There are as many paths to holiness as there are hearts who seek it; it’s clear in the stories of the holy men and women who have lit the way before us.
St. Bede, Williamsburg, is bringing the spirit and image of those stories to life in more than one million pieces of glass.
The parish has embarked on a project to install 34 glass mosaic panels around the dome of the church, depicting saints of all eras and backgrounds, many of whom have roots in the Americas.
“We wanted to be sure, that, when people looked up, they would see themselves,” Msgr. Joseph Lehman, pastor of St. Bede, said.
By the project’s end, more than 100 saints, blesseds, venerables, and servants of God will assemble in communion around the altar — men and women such as St. Katharine Drexel, St. Gemma Galgani and Venerable Pierre Toussaint — each illustrated with signs and symbols telling something of their lives.
Time and talent
The project has been a labor of love for St. Bede; funded by designated gifts and special contributions and not from the offertory, it has drawn upon its parishioners’ time and talent. According to the project’s FAQ page, depending on the timing of orders and the fluctuation of the euro, the entire project is expected to cost $1 million, with the approximate cost of each panel ranging from $30,000 to $50,000.
“Installing art on the dome of the church has always been a part of the architectural plan for St. Bede since it was built in 2003,” said Harold “Sam” Samorian, director of development.
Work began in 2015 when Msgr. Timothy Keeney, then pastor of St. Bede, brought together a group of volunteers with backgrounds in art, art history and architecture.
“They determined that mosaics were the most durable way to bring the saints to life,” Samorian said.
Parishioner Mark Jakobowski’s engineering background has also proved instrumental in helping the crew anchor the artwork safely, Samorian said, as each 5-by-8 foot panel weighs around 260 pounds.
Ten panels have been installed; the parish plans on hanging the remaining 24 mosaics eight at a time, in order to minimize the amount of time that scaffolding is left in the worship space.
The first panel depicts a few of the Church’s earliest martyrs: St. Stephen, St. Lucia, St. Cecilia, standing amid a rose-blush dawn; the final brings the assembly full circle, with St. Bede, the sixth-century Northumbrian monk and historian who is a patron of the Church, to stand right by the altar.
‘Each one has a story’
Particular care was taken in choosing which saints to depict in the mosaics, Msgr. Lehman said.
“We wanted to be sure to include those who are reflective of some of our folks who are here,” he said. “For instance, we wanted to include the patron saint of the Philippines, because we have a very active Filipino community here.”
Lorenzo Ruiz, known as St. Lorenzo of Manila, a clerk executed in 1637 during an era of Christian persecution in Japan, will take a place of honor, as will Sister Catherine McAuley, an Irish woman who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831.
“We really felt that we should have her there, as a nod to our history,” Msgr. Lehman said.
It was her order, he explained, that founded the Williamsburg House of Mercy and Walsingham Academy, with which the parish has close ties.
“So, you have religious history, but also our local history depicted,” Msgr. Lehman said.
“Each one up there has a story,” Samorian said. “That was key for all of us.”
Venerable Augustus Tolton, who, when he could find no U.S. seminary that would admit a Black student, went to study in Rome, going on to become a priest serving the Archdiocese of Chicago, is represented not far from Servant of God Francis Parater of the Diocese of Richmond.
The Virginia martyrs will also figure in a mosaic — the group of Spanish Jesuits made their way up the East Coast on a missionary voyage, landing close to Williamsburg in 1570 — 37 years before the founding of Jamestown — and were killed the following year.
The hope, Msgr. Lehman said, is that the mosaics might inspire a sense of connection to the holy men and women of the past, many of whom might be closer to us than we might have imagined — even as close as our own backyard.
“The pastor of St. Olaf came over and said, ‘Oh, it’s nice to see all of these; where’s St. Olaf?’” he said, with a laugh. “And so we said, ‘That’s the other parish here in town, so we should include him, too.’”
Tale of two hemispheres
The work of creating the mosaics also bridges two hemispheres.
Once an initial sketch for a panel is approved, Angel Ramiro Sanchez, an artist commissioned by St. Bede, completes a painting, which is enlarged into a 5-by-8 foot reverse image called a cartoon.
“The painter touches up the cartoon to give the details emphasis,” to show where subtle gradations of color should be made, Samorian said.
It’s then that the artisans of Barsanti Marble, Bronze & Mosaic, based in Pietrasanta, Italy, enter the process. The mosaicists coat the cartoon with a temporary paste and affix the glass pieces to it, building up each section.
Three of the mosaicists were the guests of the parish for two weeks last November to assemble the panels. Working in the parish commons, they fit the puzzle pieces of the mosaic together onto a mortar board, carefully patting each into place. Once the mortar was set, they peeled the cartoon away, revealing the completed image.
“We put up some draperies, but then we opened it up after some of our Masses, so people could go right in and touch the glass and see it in detail,” Samorian said.
The parish plans to loan out the original paintings of the mosaics to other parishes, with an invitation to attend Mass at St. Bede, to sit with the saints and reflect — and perhaps even to find a friend in Christ from across the centuries.
“Many of these saints you might not have heard of, but when you read their stories, they’re all fascinating, how they have been inspired to live a life devoted to Christ,” Samorian said. “That’s what we wanted to do with this project: to inspire people to begin to see themselves.”
To read more about the Saints of St. Bede, please visit https://bedeva.org/meet-the-saints-of-saint-bede.