The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine

January 7, 2007

Knowing the sun was quickly departing, I forced myself away from the computer and set out for a late afternoon walk. It was a beautiful day – autumn blue skies with the occasional white fluffy clouds and a rather balmy fifty degrees outside. I crossed Central Park, skirting the reservoir for awhile and snapping pictures of the lovely barren winter trees against the New York City skyline. The park was filled with people, perhaps due to those oh-so-recent New Year resolutions. There were cyclists, runners, roller bladders and to my delight a surprising number of dads out playing with their little ones. There are few things that bring a smile to my lips like watching a father play lovingly with his four year old little boy.

A worthy cause, a beautiful house of worship, and the most precious of principles – the belief that the world can live as one – I found it to be one of New York’s many secret treasures.

I meandered the trails, enjoying these precious moments alone yet in the company of man, sharing this unseasonably warm winter’s day. My loosely conceived destination was a church to the north west of the park that I happened to catch sight of in the tourist guide. Having walked some vast cathedrals throughout Europe, often awestruck at the idea some had taken centuries to finish, I was surprised I had never heard of this church right here in Manhattan that had been under construction itself for over a century and that, when finished, would be the largest in the world.

The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine was begun in 1892, the same year as Ellis Island was opened. In 1911 the East End of the Cathedral was dedicated. Thirty years later, and in 1941 the nave’s 601 foot length was unveiled in dedication ceremonies that took place one week before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Construction ceased and would not be resumed for almost forty years. Understand this is a true cathedral in the style of the great European cathedrals with a Notre Dame façade replete with rose window, the largest in the United States. The Great Bronze doors were cast by Barbedienne of Paris who also cast the Statue of Liberty. The greatest challenge to construction was the lack of stone masons. A school for stone masons was actually established, training masons in exchange for work on the cathedral. They began the South Tower in 1979 but financial issues and a severe fire in 2001 have slowed progress.

The beauty of this church is not in its grandeur, however, but in its principle. It was dreamed of as a great inclusive American cathedral. Its charter declares it to be “a house of prayer for all people and a unifying center of intellectual light and leadership.” In fact the chapels rounding the altar are known as the Seven Chapels of the Tongues and represent the seven major immigrant groups that influenced the growth of this great city at the turn of the century. Each chapel is dedicated to a particular immigrant nationality and the architecture and adornment in each chapel reflects the culture and history of each nation. The Chapel of Saint Ansgar is dedicated to Scandinavian immigrants; Saint Columba to the people of the British Aisles; Saint Ambrose to the Italian immigrants; and Saint James to the Spanish immigrants. The Chapel of Saint Boniface is dedicated to the German immigrants and boasts a larger-than-life bronze statue of Germany’s patron saint, Saint Michael the Archangel. The Chapel of Saint Savior was originally the Belmont Chapel after its benefactor but later dedicated to the people of the East. Lastly, the Chapel of Saint Martin is dedicated to French immigrants and the influence of France on Christian Europe and pays homage to Saint Joan of Arc with a statute of her that stands upon a rough stone from the cell in Rouen where she was imprisoned before her execution.

It is inspiring to see a ‘church’ built and dedicated in the name of gathering all people together in the name of prayer. In addition to the Chapels of the Seven Tongues, two 12 foot menorah’s stand upon either side of the altar; which also boasts two enamel vases gifted from Japan and two guilded teak prayer chests from the King of Siam; the windows represent the seven churches in Asia Minor; the baptistry, built in the traditional octagon shape, is adorned with carvings illustrating Dutch history; the Choir pavement is a mosaic representative of the new Jerusalem; the Choir stalls are adorned with statues that represent historic figures associated with Sacred music from around the world; and the parapet depicts figures whose lives and works shaped history including Assisi, Columbus, Shakespeare, and Lincoln, and more recently, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, and Mohandas Gandhi. The entire cathedral is truly a multi-national, multi-generational testament to the single tribe of man.

Though much of the church is still under construction and restoration, it is still an open and functioning Episcopal church with numerous outreach programs. It was inspiring to me to see a church so dedicated to the idea of man coming together as one and determined despite war and fire, the passing of years, and changing of times, to carry through a dream started over a century ago. A worthy cause, a beautiful house of worship, and the most precious of principles – the belief that the world can live as one – I found it to be one of New York’s many secret treasures.