FeaturesApril 5, 2015
Way of the cross: Old St. Vincent parishioners will celebrate Easter amid 190 years of history
Stations of the Cross -- a series of 14 images that delineate that last day of the life of Jesus Christ -- are arrayed at intervals along the walls of the nave of Old St. Vincent Church in downtown Cape Girardeau. Each compact three-dimensional tableau is captioned to describe the scene -- "Jesus is taken down from the cross," says the penultimate sculpture, and the final view explains, "Jesus is laid in the sepulcher." Together, the stations, sometimes referred to as Way of the Cross, present a prayer and a pilgrimage to remind the faithful of Jesus' suffering and death.. ...
Stations of the Cross -- a series of 14 images that delineate that last day of the life of Jesus Christ -- are arrayed at intervals along the walls of the nave of Old St. Vincent Church in downtown Cape Girardeau.
Each compact three-dimensional tableau is captioned to describe the scene -- "Jesus is taken down from the cross," says the penultimate sculpture, and the final view explains, "Jesus is laid in the sepulcher." Together, the stations, sometimes referred to as Way of the Cross, present a prayer and a pilgrimage to remind the faithful of Jesus' suffering and death.
Time passes, and the narrative of Good Friday, of course, ultimately becomes the triumphant song and story of Easter Sunday, which is celebrated today. And at Old St. Vincent, parishioners, who count among them 65 participating households, today will celebrate Mass in a church that, at once, is both graceful and handsome, ornate and stately and extravagant and calming. Its typical Sunday Mass attendance of about 200 today likely will swell to 300-plus.
190 years of history
The origin of the church lies in 1825, when the Rev. John Timon, a Vincentian priest, was assigned to work in remote Perry and Cape Girardeau counties. Father Timon celebrated Mass in a temporary church -- in a riverfront warehouse of Don Louis Lorimier, founder of Cape Girardeau.
The church's history, indeed, its survival, is a favorite topic of Ronald Kirby and Grace Sullivan, who, with LaFern Stiver and Mark L. Evans, in 2009 produced a large-format 200-page-plus book on the church that details its founding, its growth, the threat of its near abandonment and, ultimately, its preservation.
The history is formidable: the 1850 destruction of the initial church in a violent tornado was followed in 1851 by the construction of the current English Gothic-style church. A spire was added in 1900, only to be struck by lightning in 1905 and again in 1912, when it was destroyed by fire, and was replaced by the current steeple.
In 1953, the formidable exterior was stripped of its stucco panoply, which was applied in 1923, to reveal the expanse of brick that one sees today.
Fearing demise
As told by Kirby and Sullivan, the church's demise appeared inevitable in 1976, when a new church, St. Vincent de Paul, was built in the growing western section of Cape Girardeau where the parish already had constructed a school, a convent and a rectory.
A small group gathered with the notion of saving St. Vincent.
"They were concerned about the future of this church," Kirby recently said, seated in a pew with Sullivan to talk about decisions that were taken, appeals that were made and, ultimately, the formation The Friends of Old St. Vincent Inc., a not-for-profit corporation created for the purpose of restoring the church.
The group in 1976 made an appeal to Bishop Bernard Law, then bishop of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.
"While it seemed the decision to close the church was final, the people organized and communicated with the bishop," Sullivan said.
"People were concerned about the future of this church. Some assumed the building wasn't sound, but that wasn't the case," Kirby said, adding, "Bishop Law basically said, 'If you want to raise the money to do what needs to be done ... .'"
'...problem for Cape...'
An editorial in the Nov. 16, 1977, edition of the Southeast Missourian, expressed the building's importance to the city:
"It is now, as it has been, a church concern and a church problem. But if the time comes when the church must be abandoned and the property sold, it becomes a problem for Cape Girardeau. Someone put it well by saying St. Vincent's is the St. Patrick's Cathedral of Cape Girardeau. It is too lovely a piece of architecture, and its roots are too deep in the community for anything less than permanence."
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The resolution came in 1977, when it became a part of the Parish of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Annunciation, situated at 615 William St., and was designated a Religious and Cultural Center and a Chapel of Ease, indicating 80 percent of its use may be for cultural purposes and 20 percent for religious use. With its future secured and restoration under way, Old St. Vincent was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
As an example of its cultural importance to the community, Kirby explained for years leading up to the opening of the nearby Southeast Missouri State University River Campus in 2007, the church served as a performance hall for theatrical performances, recitals and concerts; he recalled a production of "Murder in the Cathedral" at the church.
Lengthy process
Step by step, the restoration marched on, under the direction of noted liturgical architect Theodore J. Wofford. In the mid-1980s, the church was closed as interior work took place to return it to the appearance of churches built in England and Ireland in the 1850s and the design of the original architect, Thomas Waryng Walsh.
The soaring stained glass windows behind the altar were re-created, replicating the original design and featuring St. Vincent de Paul in the center panel. The plaster walls and ceiling were hand-painted and trimmed in gold leaf. In the 1990s, a roof of copper replaced the slate, statuary was restored, and a small museum was installed.
Now, in glancing around the sanctuary, the eye hardly knows where to rest.
The massive hand-carved wood trusses are original and highlighted with gold leaf. They carry the shape of a quatrefoil, ornamentation divided by cusps that radiate from a common center -- Kirby explained the four lobes represent the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- as well as the shape of a trefoil, representing the Holy Trinity.
Mystery and morality
"A unique thing about the church are the plaster faces that decorate the church, with 89 on the inside and about 50 on the outside. They represent characters of mystery and morality from Medieval times, used to educate people about the Bible and morals," Kirby explained. While only four characters are represented -- Good, Evil, Youth and Old Age -- more than a dozen casts were made to accommodate placement of the faces, whether looking down from the top of an arch or to the left or to the right.
The final step in the restoration process begun in the 1970s was the 2002 installation of a 27-rank Schantz pipe organ -- a pure pipe organ with no electronics -- to replace the organ in place since 1926.
Old St. Vincent now
Now, Mass is celebrated at 10 a.m. each Sunday, and the church has seen a number of weddings and funerals.
And now, Old St Vincent Church plays its part in the growing tourist and cultural landscape of Cape Girardeau, with docent-led tours from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays from April through October. Tour groups are welcome by reservation, and Kirby said the church is a popular tour stop for the Mississippi River excursion boats that often dock in Cape Girardeau.
Wofford, the architect who oversaw the restoration, wrote of the rare beauty of Old St. Vincent Church in the 1993 edition of "Preservation Issues." His comments pay tribute to the many people who saw to its preservation and restoration:
"Very few churches of Old St. Vincent's stylistic integrity survived at all, and of those that did, little of the rich decoration so basic to their design exists."
nhadler@semissourian.com
388-3630
Pertinent address: 615 William St., Cape Girardeau
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