The Princeton University Chapel “…a new meaning will be imparted to their interpretation of things unseen and eternal as they come by daily association to recognize the new Princeton Chapel as the University’s protest against the materialistic philosophy and drift of our age.” Welcome to the Princeton University Chapel. After placing the current building in historical context, the following guide will give an overview of its architecture, windows, and countless carvings of wood and stone. The Chapels of Yesterday Princeton Beginnings (1746-1756) A classmate overheard the jibe, and it quickly got back to Yale’s President, Thomas Clap. Though it might have been dismissed as a forgivable indiscretion, tensions were high at Yale as the First Great Awakening swept through New England. Due to the excesses of revivalists, Clap had recently made it a punishable offense for zealous students to call their tutors “carnal or unconverted men.” Concerned Presbyterian alumni of Yale who were open to the “New Light” revivalists, among them the famous Jonathan Edwards and the New Jersey ministers Aaron Burr Sr. and Jonathan Dickinson, attempted in vain to convince President Clap to keep Brainerd’s offense from leading to expulsion. They were unsuccessful, and Clap’s resolve was the straw of resistance to revival that broke the camel’s back of Yale loyalty. A new college was conceived. But where to put it? Returning north to Harvard was inadvisable, as Harvard too had been forsaken for resistance to new expressions of religious fervor. The only other colonial school, William and Mary, was far too south – and, for Presbyterians, far too Anglican. Between the two lay New Jersey, conveniently near a revival-friendly school, sarcastically dubbed the “Log College” by its enemies, which had been in operation since 1726. Not without serious resistance, the new school secured a royal charter on Oct 22, 1746, and Rev. Jonathan Dickinson became the College of New Jersey’s first president. Because students met in his Elizabeth, NJ parsonage, Dickinson’s home might then be considered the College’s first “chapel.” Early life at the College was not easy. The ability to “turn English into true and grammatical Latin” and translating “any part of the four Evangelists from Greek into Latin or English,” was a skill not expected of professors, but of all potential freshman! Nassau Hall (1756-1847) (IMAGE: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/campusimages/33-97.jpeg) After Jonathan Dickinson’s death the college met in Newark at the home of the Aaron Burr Sr., the College’s second President. With tireless fund-raising, Burr was able to move the College to its present location in 1756. Nassau Hall, which when it was constructed was the largest building in the 13 colonies, contained a large room which could now serve as a chapel, known since its 1906 renovations as the “Faculty Room.” Aside from its religious purpose, Nassau Hall functioned intermittently as a base for Redcoats before General Washington routed them early in 1777, a military hospital through 1778, and the seat of Congress when Princeton was briefly the nation’s capital in 1783.
The “Old Chapel” (1847-1896) (IMAGE: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/campusimages/29-58.jpeg) As the College grew, commencement was becoming too large a ceremony for the prayer room at Nassau Hall, and the College donated land to build the First Presbyterian Church (now Nassau Presbyterian Church) in 1764, granted its space could be used for graduation exercises. Following the lengthy and dynamic presidency of Rev. John Witherspoon (1768-1794), the College went into decline. Student/faculty tensions led to the “great rebellion” riots of 1807. Enrollment decreased, and seeing that so many pulpits in the expanding West were going vacant, the College seemed out of place with its original purpose to train ministers. To compensate for this failure, the nearby Princeton Theological Seminary was founded in 1812. But the religious influence on the College of New Jersey certainly did not expire with the creation of a separate Seminary. As enrollment rebounded, the need of the College’s very own chapel was finally met in 1847, but not without great controversy. In defiance of Presbyterian sensibilities, the building was shaped like a cross. “Cruciform architecture is so identified with popery that it becomes us to beware of adopting its insignia,” declared a concerned committee’s report. But two-thirds of the walls were up, and “frugality overcame piety,” allowing the building to be completed. Years of worship however warmed many to the building, which after its destruction, became known as the “Old Chapel.” Alas, when the Chapel was destroyed in 1896 to make room for the new library (now East Pyne), grieving alumni dubbed the demolition job “the crime of ‘Ninety-Six.” Marquand Chapel (1887-1920) (IMAGE: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/campusimages/34-42.jpeg) But due to Princeton’s extraordinary growth under President James McCosh, the “Old Chapel” had earlier been replaced by an impressive building that would have triply horrified the Presbyterian sensibilities that were discomforted with its predecessor. Marquand Chapel, built in 1887, was said to have the “rounded apse of a Roman basilica, the transept of a Gothic cathedral, and the minaret of a Turkish mosque!” Yet it was beautiful structure able to seat 1000, and was built by architect Richard Morris Hunt who had developed his skills at the prestigious École des Beaux Arts in Paris. In Marquand’s inaugural sermon President McCosh proclaimed “Here art is consecrated to religion.” Tragically Marquand burned down in 1920, and as students awaited a new chapel, they worshipped for eight years in Alexander Hall.
Gothic Makeover (IMAGE: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/campusimages/53-29.jpeg) In 1897 the College of New Jersey officially became Princeton University, and its assortment of styles, many supposed, had led to a degree of visual confusion unbefitting the institution’s new name. The unifying potential of the Gothic style was suggested to address the problem. Gothic had recently entranced Princeton President Woodrow Wilson and trustees on a visit to Oxford and Cambridge, and had already made an appearance in American schools such as Bryn Mawr. Thus began “Princeton’s long, 50 year love affair with Collegiate Gothic.” The style was chosen for the aura of Christian heritage and European learning that it was thought to convey. President Woodrow Wilson would say in celebration of Princeton’s new look, “We have added a thousand years to the history of Princeton… and as the imagination of classes yet to be graduated from Princeton [is] affected by the suggestions of that architecture, we shall find the past of this country married with the past of the world.” Wilson’s rival, Professor Andrew West, could also wax quite eloquent on the subject: “Why do students naturally love such buildings? I think it is because, with the scenic setting, they look inviting, domestic, poetic, and seem in some way ancestral to universities. Quadrangles shadowing sunny lawns, towers and gateways opening into quiet retreats, ivy-grown walls looking on sheltered gardens, vistas through avenues of arching elms, walks that wind amid the groves of Academe – these are the places where the affections linger and where memories cling like the ivies themselves, and these are the answers in architecture and scenic setting to the immemorial longings of academic generations back to the time when universities first began to build their homes.” The American architect Ralph Adams Cram, the “high priest” of Gothic, was chosen as supervising architect for Princeton’s makeover, a position he occupied for more than twenty years (1907-1929). The 1920 fire that destroyed Marquand Chapel proved the perfect chance for Cram to display his skill at its peak – church architecture. Gothic was for Cram not imitation of the past. His high principles denigrated the regurgitations of old forms as “archaeology, not architecture.” Instead his goal was to make a “logical continuation of the great Christian culture of the past, but also a vital contribution to modern life.” As wrote a reviewer in defense of one of Cram’s many books, “…it [the Gothic style] is to him not past, but eternal.” Secularization and Required Attendance Daily chapel had been required for well over 175 years, a tradition that had led to both prank and protest, which included bouts of foot scraping, a calf once tied to the pulpit, and the tarring of the seats of the Old Chapel. The mischievous tradition culminated in Marquand Chapel in 1914, when the entire class experienced a corporate bout of “bronchitis,” the coughing fit being almost enough to bring the service to a halt. The gentle mannered Hibben took a unique approach to this dilemma. Perhaps wary of the frictions that strong-handed administration had led to in Princeton’s past, he abolished daily chapel attendance in 1915. Five years later when Marquand Chapel burned, so therefore did the last architectural expression of required daily chapel. In its place Hibben sought to build a structure capable of compelling students to enter voluntarily, one that would seek to convince, not impose, the truths of faith. As he wrote in an appeal letter for the current Chapel, “The thoughts and feelings of youth are peculiarly sensitive to their surroundings, and a new meaning will be imparted to their interpretation of things unseen and eternal as they come by daily association to recognize the new Princeton Chapel as the University’s protest against the materialistic philosophy and drift of our age, the symbol of the higher aspirations of man, a refuge for quiet thought and contemplation, ‘a house of ancient mystery,’ the holy place of God.” The Chapel was built at a cost of two million dollars, prompting student quips about this “protest against materialism’s” rather hefty expense. In the year of its dedication, Hibben also initiated “a series of reforms meant to draw student worshippers.” These included the new office of Dean of the Chapel taking the place of the President in the pulpit, a position that is the Dean of Religious Life today. The Chapel Today (1928-) The Exterior The Chapel soars above the other campus buildings, but high as it is, it could have been higher. Yet the potential tower, which was to stand atop the crossing, was never built due to foundation concerns. But despite its size, keep in mind that the entire building can fit in the side aisles of a historic Gothic church such as the Amiens Cathedral in France. Cram still wanted the building to be in scale with the rest of the campus, and it was, perhaps out of deference to its inspiration, to be second in size to the King’s College Chapel in Cambridge. And while English Gothic was Cram’s primary influence, there are also Spanish and French Gothic elements added in as well. The front West Door shows traditional tympanum imagery from the book of Revelation, and bears a remarkable resemblance to the West typanum of Chartres Cathedral. Christ is surrounded by four beasts (Rev. 4: 7-8), each representing a Gospel. The twenty-four elders (Rev. 4:10-11) surround Christ’s mandorla, and look strangely like colonial settlers. Christ holds a scroll where written in Greek are the words, “Who is worthy to open the Scroll” (Rev. 5:2)? The answer to the question, the building declares, is Christ, who unlocks the mysteries of the Bible, the cosmos, as well of course of the Chapel itself. “The entire composition,” writes one art-historian referring to this tympanum, “is thus a summation of the theme for the entire scheme of decoration of the Chapel.” Below Christ is the Princeton seal. The open book says “Vet Nov Testamentum,” meaning “Old and New Testaments,” and below the book is the Princeton motto, “Dei sub numine viget,” meaning “Under God’s power she flourishes.” In 1991 a 96 year old sculptor came forward to admit that he had also carved his and his bosses face into the front façade. Cram can be recognized by his glasses on the crocket a good bit up on the right hand side, and the clever sculptor is at the same place on the left. Moving to the Northwest Door (to the left if facing the building) one goes from Christ in glory to the first moment of the Incarnation. Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive accompanied with the words, “et verbum caro factus est” meaning of course, “and the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). To the left of this door are windows dedicated to art and music, depicting Fra Angelico the fourteenth century painter (40) and John of Damascus, who in addition to defending the legitimacy of icons in the 8th century, wrote many hymns (39). Pass the Hibben Garden to the rear of the building and one sees the Rothschild arch, intended to symbolize the connection between faith (the Chapel) and learning (Dickinson hall to which the Chapel is attached). Round the building and one comes into the courtyard. Observe the intentionally staggered construction of the surrounding buildings, made to look like they were built over time. In the center lawn is the Mather Sundial, a replica of the sundial in Corpus Christi College, Oxford that dates to 1551. This again testifies to the connections Princeton hoped to make between itself and the classic heritage of English learning. The pelican above pecks itself to feed its starving young, a common symbol of Christ’s sacrifice and the Eucharist. Affixed to the Chapel’s east wall is a gutter upon which one witty sculptor etched a Yale bulldog (but it is, after all,a gutter). Other symbols can be found in the windows above the Southeast Door, where Medieval flowers and plants each have a meaning assigned to them such as the strawberry of perfect righteousness, the ivy of immortality, and – more famously – the olive branch of peace (45). To the left of this door is the Adlai Stevenson window (44), dedicated to the famous Princeton alumnus and Democratic Statesman. Extruding from the south wall stands the “Bright pulpit,” still used to begin Palm Sunday processions. This is also an excellent spot from which to see the massive buttresses that, in standard Gothic fashion, relieve the walls of weight so as enable large stained-glass windows. At the Southwest Door one sees Christ again, now an adult at the moment of his baptism, accompanied by the words, “tu es filius meus dilectus in te complacuit mihi,” meaning “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). To the left of this door is a small window dedicated to the Holy Family (41), and to the right is the window of medicine depicting Al-Razi, a Persian physician (38). The Interior The Narthex North Aisle Clerestory: The Story of Salvation The Chapel windows should be read as if one were reading a book. (Binoculars are a great help!) Start at the upper left hand corner (1) where one sees Adam and Eve flanking a tree, around which is wrapped an odd looking serpent. Here the problem of evil is again addressed, with response of human free will. Following along the upper clerestory, one reads the story of salvation: 2. God’s Righteousness (Abel, Noah, Abraham, Melchizedek, Job) shows that even after the Fall, seeking the path of justice is possible. North Aisle Arcade: Christ’s Life 7. Annunciation and Nativity. Having reached the brink of Christ’s crucifixion, our eyes can jump to across to the two windows above the altar that occupies the “Marquand Transept.” Window 11 depicts the passion of Christ, and window 12 the entombment and resurrection. These should be read upwards, beautifully reflecting the ascending movement of the priest’s raising the consecrated bread, which occurs directly in front of these windows every weekday afternoon of the academic year for Catholic Mass. Blessed Sacrament Chapel Above the door on the west side of the Sacrament Chapel are shields representing three ancient universities, Oxford, Paris and Salamanca. Decorating the jambs are the seven liberal arts (grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music) and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, godliness, holy fear), reminding all visitors that knowledge must be paired with virtue. Above the doorway is window 13 dedicated to friendship. The Great North Window of Endurance (IMAGE: page 33 in Richard Stillwell’s book) Above the statue of President McCosh (see science and religion below), is the window of endurance (14), a fitting culmination of the north aisle dedicated to Christ’s life. The greatest examples of endurance are the martyrs. After reading the theme verse, “He who shall endure to the end shall be saved” (Mark 13:13), notice that contemporary figures are mixed in with ancient ones, such as Cardinal Mercier (bottom left), a professor of philosophy and Archbishop of Belgium who was a chief resister to Nazi occupation in World War II. The bosom of Abraham is what looks like a hammock above, a symbol of heavenly comfort for those who persevere. The Milbank Choir Entering the Choir one notices an assortment of intricately carved pews, which took over one hundred expert carvers over one year to produce. Beautifully anticipating the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy that “they shall beat their swords into plowshares” (Isaiah 2:4), the pews in the main nave were made out of wood intended Civil War gun-carriages. Likewise remarkable is the fact that the wood in the Milbank Choir comes from Sherwood Forest, some of which may date back to the time of Robin Hood. The carved figures reflect the intended seating arrangement during a Chapel ceremony. In the front where the choir would seat are (north side) Ptolemy, Pythagoras and St. Gregory and (south side) Orpheus, Cecelia, and St. Ambrose – all figures with a connection to music. Behind them where professors would sit are (south side) Aristotle, King Alfred, William of Wyckeham, and (north side) Thomas Aquinas, Charlemagne and Bede – all noted scholars. Behind the Holy Table is a stunningly carved wooden facade containing an ecumenical message. On the north are Catholic saints Gregory and Augustine of Canterbury and above them St. Peter and St. Columba. On the south are Protestant luminaries John Knox and Jonathan Edwards, and above them John Wycliffe and John Calvin. Such an assortment recalls the words written in promotion of the Chapel, “With Christianity split asunder into so many doctrinal and denominational fragments, we need some massive monuments to its holistic heritage… creating a panorama of the unfolding Christian narrative.” Also don’t miss the exotic carved angels with raised wings just below the Great East Window. The entire Choir in fact seems to be divided in half, Catholic north and Protestant south, stitched together by the Great West Window of love. The Four Great Christian Epics While both of the north epics are Catholic, the ecumenical theme continues with two Protestant epics on the south. Window 25 depicts John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the English Baptist’s parable of Christian life. The pilgrim named Christian must make his way between “Worldy Wiseman” on the top left of the bottom tier and “Ignorance, Obstinate and Pliable” on its top right. One would hope the same for the Princeton student. Also notice above Worldly Wiseman the origin of the term “Vanity Fair.” Window 24 is John Milton’s great theodicy, Paradise Lost. Milton can be found in the bottom left reciting the famous lines that mirror the purpose of the Chapel, “That… I may… Justifie the wayes of God to men.” To his right reads the likewise famous utterance of Satan, “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heave’n.” Satan’s rebellion is transferred to the middle tier where he tempts Adam and Eve, but is rectified in the top tier with the Passion of Christ. The Great East Window of Love (IMAGE: Stillwell p. 40) The theme verses to the Chapel’s prize window (21) is found in the glass itself: “A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you (John 13:34) is at the bottom, and in the middle reads, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Such love is illustrated in thirty-three panels, symbolizing the Christ’s life of perfect love. In the center Christ gives himself in the Eucharist to the disciples surrounding a circular table, below which Christ washes Peter’s feet. Just beneath Peter is illustrated the parable of the Good Samaritan. Also notice the seven mercies from Matthew 25 (I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, etc.) paired with events in the life of Christ where people exhibit such characteristics (i.e. the woman at the well who gives Christ a drink, etc.). Thus the window challenges each viewer as to whether or not they have done the same. (IMAGE: Stillwell p. 35). The north aisle depicts the life of Christ, and the south aisle his teachings, a theme under which the Chapel places all subject matter studied in a University. We begin with the south aisle’s culmination, the Great South Window (15). The theme verse is “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Flanking Christ are two ways of handling doubt in the Christian life – the cynical “What is truth?” of Pontius Pilate, or the more open struggle of doubting Thomas. Just below Christ is the great theologian at the center of the western theological tradition, St. Augustine, the window below telling the story of his conversion. Princeton President John Witherspoon makes an appropriate appearance in the bottom right lancet. Before moving on don’t miss the discipleship window (16), containing among others Martin Luther, John Wesley, and George Whitefield of First Great Awakening fame, who received an honorary degree from the College of New Jersey in 1754, and in the window is preaching on the steps of Nassau Hall. South Aisle Clerestory: University Disciplines Science and Religion in the Chapel “Instead of these sciences being hurtful to religion and morality, they will be found to be of the greatest advantage to them… Indeed I consider a student of… science as engaged in a continued act of devotion… This immense beautiful and varied universe is a book written by the finger of Omnipotence and raises the admiration of every attentive beholder.” The tradition continued with Princeton President James McCosh (the bronze statue in the Marquand Transept) who insisted that evolution was no more harmful to one’s faith than the law of gravitation. “We are not precluded from seeking and discovering a final cause, because we have found an efficient cause,” he declared. The Chapel consciously seeks to preserve this venerable tradition. The most evident example of this is the way the circles of the days of creation in window 1 are mimicked by the circles in window 31 where great scientists unpack the mysteries latent in the creation. The scientists are (central) Hippocrates, Aristotle, Roger Bacon, and around them from the top left are Aristarchos of Samos, Euclid, Archimedes, Galen, Ptolemy, Galileo (who also appears in the Great West Window), Pascal, Newton, Harvey, Pasteur, and the famous professor Joseph Henry who taught at Princeton from 1832-1842. South Aisle Arcade: Christ’s Teaching The following windows concern Christ’s eschatological parables, preparing the viewer for the grand finale, the Great West Window of the Second Coming of Christ. The Great West Window of the Second Coming of Christ (IMAGE: Stillwell p. 98) The last window is brilliant meditation on the twin appearances of Christ, his first in the Nativity below, and his second, surrounding by the Zodiac signs symbolizing all the cosmos, in the mandorla above. The four Gospels flank the trumpeting angels next to the upper Christ, under which are the four rivers of Paradise. The window also serves as a curtain call for the key figures of the Chapel as well. The entire scene is an evocation of the final day, where the blessed will meet in the New Jerusalem. Finally this window functions as a “credits” of sort. Lining the bottom are the different artists and skilled workers who constructed the building. On the left are architects (holding a detailed and accurate plan of the current Chapel) and sculptors, and on the right are glass-makers and organists. Conclusion Additional Web Resources: Suggestions for Further Reading: Aaron Burr Sr. is reported to have said, “if it had not been or the treatment received by Mr. Brainerd at Yale College, New Jersey College never would have been erected” (Wertenbaker, p. 18). The Log College was located in Warminster Pennsylvania, founded by revivalists William and Gilbert Tennent. The offer to name the building after Governor Belcher was fortuitously declined. Instead the Governor asked the building be named Nassau Hall, “to the immortal memory of the glorious King William III, who was a branch of the illustrious house of Nassau” (Wertenbaker, p. 39). Greiff, Constance M., Gibbons, Mary W., Menzies, Elizabeth G.C. Princeton Architecture Princeton, Princeton: PU Press, 1967 (fig. 145). Some of Hunt’s other famous works include the pedestal to the Statue of Liberty and the façade to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. Rhinehart, Raymond Princeton University: The Campus Guide, New York: Princeton Architecture Press, 1999 (p. 41). Some of Crams other nearby churches include Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton, St. John the Divine and St. Thomas Fifth Ave in New York City. Ibid., 54. Interestingly, after experiments with modernism and postmodern architecture, Princeton, again following Oxford, is more than flirting with a return to this older unifying model. Demetri Porphyrios, the architect of Whitman College (2007) is the same architect who brought Oxford’s Magdelen College back to the Gothic style. Like Cram, Porphyrios has remarked “I always felt very uncomfortable with the restitution of the past exactly as it was,” and he is eager to move forward into the future without forgetting the forms of the past (Leigh, Catesby, “Whitman College architect Demetri Porphyrios ‘80 sees contemporary significance in traditional themes” Princeton Alumni Weekly, Oct. 9th, 2002). Selden, William K. The Chapels of Princeton University Trustees of Princeton University, 2005 (p. 51). Interestingly however, the ringleader of this affair later went to Seminary and became a professor of theology. Attendance at a minimum of half of the semester’s Sunday services however would be required until it was finally abolished for freshman in 1964, albeit, according to the trustees, “in the best interests of a freer, more honest, creative expression of religion” (Axtell, James The Making of Princeton University Princeton, PU Press, 2006, p. 338). Today the Princeton University Chapel is however not second but third in size as far as University chapels go, surpassed by both Kings College Chapel and the Chapel of the Resurrection of Valparaiso University. It can perhaps be considered a sign of humility that the Princeton seal didn’t make it into the heavenly sphere itself, or a sign of the opposite that it is placed just directly below! Rhinehart, Raymond P. Princeton University: A Campus Guide New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999 (p. 50). Though the details are illusive, it is said that controversy over the design and construction of this arch what finally moved Ralph Adams Cram to resign from his role as Princeton’s chief architect. Roberts, John H. Darwinism and the Divine in America Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2001 (p. 19-20). But while defending evolution to the consternation of his coreligionists, McCosh at the same time assailed the “Social Darwinist” rhetoric of inferior races by invoking “the spirit of Him who stood by the weak against the strong” (Ibid., p. 189).
|
||
|
||
| Worship Schedule |
