The Story of the Chapel of Our Lady

Thursday, November 6, 2003 FEATURE Southern Cross,Page 3 Appraising the “little gem”: the story of the Chapel of Our Lady n 1940, with war clouds gath- Iering and the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist faced with what he considered “an almost insurmountable debt,” Monsignor T. James McNa- mara, the church’s rector, decided to have the crypt beneath his church dedicated to Rita H. DeLorme the Blessed Virgin Mary. On November 26, 1940, the feast of Mary’s Presentation, the basement space pro- vided by the architectural design of the Cathe- dral officially became the Chapel of Our Lady. To learn about the Chapel of Our Lady is to learn about Monsignor McNamara. “The chapel,” he wrote following its dedication, was his “tangible prayer seeking Mary’s aid in the multiple problems, financial and otherwise, which confront the church’s rector by reason of the magnificence and grandeur of the Cathedral structure.” A native Savannahian, “Jim” McNamara grew up loving the old church. When he became rector of the Cathedral he Photo courtesy of the Diocesan Archives. Photo became, in a sense, pastor of the city of Savannah. Monsignor McNamara, a pioneer in Tympanum portraying Our Lady of Grace outside Our Lady’s Chapel. race relations, fought for introduction of African-American police officers into organ for the Sunday School children of Altar from Saint Patrick’s Savannah’s police force. As a member of the Cathedral parish. Features of the chapel described by Monsignor Labor Relations Board, he defended the rights of What Monsignor McNamara had in mind in McNamara, in a piece palpably written for in- the working man. Above all, McNamara was a 1940 was something more spiritual. What the quiring future historians, were: the high altar priest conscious of the long shadows the twin pastor of the Cathedral could not foresee was the carved by stonemason Milton Little from the spires of the Cathedral cast in his community. interruption of his plans for a “Lady Chapel” by marble altar of old Saint Patrick’s Church; the From crypt to chapel the onset of World War II. Materials for muni- cross, dossels and iron candlesticks wrought by What better way was there for Monsignor tions suddenly became more important than convert Robert Robbins of New York, and the McNamara to honor the mother of God and to building materials for his chapel. For a while, heraldic plaques attached to the iron tester of the ask for her help? The Chapel of Our Lady the Chapel of Our Lady, though dedicated, altar. These plaques, researched by Father seemed the perfect medium on both counts. remained unfinished. Then, in the latter months Joseph R. Smith, were rendered by Savannah Originally, this basement area was referred to as of 1944, with the wartime situation easing, the artist Christopher Murphy, Jr. “The five plaques “the crypt,” a rather sinister name for a place chapel once again became a priority. The firm of of the tester of the high altar,” wrote Monsignor used for catechetical instruction of the young, Henry Dagett and Sons, who had designed the McNamara, “together with the symbols found in for parish gatherings of various kinds and for new Blessed Sacrament Church on Waters Ave- the kites of the windows of the north and south fund-raising “fairs” as early as the 1870s. nue, was summoned to begin construction of an walls of the chapel, tell in heraldry the story of Typically, late in 1878, supper booths and craft entrance to the Chapel of Our Lady in the lower the fifteen mysteries of Our Lady’s rosary.” The booths were lined up in the basement of the church. The prestigious Philadelphia firm, tile floor of the sanctuary and its inlaid inscrip- Cathedral for more than a week and a Christmas inspired by early entrances of English Gothic tions, Monsignor McNamara added, were the tree was raffled off there to obtain funds for an churches, planned a similar design for the new design and donation of Savannah builder Dan J. entrance to the chapel. This doorway was termed Sheehan. a “medieval porch”. Completed in 1945, the Chapel of Our Lady TV Mass Schedule Framed by a cutstone arch with authentic has been updated several times over the years, Gothic detailing, the new entrance doors to the most recently during restoration of the Cathe- chapel stood beneath a stone tympanum with a dral of Saint John the Baptist in 2000. Many of Augusta bas relief carving of the Virgin Mary. “This fea- the details described by the man who considered Sundays, 10:00 a.m. WAGT-TV ture,” said an undated news story in a file at the the chapel “an ever-unfolding and inexhaustible Catholic Archives, “will make the whole en- story of love and devotion to Our Lady” were Macon trance a monument of beauty and devotion and gone long before the careful 2000 update. Sundays, 5:30 p.m. WGNM-TV will have an inviting atmosphere for passersby.” Memories of the chapel which do remain are of Savannah In words which hold more than a trace of Mon- novenas conducted there by fiery Jesuits who signor McNamara’s rhetoric, the article contin- wore crucifixes in their belts, of serious little Saturdays, 6:00 p.m. Cable 7 ues: “Its details will also enhance the beauty of children who attended hushed schoolday Masses Sundays, 5:30 a.m. WTOC-TV the square and add beauty to a religious monu- in the chapel, and of earnest devotees of the ment which adds so much to the civic charm of Mother of God who sought her help decades ago Savannah.” A direct quote from the Monsignor in her own special place. disclosed that construction was made possible at the time because much salvage material was RITA H. DELORME is a volunteer being used. in the Diocesan Archives..

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