joy of Christ's Resurrection today. Their church was gutted by fire on Monday of Holy Week, the victim of an arsonist.

Saint James' church Brighton:
North transept, nave and belltower.

Saint James' church, a brick cruciform building with stone facing, was commenced in 1891, but enlarged in 1924 with the addition of transepts, apse and sacristies complementing the original design of Edgar Henderson.

In most respects, Saint James' church was not an exceptional building, but its great glory was the magnificent decorative mosaic work on the walls of the apse and adjacent chapels. This decoration, in a style known as opus sectile, was completed in 1939.

Of all this beauty, nothing now remains. The interior of the church was completely destroyed this week past and parts of its brick and stone walls are imperilled. This is the first of a series of posts on Saint James, aimed at keeping this tragedy in people's minds and in the hope that this House of God might - to some extent at least - be rebuilt. In the meantime, let us pray for its sorrowful parishioners.

Send a message of support to the Parish here.

Charming interior of Saint James church.

A section of the magnificent decorative work
of the apse and Sacred Heart Chapel.

Saint James' ablaze early on the morning of Monday 30th March:
the view on the south side of the church.

Dramatic view of the blaze, looking through 
the tracery window of the southern transept.
Image: The Herald-Sun.

Fireman bringing the devastating blaze under control.
Image : The Herald-Sun.

Charred ruin of the transepts.

The Altar Canopy

The manner of decorating an altar which has been hallowed by ancient tradition and is distinctly a Catholic practice, is to build over the entire altar a large canopy, usually standing on four columns. Such a canopy is often referred to as a  ciborium,  or a  baldacchino  or  a civory.  In mediaeval times, particularly in England, a different form of canopy came to be suspended from the ceiling above the altar, usually being square but sometimes circular in shape.  Later still the canopy evolved into an adjunct to the altar which jutted out at right angles from the topmost part of its reredos. These different forms of canopy all have specific names, which are often confused. This is the first of many posts illustrating canopies, in their various forms, over our altars.

The canopy, according to Canon J.B. O’Connell, “was a traditional mark of reverence and honour, emphasising the royal dignity of the altar...without any infringement of the inviolable sanctity and detachment of that sacred stone.”  Canon J.B. O’Connell, Church Building and Furnishing: the Church’s Way, 1955, pp. 185-86.

The great bronze canopy over the High altar of St. Peter's Basilica.
Designed by the sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini, it was intended to mark,
in a monumental way, the place of Saint Peter's tomb beneath.
Commissioned by Pope Urban VIII, the work began in 1623 and ended in 1634.

Image: http://aeternus.photoshelter.com/image/I0000vAmfHrr8kHE

The most famous example of such a canopy is in Saint Peter’s Basilica; but there are numerous such canopies throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, North America and in Australia. Many of these were built in the first half of the twentieth century, when liturgical ideals were being practically espoused.

The former Ceremonial of Bishops and various decrees of the Congregation of Sacred Rites required a canopy of some sort to be built over an altar - a directive which, unfortunately, was largely ignored. 

Catholic Cathedrals of North America : 1 Saint Patrick's New York

Nestled amidst the bustle of Manhattan, Saint Patrick's Cathedral.

The North American continent has a wonderful richness and variety of Cathedral churches, which we hope to explore in coming months in these columns. For this post, we turn our attention to (arguably) the most famous and well-loved of the Cathedrals of the United States : Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

This masterpiece of the Gothic Revival was designed by the American architect James Renwick from 1853, work commencing on the building in 1858. Renwick had toured Europe to inspect its great Cathedrals before commencing his designs and, as a result, Saint Patrick's has much in common in style and detail with French Cathedrals and with the great Cathedral of Cologne.

We find a certain similarity of composition in the facade of the Cathedral of Rheims and Saint Patrick's New York. This was even more evident before the spires were completed on the New York Cathedral in 1888 (see photographs below). Saint Patrick's is not a large Cathedral by any standard, but its small size is off-set by the soaring appearance of its facade and its marvellous interior.

Splendidly composed facade of Saint Patrick's Cathedral.
Attentuated portals are enclosed by the massive buttresses.

Rheims Cathedral, France.

The unfinished Cathedral,
shewing similarities to Rheims Cathedral
but in a more compact form.

The construction of Saint Patrick's Cathedral was interrupted by the American Civil War (1861 - 1865) and in the wake of that terrible conflict, the Cathedral was not able to be completed as planned. 

An artisan working on the nave ceiling of the Cathedral.
The photograph shews clearly that the entire structure is formed
from plaster, neatly painted to resemble masonry.

The most significant change is that the ceiling, which was intended to be entirely stone vaulting, was instead made in the lath and plaster technique in imitation of stone (see adjacent photograph). Stone vaulting could not be afforded. Consequently, Renwick's design for exteriors walls supporting a stone vault with flying buttresses was modified and remains today in a curiously unfinished state.

South-west aspect of the Cathedral shewing Renwick's
unfinished flying buttresses along the aisle walls.

After the Cathedral's completion in 1888, the only addition to the building was the construction of a Lady Chapel (1900 - 1908 ) emerging from the apse. It follows in most every respect the character of the apse from which it extends.

The East end of the Cathedral, shewing the Lady Chapel
and buildings associated with the Cathedral.

One of the consequences of the Cathedral now being surrounded with the skyscrapers of Manhattan, as could never have been foreseen in the 1850's, is that the interior is rather dark. Furthermore, successive generations have added stained glass to the clerestory windows. And so, we turn to a marvellous old photograph from 1907 to illustrate this Cathedral's splendid interior.

Marvellous 1907 photograph shewing the interior of the Cathedral
bathed in natural light.
The grandeur and wonderful proportions of the building
are well-shewn in this photograph.

This photographs shews the inventive treatment of the southern wall of the transept.

Bird's eye view of the chancel.

We turn now to liturgical arrangements of the Cathedral. The adjacent photograph, taken from high in the vault during recent restoration work, shews the large area of the chancel. A large area of tiled pavement separates the two sides of the choirstalls and leads to the steps of the High Altar, which rests beneath a civory or altar canopy. It will be noticed that this chancel is very spacious.

Beyond the arches of the apse is an ambulatory and beyond this can be seen the Lady Chapel. The chancel is separated from the ambulatory by timber parcloses.

But this is not the original arrangement of the Cathedral's sanctuary. The photograph below shews something altogether different. Prior to 1942, the High altar was a composition in the High Victorian style. It gleamed white and because it was very lofty and communicated most of the width of the chancel, was a real focal point for the Cathedral.

Although from the perspective of liturgical ideals crowning the High altar with a civory is usually desirable and admirable, in the instance of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, the change was not successful visually.

The civory - a composition in a free Gothic style - was purposely left very open, so that it would be possible to see through it to the apse beyond. The design of this civory is not sufficiently three-dimensional for it to have an adequate visual impact in this large space.

Photograph taken during a wedding in the Cathedral in the 1930's.
The old High altar visually dominates, drawing all eyes towards it.

 

The Cathedral photographed in the 1960's.

An early photograph of the 1942 High altar and civory.
A dossal was suspended behind the altar to assist focus.

Another view of the civory.

This view from the rear of the civory
shews the entrance to the Cathedral Crypt.

A beautiful view of the Cathedral taken at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Genius of AWN Pugin : 1 Saint Edmund's College Ware (UK)

In 1812 was born one of the most important figures in the history of architecture and the decorative arts: Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin.  

The son of the French émigré Augustus Charles Pugin (who himself was an architectural draughtsman and topographical watercolourist), AWN Pugin is arguably the greatest British architect, designer and writer of the nineteenth century.  Pugin was responsible for an enormous quantity of buildings, and also for countless beautiful designs for tiles, sacred vestments and paraments, metalwork, furniture, wallpaper, stained glass and ceramics.  Some of his best known work includes the magnificent interiors of the Houses of Parliament, the church of St Giles, Cheadle, in Staffordshire, and his own house, The Grange, in Ramsgate (Kent), together with the nearby church of Saint Augustine, which he built and paid for himself and where he is buried.

Through his buildings, designs, and particularly his forceful and witty writings, such as Contrasts (1836) and the True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture (1841), he made people think in a new way about what architecture was.   Pugin taught that only a caring and "good" society can raise buildings that are truly honest and beautiful.  For him, Gothic architecture was the greatest style of building, and therefore the Middle Ages, the period in which these buildings were conceived, must be the closest man can get to a perfect society.  Pugin's beliefs and ideas have implications beyond his own immediate preferences, and so for many reasons he was, and is, therefore, hugely influential, both on other architects and designers of the Gothic Revival throughout the Victorian era and also on many subsequent architects, theorists and writers.

The above paragraphs were adapted from the website of The Pugin Society.

Shrine of Saint Edmund in the Collegiate Chapel at Ware (UK)
Image : http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2013/09/adeste-fideles-and-other-treasures-at.html#.VKnUomSUeds

There are so many architectural and liturgical jewels which Pugin created in his short life, but in this post we wish to discuss a detail to reveal the layers of Pugin's creativity, rather than give an overview of his achievements. We look at the photograph included above of a shrine in the Chapel of Saint Edmund's College, Ware, one of the last buildings designed by Pugin and completed in 1853, after his death.

This is a shrine to the patron of the College, Saint Edmund. An elaborate reliquary is the centrepiece of the shrine, situated in a reredos above the altar. Most obviously, this shrine is decorated in a beautiful and tasteful manner. The stonework of the reredos is enhanced with polychrome work and gilding, down to the finest detail. In several places, in the script Pugin favoured, is the letter " E " for Saint Edmund and around the base of the reliquary, with its alternating panels of blue and red, Saint Edmund is honoured with the words : Hail, flower and comeliness of England. The angels, which adorn eight of the nine carved recesses are all treated differently and have so much more vigour that the statues of the baroque (we will pass over without mention the genre of plaster statue).

But the shrine is also a study in ingenuity. In a shallow alcove, set-off from the main part of the chapel, the reredos sits into a large arch : it does not protrude from the wall. It might be a window behind that, but, of course it isn't. Pugin has skilfully used different forms of arch to create a reredos in this space, giving the impression that it was an afterthought, but an ingenious one, filling a blank area in the chapel. A further master touch was the use of curtaining of rich dark red velvet in the central recesses of the reredos. It gives the impression of the curtained stage of a theatre. The arches here are distinctly different and free of the structural ornament which the other arches have; their shallow slope becomes the foundation from which further archwork springs. But their form, together with the curtains, also gives the impression of a substantial space behind the shrine, although in fact there is none at all.

The curtains, of course, may be drawn across the Reliquary, if desired, during the celebration of Mass or during Passiontide.

This Shrine is a small example of the many wonders which flowed from the creative mind of AWN Pugin.

Below are some other links descriptive of Pugin and his work:

http://pugin.com/

http://www.puginfoundation.org/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/24/pugin-gothic-architect 

An English Altar : Cantley UK

Chancel of the Anglican church of Saint Wilfrid in Cantley (UK).
This sumptuous setting features an altar clothed with a rich frontal,
a carved reredos, with adjacent riddel curtains and a
tester suspended above, being an English form of the altar canopy.
Note that the low reredos finishes where the reveals of the East
window commence, so that the window itself appears as a
continuation of the reredos, whilst not being obscured by it.

In this post, we look at a further example at what is described as The English Altar which, as the name suggests, has its origins in England when that fair isle was still Catholic. These are a mediaeval variety of High altar, but also found in small chapels within churches or domestic oratories etc.

Meeting examples of English altars, we find that the altar was typically clothed in a rich frontal but, lacking a gradine or step upon the altar table, the candlesticks (often only two) rested directly upon the altar.

Sometimes a rather low reredos abutted the altar, whilst at each corner there was a post or small column. Usually angels surmounted the four posts. Curtains, known as riddels were suspended on either side of the altar, between the posts.

These posts are held to be the survival or remnant of that early period when altars in England were covered with a civory or ciborium.

The beautifully carved, polychromed and gilded reredos, the work of Sir Ninian Comper.
The Crucifixion is the central motif, being flanked by angels.
On either side may be observed small statues of saints.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the English altar underwent a revival, mainly in Anglo-Catholic churches. But they also came to be employed in Catholic churches (we have previously seen an example from Downside Abbey).  In Anglican circles, a foremost exponent of this style of altar was the renowned architect Sir Ninian Comper, who was the designer of the furnishing and decorations depicted in this post.

In 1894 he was able at St. Wilfrid's to erect a pure Gothic altar for the first time in a parish church. The altar was of stone and stood free from the east wall. Modelled on the evidence of medieval illuminations, it had four riddel posts, hung with curtains suspended by silk cords looped in split rings running on black iron rods. The posts supported gilded figures of kneeling angels holding tapers, taken from precedents discovered by Bodley in Nuremberg. There were no gradines, or shelves, for a crucifix and six candlesticks, only a low reredos, carved coloured and gilded. Two candlesticks lay on the mensa and the altar was covered by an embroidered, panelled frontal and narrow frontlet. There was an overhanging canopy, or tester.  (From the monograph Sir Ninian Comper by Fr. Anthony Symondson S.J.)

We may qualify the above by observing that the Gothic period in England covered several centuries, during which time no one style of altar could claim to be "Gothic".

A magnificently embroidered altar frontal of dark red velvet.
Its appearance is cheapened by the ubiquitous strip of lace obscuring the superfrontal.

Although this form of altar is not common in Catholic churches, there is no reason why it could not be, even in a more simplified form. There are examples of such altars where a tabernacle is placed centrally. We shall continue to present examples of such arrangements in further posts.

The above photographs were taken from the following flickr site, where many more marvellous photographs of this church may be seen.

Two Altars

Apse of the Karaganda Cathedral.

In 2012, the Diocese of Karaganda, in Khazakhstan completed and consecrated its new Cathedral in honour of Our Lady of Fatima, Mother of all Nations.  What appears to be an historic altarpiece has been installed as the High altar and focal point of the Cathedral.  It is an extremely impressive ensemble visually, constructed of timber,  polychromed and gilded.


 

The two altars sit in harmonious proximity to each other
and appear almost as one unit.

Standing in front of the High altar is another altar, freestanding. A timber altar, with rather beautifully done carving, is the altar at which Mass is intended to be celebrated.  But it is not fixed: it sits on a splendid carpet at the same level as the High altar, and the whole thing could readily be moved out of the way. But this altar was consecrated and a rather ingenious method of construction was then revealed. Approximately two-thirds of the mensa was a slab of marble, incised with consecration crosses and set into the timber table of the altar. There is ample historic precedent for such an arrangement, which was referred to in mediaeval times as a superaltar. Beneath the mensa was placed a small house containing the sacred relics (see image below).

The large marble stone set into the mensa of the freestanding altar.

According to the old Pontifical, such an arrangement was not permitted for an altar, but the revised Ritual Books are more flexible. The General Instructions of the Roman Missal no. 263 says: According to the Church's traditional practice and the altar's symbolism, the table of a fixed altar should be of stone and indeed of natural stone. But at the discretion of the conference of bishops some other solid, becoming, and well-crafted material may be used. The Ceremonial of Bishops and the Code of Canon Law restate this instruction. Thus, it is not uncommon and perfectly licit, for a consecrated altar to be made entirely of wood or metal, and sometimes, as in the case of the Karaganda Cathedral, a stone mensa is supported by a structure of timber or metal.

Detail of the High altar shewing the patina of the old paintwork.

This flexibility is surely an advantage when there is an existing High altar intact in a Church, but yet not usually the altar at which Mass is offered. How often do we see churches with two altars sitting one in front of the other? Usually, the two sit in uncomfortable proximity to each other, vying for attention. But not at Karaganda. Congratulations to those who devised the ingenious solution.

A relic house about to be placed beneath the freestanding altar.

The sanctuary of the Karaganda Cathedral, seen during the celebration of weekday Mass,
shewing the two altars appearing as one harmonious unit.

Please note that the images are the copyright of the Diocese of Karaganda.

Saint Andrew's Abbey-Church, Bruges (Belgium)

Photograph: Dirk Vde 2007
Please note: The above copyrighted image may not be reproduced in any circumstances.

The magnificent Benedictine Abbey-Church of Saint Andrew in Bruges, Belgium is completely intact and truly glorious.

The altar rests beneath a magnificent civory or ciborium, the vault of which is covered with golden mosaic tiles. The apse walls are treated with inlaid marblework and murals painted in the Beuronese school of sacred art. Equally magnificent is the Cosmatesque floor of the sanctuary.

The altar of Saint Joseph in the Abbey-Church.
Here is seen a further example of the Beuronese school of sacred art.
The altar itself, together with its bronze Crucifix and candlesticks, is a work of art,
beautifully detailed and admirably proportionate.

The charming photograph adjacent was taken in the Abbey Church of Saint Andrew in Bruges,
Belgium around 1960.  A Benedictine monk is pictured at the beginning of a Low Mass, attended by two servers.

A more detailed description of the Church, with photographs, will be the subject of further posts.

Click on the images for an enlarged view. 

Contact: stbede62@gmail.com