Trinity Episcopal Church, Houston, Texas
Today we remember those who have brought us closer to the Divine by their works of art in stone and steel, artists who have enhanced our worship of God: Ralph Adams Cram (16 December 1863 - 22 September 1942), Richard Upjohn (22 January 1802 - 16 August 1878), and John La Farge (31 March 1835 – 14 November 1910).
Cram was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic style. During an 1887 Christmas Eve mass in Rome, he had a dramatic conversion experience. For the rest of his life, he remained a fervent Anglo-Catholic. He designed such churches as All Saints' Church, Ashmont, Massachusetts (1892); Church of St. John Evangelist, St. Paul, Minnesota (1892); Emmanuel Church, Newport, Rhode Island (1900); Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1904); Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, New York, with Henry Vaughan (1904); All Saints' Chapel, Sewanee (begun 1904, finished 1959); St. Thomas Church, New York City (1905-1913); Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Detroit, Michigan (1908); All Saints Cathedral, Halifax, Nova Scotia (1910); Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City (begun 1912, unfinished); multiple buildings at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey (1913-1927); Cole Memorial Chapel, Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts (1917); in our own Diocese, Trinity Episcopal Church, Houston, Texas (1919); St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Hastings, Nebraska (1921-1929), and St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Winston-Salem, NC Winston-Salem (1928).
Upton was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He designed the following: Trinity Church in New York City (1839-46); The Church of the Ascension in New York City (1840-41); Grace Church, Providence, Rhode Island (1845; later remodeled by Ralph Adams Cram, above); St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Burlington, New Jersey (1846-54); Christ Episcopal Church in Raleigh, North Carolina (1846-48); Grace Church in Newark, New Jersey (1847-48); St. Paul's Cathedral in Buffalo, New York (1849-51); Zion Episcopal Church in Rome, New York (1850-1851); St. John Chrysostom Church in Delafield, Wisconsin (1851-56); St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland (1854); All Saints Episcopal Church in Frederick, Maryland (1855); St. Mark's Episcopal Church (San Antonio, Texas) (1858); St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Albany, New York (1859); Church of the Holy Comforter in Poughkeepsie, New York (1860); St. Philip's Church in the Highlands in Garrison, New York (1860-61); St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Providence, Rhode Island (1860-62); Memorial Church of St. Luke The Beloved Physician, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1861); Trinity-St. Paul's Episcopal Church (New Rochelle, New York) (1862); All Saint's Memorial Church in Navesink, New Jersey (1863-64); and St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Selma, Alabama (1871-75).
LaFarge was an American painter, muralist, stained glass window maker, decorator, and writer. His stained glass works include: Sealing of the Twelve Tribes, Trinity Episcopal Church, Buffalo, New York (1889); two windows at the Thomas Crane Public Library, Quincy, Massachusetts; 14 windows at the Judson Memorial Church, Greenwich Village, New York City; four windows at the Trinity Church, Boston; the windows at the St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University, New York City; the rose window at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia.
Let us pray: Gracious God, we thank you for the vision of Ralph Adams Cram, John LaFarge and Richard Upjohn, whose harmonious revival of the Gothic enriched our churches with a sacramental understanding of reality in the face of secular materialism; and we pray that we may honor your gifts of the beauty of holiness given through them, for the glory of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
This Sunday, the 4th Sunday in Advent, the Children will preach the sermon through their Advent Program. After the Eucharist, we will have a pot luck lunch.
We continue this Sunday at 11 a.m. with A World Awaits, Advent Reflections by C.S. Lewis.
On Thursday, 19 December, the Seaside Seniors will have their Christmas Party in Sutton Hall at St. Augustine’s where St. Nicholas will give out gifts and the Children’s Choir from St. Vincent’s House will provide holiday cheer.
Christmas Eve Eucharist Rite II will be at 4 PM.
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially the very old and the very young who are ill and all of those who are alone this Christmas Season.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
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