In this week’s installment of wacky looking chapels – here is the Chapel of St. Ignatius at Seattle University.
Tabernacle or birdhouse? You decide.
Update: Oops I confused Tabernacle on the bottom with sanctuary light that was hung.
Please don’t hire architects that have flashbacks from sixties drug use. Though at night it looks less ugly, but still funky.
The sanctuary is rather sparse, but at least there is a decent crucifix to the side and one picture the lighting is pretty cool.
19 comments
OK – “Eucharistic bread”???? Where’d that come from? Some new eucharistic theology peculiar to the Jebbies?
And IIRC, the tabernacle is supposed to be fixed so it can’t be removed or stolen. Hanging from a tree branch doesn’t look all that secure.
I think it’s a pretty nice (sarcasm) tabernacle.
The way it is firmly planted behind the high altar … wait … I meant the way it is off in a little alcove like it is in the Ordinary form of the Latin rite … wait …
But you are right, the cross is rather nice. But couldn’t they have made it a little more hideo… err… I meant couldn’t they have made it blend in a little more with the rest of the chapel?!?!?!?
🙂
Thankfully, I think the tabernacle is actually fixed, if you look at picture 2 in that series you can see it near the bottom of the picture, open and empty (perhaps it was Good Friday or Holy Saturday? or has this chapel not been used yet?). I believe that what is hanging from the tree is the candle for the tabernacle (the name of which escapes me).
I stand corrected – it is the Presence Lamp. Who knew!
Wow – such confusion expressed as architectural method.
Ryan’s right. The blurb at the bottom of that page (imagine that! :-)) says that the tabernacle is “an onyx box lit from within” (although, since I believe onyx is both solid and opaque, you won’t see that it’s lit from within unless it’s open). It goes on, “The sanctuary lamp hangs from a Madrona tree that reaches upwards, symbolizing the struggle of life.” So the thing in the tree isn’t the tabernacle.
“Eucharistic bread” makes no sense to me either, unless they got an Episcopalian to write their blurb.
Peace,
–Peter
Heaven help us! Someone burned the White Tree of Gondor and removed it to a postmodern warehouse.
Admittedly, the wording is dumb. However, I like the tabernacle.
I am Franciscan….might explain my tendency to like the natural influence. Or I could just be weird.
If the onyx is thin enough to pass light, I don’t think that it is thick enough to protect the Hosts. I believe that it is less than a quarter inch at that point.
One blow with a modest hammer is all it would take. At least the metal one requires a determined effort.
Admittedly, the wording is dumb. However, I like the tabernacle.
I am Franciscan….might explain my tendency to like the natural influence. Or I could just be weird.
What’s the source of the Catherine of Siena quote? I’ve found the quote via Google, but never without a reference.
At least they didn’t cover over the IHS.
Ed beat me to the punch line. But it also reminds me of the scene when Judas hangs himself. I’d rather Jesus symbolize Jesus.
Seattle’s Ignatius Chapel is actually better in person than you might expect from these photos. I visited it expecting the worst, and I found, to my surprise, that it works for the most part (though I think their Marian statue is very weird). Though it is admittedly not very traditional, there is a warmth and comfort in the space that simply does not come through in the photos. Much of the effect is through the textures of the interior surfaces and the way they are lit; the photos fail to show that, and they make it look more sterile and minimalist than it actually is.
I say this as an avowed lover of traditional Catholic architecture. This was one of the very few modern church designs that I have actually liked. If you are in Seattle, try it in person, and you might be surprised.
Beautiful crucifix, sparce surroundings. I’m starting to understand why I appreciate beauty at mass so much. Albertus, I promise to check this out if I’m ever out that way. The modernists have a problem with all of the ugliness still in place from previous generations. Any chance they’ll start getting rid of them like the did with all the ballparks?
IKEA’s version of Catholic Church
Looks an awful lot like the monastery, La Grande Chartreuse from Into Great Silence. Very beautiful.
I agree with others–if you are going to do a Chapel in modern architecture, this is the way to do it. There is a lovely cleanness and simplicity about it. But…I tend to prefer more traditional as well.
What is it with the Dead Tree People? They came to my parish at the beginning of Lent. Send somebody else next year.
Why does this chapel look like a cemetery committal chapel?
Yeah, what is it with the dead tree people…?
Some years ago, a Catholic parish in northeastern Illinois converted its old choir room into a weekday chapel. The altar was a large tree stump, and the Blessed Sacrament was kept in a clay pot (like a oookie jar, with a pyx resting on folded corporal) on another tree stump in the corner of the room. This chapel was left unlocked on a Saturday afternoon.