A Complete Restoration: Sanctuary of the Chapel
Source: St Augustine’s Seminary, A History, by Rev. Séamus Hogan
In 1959, in preparation for the Seminary’s fiftieth anniversary, the sanctuary of the chapel underwent a complete restoration. Thanks in large part to the generosity of the Seminary Alumni Association, the architect James Haffa remodeled the reredos by adding timeless marbles of various colours and hues. He incorporated the original marble steps and mensa of the altar into the new design. He placed a large Italian cross in the centre and the two Canadian made wooden statues of St. Augustine and St. Monica on either side. The final touch was completed with the addition of a new tabernacle for the finished sanctuary.
A mere five years later the look of the chapel was completely changed, as liturgists and prelates enthusiastically tried to implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, as they understood them, especially the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, which was promulgated by Paul VI a year earlier. The changes of the 1964–1965 renovation included moving the pews from a choir arrangement to a congregational one. Although better for the celebration of the Eucharist it is not the best arrangement for the Divine Office. At the same time the beautiful marble high altar was replaced by the present plain granite one, thankfully it is usually covered by beautiful altar cloths and therefore does not appear completely out of place. The central panel of the old altar featured the ancient Chi-Rho symbol which was preserved and used in the altar of reservation.
More recent changes that have dramatically enhanced the appearance of the chapel include the lifting up of the old red carpet, laid down after the Council, thus revealing the original terrazzo floor underneath. The resulting harmony is most pleasing to the eyes and creates a more sacred space. In 2005 the white marble ambo was donated to the seminary. Its colour and design, especially the symbols of the Alpha and Omega, creates a fine symmetry with the altar of reservation on the opposite side. For the Seminary’s centennial year the Priests’ Alumni Association has been entrusted with the restoration of the Seminary chapel windows. After one hundred years of quietly witnessing to the timeless truths of the faith with their brilliant, ever-fresh colours they were badly in need of attention.
Throughout the first hundred years the chapel of St. Augustine’s has undergone a variety of changes. Like the faith it has developed and grown without changing its essential nature or purpose. It is ever ancient and ever new. Today it continues to be the sacred space where seminarians give praise and adoration to God, a place where they are fed on the bread of angels, the same substance which they themselves will one day distribute to the faithful as priests of Jesus Christ.
