Brotherly+Love+-+All+Souls'+Chapel,+Charlottetown

=**The Expression of True Brotherly Love - All Souls' Chapel, Charlottetown** =



Creation
Following the death of their first "priest-incumbent"(1869-1885), the Reverend George Hodgson, the congregation of St. Peter's (Anglican) Cathedral, Charlottetown, PEI, set out to create an appropriate memorial. Initially, the chapel was to be called the Hodgson Memorial Chapel, but this was soon changed to "All Souls'" in recognition of the many members of the "Church Expectant" who would be remembered through the art work and dedications in this place of worship.

William Crtchlow Harris (1854-1913) by Robert Harris (1849-1919)

Built of the red Prince Edward Island sandstone, this High Victorian Gothic Revival style edifice is, in the opinion of some, the finest achievement in the career of architect William Critchlow Harris (1854-1913). William was one of the eight children of William Critchlow Harris, Sr (who was known by his middle name) and Sarah (nee Stretch) Harris. His brother, and collaborator on the decoration of All Souls' Chapel, was the painter, Robert Harris (1849-1919).

Critchlow and Sarah, with the four oldest of their children, immigrated to Prince Edward Island in 1856, after Critchlow's continued failed attempts at careers. At the age of fourteen, William would be apprenticed to Halifax architect David Stirling. By condition of his apprenticeship he was to remain with Stirling for five years. These years would prove to be "a lonely and circumscribed experience" (//Gothic Dreams,//22). Yet, William would continue his relationship with the Church of England (Anglican) and find time to engage his fellow apprentices in "frequent arguments about 'ritualism'" and discussions about the many preachers they had heard. (Ibid, 23). The Harris family were active communicants and eventually became parishioners at St. Peter's Cathedral, Charlottetown where William was a member of the first group confirmed in 1869, the same year of the church's construction.

William's interest in architecture had been encouraged by his father, who, himself, had always been interested in the same. It was Critchlow who felt because William had always shown a capacity for drawing that this would be an appropriate career choice for him. His other great love, music, would ever be with him and would greatly influence his architectural designs of churches when he would adopt the French Gothic style of rib-vaulted ceilings [note this construction in the ceiling of the Sanctuary ceiling over the altar in All Souls', seen above] that were incorporated to offer excellent acoustics. "A dedicated amateur violinist, [William] learned - largely by experimentation with his fiddle and his parents' spinet piano - to think of his church buildings as large musical instruments." [//Dictionary of Canadian Biography//] [William would incorporate a number of the characteristics of the French Gothic style into several of his designs, but some features such as massive entrance portals and large rose transept windows, while 'played with' made their way to drafting table floor.] According to William's biographer, the Reverend Robert C. Tuck, William's apprenticeship followed an 'English pattern' and that his training was not in the style of any one 'school' of architecture, but that as a 'disciple to a master' there was some encouragement for him to "cultivate an individual expression" [//Gothic Dreams//, 68]. William, whose early designs were mostly houses, would not settle on one particular style or common theme. This allowed him to sell his services to a variety of clients and to enter a number

of competitions in attempts to win some lucrative commissions. William seemed to love to experiment with different styles in the same way that his older brother artist Robert Harris, might have moved from one medium to another in his production of pieces of art. William, in fact, took the greatest of pleasure in drawing the architectural perspectives - the pencil and wash drawings of buildings as they might appear once completed - but his training and practice would have to give way to the "tiresome" production of plans and detailed technical drawings.

William would, in 1882, move to Winnipeg, hoping, after struggling to make a living in the economically depressed Maritimes, to be able to earn a living in the construction boom happening in that city. He worked hard and came close to winning several major competitions, but always seemed to place second or third. Eventually, he was forced to live and work out of the same small space. In 1884, he would return to Charlottetown following a fire that destroyed much of that city's business district. William's ability to design buildings of a variety of styles soon earned him enough business to establish himself in a partnership. Having had success with his design for Tyron Methodist Church, PEI, (1881) and later All Saints', Clifton Royal, New Brunswick (1884), William would soon find that his career as an ecclesiastical architect would blossom.

In many ways, William seemed like a natural choice as architect for All Souls'. As a "native son" of the parish he donated his services and there is little question but that this project became a labour of love for him. Hodgson, a native of Charlottetown, had been educated at Oxford University and was influenced by the Oxford (Tractarian) Movement which focused on reviving the liturgical and theological practices of the church Catholic. He was the driving force behind the building of St. Peter's Cathedral and for almost twenty years celebrated the sacraments with the faithful of the parish. At the time the memorial chapel was proposed, the bishop of the Diocese of Nova Scotia (and Prince Edward Island), the Most Reverend Hibbert Binney, would have been supportive, himself a well-known "Tractarian". William's approach was, according Tuck, essentially pragmatic but eclectic. Tuck tells us that the plans, in the High Victorian Gothic Style, "exemplified his concept of what the inside of a church should be like. It became a small richly-ornamented shrine, dark and dimly lit, its atmosphere numinous and mysterious" [//Gothic Dreams//, 90]. William would work closely with his brother, Robert, to achieve the fruition of his vision for this place of worship. Robert Harris would create a number of canvases that complimented and accentuated his brother's design.

The Heritage Office of the City of Charlottetown describes, in its literature, the interior as featuring "a Wallace stone chancel arch, wood carvings in walnut and oak, patterned encaustic tiles and paintings of various religious scenes that sometimes featured members of the architect and artist's family cleverly inserted. The first canvas, probably the most notable, was the Ascending Christ painted in 1890" (seen above and in detail at the left). The final two [of Robert's paintings] of a total of eighteen were installed in the chapel [by] 1917." [These final two were, obviously, completed by Robert after William's death.] Robert's //Ascending Christ// is framed out by the intricately carved walnut that also is used to compose the arched niches of the reredos. [Tuck attributes the carving in the sanctuary to Walter Doull, //Gothic Dreams//, 92] Robert worked carefully with William to ensure that the colours harmonized with the rest of the decorations. It is also interesting to note Robert's careful attention to the liturgical placement of the painting over the altar in that he has the hands of the Ascended Christ outstretched with downward facing palms in an act of consecration (blessing) over the altar and communicants. [//Ibid//]

Each of these niches, in turn, houses a beautifully carved representation of Christ and each of the Twelve Apostles. This is a design that Harris used on a much grander scale in the niches that surround the base of the spire on St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Indian River, Prince Edward Island - seen on the right - using life sized statues of the Apostles. The altar matches the wood used throughout the sanctuary and is decorated with three roundels painted by Robert. Seen in the picture above, the roundels reverse painted on glass, from left to right, portray "Christ known of his companions 'in the breaking of the bread' at Emmaus on the Day of His Ressurrection", the crucifixion, and, Christ administering the chalice. Tuck points out that set high on the side walls of the sanctuary are two paintings - one of St. Luke the Evangelist who was, by tradition, a painter and physician (in memory of Robert Harris) and one of St. James the Just (in memory of Canon James Simpson). The Sanctuary is set off from the nave at the chancel step by a massive arch carved from grey Wallace freestone (quarried on the Nova Scotia side of the Northumberland Strait) with a design of foliage (symbolizing the life Christ gives) and stylized tears (representing the sorrows Christ suffered, and, presumably, the sorrows of the mourners who endowed the memorials housed by this chapel).

Robert's paintings, as mentioned above, are found throughout the chapel. In his "Short Guide to All Souls' Chapel', Canon Tuck notes the following of Robert's paintings in addition to the ones in the sanctuary which are described earlier in this posting: In the Nave (Gospel side - which is the left side of the altar as the congregation - seated in the nave - faces it) - portraits of the early Church Fathers:
 * 1) St. Gregory the Great - illustrates the story of this saint as told by the Venerable Bede, when Gregory saw some fair-haired children being sold in a slave market in Rome and asked what nation they were from. When he was told they were Angles (from England), Gregory is said to have punned, "//Non Angli sed angeli//" (not Angles, but Angels!)" According to tradition, his becoming Pope prevented Gregory from fulfilling his desire to evangelize the English and he sent forty monks under the direction of St. Augustine of Canterbury in his stead.
 * 2) St. John Chrysostom - a celebrated preacher and reformer who was martyred by the Byzantines. Tuck points out that Robert mistakenly portrays Chrysostom in the western-style vestments of chasuble and alb instead, as would be his custom as the Patriarch of Constantinople, in an eastern phelonion.
 * 3) St. Augustine of Hippo - "one of the most influential theologians in Church history"
 * 4) St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (374-97) - shown prohibiting the entry of Emperor Theodsius I into the basilica in Milan for Easter Mass because of his complicity in the massacre of seven thousand in Thessalonica.
 * 5) St. Jermome - who is attributed with the translation of the Scriptures from Hebrew and Greek into Latin
 * 6) St. Athanasius - known for his resolute witness to the Faith and especially in the face of the great Arian heresy.

At Epistle side of the Nave - the right side of the altar as the congregation faces it - are three more of Robert's paintings:


 * 1) Children with Christ in Paradise - portrayed amongst the children are two brothers who died within days of each other in 1899, the Morson boys.
 * 2) The Martyrdom of St. Stephen - hangs over the doors to the sacristy.
 * 3) Holy Land family being blessed by Christ - this was created in memory of members of the Harris' family who had died before 1914 - with the exception of Thomas, who appears in another painting in the chapel. Centre is seated Robert and William's mother, Sarah (1818-1897) and standing beside her is Robert Clare Harris (1880-92). Robert Clare and his sister, Dora Harris (1892-1911), who is portrayed sitting at Sarah's feet with her aunt, Martha Harris (1856-64), were the children of the above mentioned Thomas. Robert included the architect, William, in the painting as the man standing against the half wall (in a turban). The patriarch of the Harris family, Critchlow, is seen sitting in the shadow of the home leaning against its wall.



Robert Harris would write to his brother, the Reverend Ned Harris, after their mother's burial (1897) about the Holy Land Family painting saying:

//I have decided on a subject now, I think. I would have some people in Palestine sitting by the door of their house - women, men and children - a family with three generations indicated. They should be quietly before their dwelling place in the evening. Passing along the way, and pausing to teach and bless, the figure of Christ...How interested Mama would be in it!// [//Gothic Dreams//, 101]

The picture on the left shows how the canvases that Robert completed were mounted on the walls and framed in with the dark walnut making them appear as if they were frescos. The Harris family painting described above is on the right closest to the chancel arch..

At the narthex (entrance) there is to be found three more of Robert's paintings -
 * 1) The Raising of Dorcas - commissioned in memory of Dorcas Octavia Pedder Desbrisay, depicts the story related in Acts, Chapter 9, of when St. Peter raised Dorcas from the dead.
 * 2) Christ Calling St. Andrew to become "a fisher of men" - in this painting Robert memorialized his brother, Thomas (who had died in 1904), by using his likeness to portray St. Andrew.
 * 3) The Crucifixion of Christ - This was Robert's memorial to the chapel's architect and an expression of his love and respect for William and his talent. It is the last of Robert's paintings to be installed in the chapel. Located under a window depicting Christ's resurrection, it suggests (says Tuck) our passing "through the grave and the gate of death" into that same resurrection. Located in the last small space (above the chapel's entrance) left vacant in William's design, the picture depicts "the hill of Calvary, with three crosses silhouetted against a gloomy sky. In the foreground a group of men and women stand in sorrow.

Most of the work involved in the creation of the chapel was done by Island crafts people. The general contractors were Lowe Brothers of Charlottetown, while Island artisans, including Walter Doull and Caleb Whitlock, were responsible for the carvings - which were completed over a number of years. Two of the stained glass windows were executed in London,England by the firm Kempe and Sons [see, Smith, 76-77 and Heritage Office] and the third was done by the William Morris Studio. The windows are described by Canon Tuck as follows:
 * The first two are memorials to Frank Carvell and Margaret Mathilda Jane Hodgson and from Kempe and Sons. The first depicts the Archangel, Michael and the second, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Christ Child. Tuck asks the viewer to notice in both windows a serpent (symbolizing evil) being trodden underfoot, amongst other symbols from the Revelation of St. John the Divine (the last book of the Bible).
 * The third window, the William Morris Studio composition, depicts Christ as Christus Rex (the Risen Christ or Christ the King). This window also contains a defeated serpent and was donated in memory of Robert and William Harris' sister, Margaret Ellin Harris (1854-1944) and her husband, William Lawson Cotton (1848-1928).

The exterior of the chapel was also designed employing several characteristics of the Gothic Revival style. Heavy stone masonry, buttresses, steep roof line, and recessed arched stained glass windows are all characteristics that would locate the chapel's style. This clearly was completed to the specifications of the architect. The interior fell just a little short of doing the same. Although it took twenty-seven years (1890-1917) for the paintings of Robert Harris to be completed and incorporated into the chapel's interior, not all of William's design was able to be executed. He had created fourteen designs for terra cotta medallions which were to be mounted on wooden bases that were set in encaustic tiles with geometric and floral designs and installed above the windows in the nave. Only two of these medallions, depicting Saints Peter and Paul were completed. They were never installed in the location William had designated for them, but instead are set high in the wall of the narthex. [Tuck tells us that the places originally designated for these terra cotta medallions are now "occupied by a series of plaster casts of the stations of the cross whose dead white colour does not harmonize with the subdued colour of everything else in the chapel". Three of these round plaster pieces can be seen in the picture of the interior above, situated above the fresco-like paintings of Robert Harris - it is hard to disagree with Tuck's assessment of the awkwardness of their place in the chapel's carefully planned polychrome design.]

Tuck tells us that the detailed drawings William prepared for the chapel showed his intention for the wall spaces to be covered with tiling and mural paintings and that the niches, as in the reredos and one that holds a statue of St. Peter with the keys to the Kingdom in the narthex, should be occupied with statues. This attention to the structural design and the details of all of the interior aesthetics with a particular focus on their purpose underlines the artistry of William. In combination with the same careful approach of his brother Robert, William's vision for this place of worship nearly came to full fruition.

Over the years a number of other memorials have been incorporated into this place of worship including pews, lamps, kneelers and silver candlesticks (the original wooden candle sticks had been designed and painted by William).

Representation
In 1882 William Harris gave an interview to the Winnipeg //Daily Times//. In that interview he provided some insight into his approach to architecture when he said: //"The architecture of a nation has ever been considered as one of the products of its highest civilization. That of Egypt// //typifies the power of her ancient rules; that of Greece and Rome the refinement and luxury of their people; and the glorious// //architecture of the Gothic nations typifies the religious and political architecture of the Gothic mind. Shall our descendants// //say that their forefathers, when they came up out of the land of Egypt to this good land, flowing with rum and whiskey,// //trafficked in paper towns and brick veneered their buildings?" [////Gothic Dreams, 55]//

In part, the Gothic Revival movement as regards ecclesiastical architecture was a reaction to what some felt was the secularization of worship and churches. "Part of the mission was to reinstate much of the visual dimension of worship that had been rejected during the English Reformation". [Smith, 128] The characteristics that are associated with Victorian Gothic Revival can be traced back to the Decorated and Perpendicular phases of the fourteenth-century in England and the Flamboyant Phase in France. [Smith, 20] The physical vocabulary associated with this style of architecture includes many of the characteristics William Harris made use of in All Souls' - groin vaulting, with its elaborate fans and ribs can be seen in the picture of the sanctuary at the top of this page; flying buttresses, decorated columns and mouldings, pointed arches and windows. The emphasis on the architecture visually representing the purpose and doctrine of worship and faith may well have been partly in response to the dependence on visual literacy, but, for certain, "when faithfully discharged, Gothic was the architectural embodiment of Christian doctrine and was to be visibly manifest throughout and interfused with every dimension of the church" [Smith 125]. According to Phoebe Stanton the same need that inspired the Gothic architecture of the fourteenth-century existed in the nineteenth-century and there was a need for a style that was expressive of function. [Stanton, 5]

It was the contention of the proponents of the Gothic Revival that the English Reformation had gone too far in adulterating the physical appearances of the churches and had by their rearrangement of pulpit and altar shifted the focus from the sacramental purpose of worship to an emphasis on preaching. Edward Pusey, one of the leaders of the Oxford or Tractarian Movement wrote in 1840, that this movement - from which came the Cambridge Camden Society - was concerned with "the visible part of devotion such as the decoration of the House of God". There was, in their approach, a shift from this focus on the pulpit to the altar and this required a reinterpretation of the way churches were being built and decorated. There was also a "revived interest in vestments, crucifixes, incense, lighting effects, music, [and] surpliced choirs..." [Smith, 120]. All of these interests concerned William Harris as well. His participation in the worship (and surpliced choir) of St. Peter's Cathedral associated him with a congregation deeply rooted in the Tractarian traditions. He, like others, was deeply concerned about creating an environment conducive to the appropriate worship of God. "When faithfully discharged, Gothic was the architectural embodiment of Christian doctrine and was to be visibly manifest throughout and interfused into every dimension of the church" [Ibid, 125]. In the same way that a Tractarian Bishop like John Medley was determined to see the construction of churches that "would express the holiness of beauty and the glory of God" [Finley, 81], this too appeared to be the determination of William. Further, just as Finley says of Medley, so too were "sanctified furnishings and compelling architectural ambience" Williams "instruments" [Ibid].

The work of the Ecclesiologists [previously the Cambridge Camden Society] in England soon came to focus on the building of churches in the colonies. According to H.M. Scott Smith, The decorated and irregular Gothic Revival style "evolved through several phases between 1830 and 1900, and dominated the design of church buildings in Prince Edward Island - and indeed most of urban North America - throughout this period. So pervasive was this style that even smaller rural churches were built in modest interpretations of the Gothic Revival known as the Carpenter-Gothic or Picturesque styles." [Smith, 20] Without a doubt the work of the Ecclesiologists, who published a journal and several texts, influenced William Harris. He was known to have given attention to Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton. Whether he ever visited this Cathedral is unknown and only one New Brunswick Church, All Saints, Clifton Royal (1885), is known to be one his designs. All Saints has been described as "a consummate neo-Gothic church" and a "model of liturgical correctness" with its "high-pitched roof, and three-staged tower on the north side of the building, its narrow stained glass single-lancet windows, and its board-and-batten siding...The church's internal space is punctuated by striking neo-Gothic liturgical furniture - pews, stalls, altar, reredos, screen and pulpit - all designed by Harris..." [Finley, 126]

It has been suggested that many of the early churches of the Maritime Provinces were so very well constructed because of the predominance of shipbuilding throughout the region and that many churches, were as a result, built by the same master builders and highly skilled carpenters who built the ships. Gradually, and especially under the growing influence of the Ecclesiologists, the role of the architect in church construction became more pronounced. This would, according to Smith, be especially true of the late nineteenth-century when William Harris was responsible for designing more than 120 buildings in Prince Edward Island alone. Of these twenty were new churches or renovations to churches. [Smith, 26 and 27]

All Soul's Chapel was intentionally designed to represent Christian Doctrine. The subdued lighting and the colours William used - and worked with Robert to have incorporated into the art work - emphasized an atmosphere that was set apart from the work-a-day secular world outside its doors. The eye is pulled deliberately to the eastward facing altar and the ornately decorated and well lit sanctuary - the place where the Real Presence of Christ is celebrated in the Eucharist. As the worshiper enters they are enveloped by the richness of the materials of God's creation and the history of salvation as represented through the furnishings of the Church - the baptismal font at the entrance symbolizing the Christian's entry into this history through baptism, the vertical emphasis of the pitched ceiling of the nave - drawing the worshipers eye heavenward, and the depictions of the stories from scripture and the emphasis on the witness of the Church Fathers in Robert's art work. The massive chancel arch emphasizes both the transition from the work (worship) of the Church militant to the focus on the Church expectant and triumphant and recall the arches incorporated into the earliest churches of Rome to symbolize Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords [Short Guide]. All of it was created with a purpose - to provide a visible, tangible witness to the goodness of a merciful and redeeming God.

Reception
The erection in the colonies of churches in the Gothic Revival tradition was not without its critics. In the Diocese of Fredericton Bishop John Medley was vilified in the press for having built churches - most notably St. Anne's Chapel of Ease and Christ Church Cathedral - that were of a "dark and most insidious design" and which introduced "popish rites and ceremonies". In //The Loyalist// one lay person wrote of St. Anne's that the Bishop had built a chapel that definitely associated Medley with a "dangerous party in England". In //The Courier// one correspondent was horrified that the chapel was an "unequivocal demonstration of architectural Puseyism". [see Finley and Ketchum for a full discussion of the public discourse in reaction to these buildings and Medley's response] More than forty years after these Fredericton churches were fodder for the press, there was some concern that All Souls' would be criticized for being too "Puseyite".

For years St. Peter's Cathedral whose worship and style were most definitely "high church" had been supported by a sympathetic Bishop, Hibbert Binney. There was concern amongst St. Peter's congregation that the new bishop, the Rt. Rev'd Frederick Courtney, might not be approving of the design for All Souls'. At the laying of the cornerstone for the chapel on June 2, 1888, the Honorable Heath Haviland spoke for the congregation and their hopes that the Bishop would be, if not approving, then tolerant of the design and decoration. According to Tuck, Courtney continued Binney's "tolerant policy" to the parish and its new rector, Canon James Simpson who used Eucharistic vestments and celebrated a daily mass in the new chapel. The only open criticism came from the most unexpected source - Critchlow Harris, the architect's father, who wrote that "St. Peter's Church is indeed becoming an offshoot of Popery!" [//Gothic Dreams//, 90] According to Canon Tuck, when asked if there was any public condemnation of the chapel as being too "Romish" or "licentious" [Smith, 34]: //I am not aware that anyone in what are nowadays referred to as "the chattering classes" paid much attention to it. It was in// //Charlottetown, off the beaten track, and it was a small ecclesiastical structure that was completed as far as its paintings// //and panels are concerned only gradually, over a period of 25 - 30 years. There was more comment passed on what was called "the holy family" - the "relict" of Fr. Hodgson (they had been married only 9 months when he died) and her widowed sisters who on weekdays walked from their house on Grafton street to the daily mass and offices at All Souls' Chapel. In the last two years it has been kept locked out of service time because the altar cross was twice attacked by an unknown individual who had conceived an objection to it. I have heard many people defend this action by saying, "What about the paintings? What if someone should attack// //them?" No one ever has, but it is often said!// [Tuck email]

The curate of the parish, the Reverend F.E.J. Lloyd, would write in the //Examiner// that All Souls', "for design, construction, beauty and general arrangement surpasses anything else in Canada in connection with the Anglican Church..We are sure that, whether considered as a whole, or in its separate details, the splendid work could neither have been enhanced, designed or executed with greater excellence and success anywhere in Europe." [//Ibid//, 93] While this high praise may be somewhat subjective, others continue to identify the chapel as a "gem both inside and out", "a source of pride to St. Peter's Cathedral and the residents of the City of Charlottetown" [Heritage Office] and "William Harris' finest career achievement" [Smith, 76]. Phoebe Stanton notes that "the enduring product of the Gothic revival was the conviction of an age illustrates its inner nature, strengths and weaknesses, and that the architect may influence for good or bad, the lives of those around him." [Stanton, 7] As Tuck notes, many visitors come to All Souls' to see the paintings Robert Harris completed, but it is the chapel itself that captures their imagination and awe. It was the mind of the master architect that conceived this place of worship and who guided the work Robert completed for the edifice. "Here the customary subservience of William to his older brother is reversed..." [//Gothic Dreams//, 220].

The goal of William and proponents of Gothic Revival ecclesiastical architecture is achieved in this building - it serves as an expression of the love of God and the response of those whose faith accepts the same. The concluding words of //Gothic Dreams// tell us that:

Of all his church interiors none comes closer to revealing William's mind and heart, his own personal religion, than All Souls' Chapel. In the dim light of its Victorian Gothic interior one enters a place of mystery, like a dark wood on a sunny day, which possesses a secret not all can fathom. The figures on the walls - fathers, mothers, little children, saints of old, heroic apostles - seem somehow alive, held in life by the Lord whose gentle Presence here greets Sarah and Critchlow and their progeny and there comforts the little Morson boys on his knee, and whose sovereign Presence looks down from Robert's painting of the Ascension above the candle-laden altar. In the chapel the mystical inner life of William Harris is given form and substance, a place in which the darkness of his sorrows and disappointments is lightened by dreams of love and beauty. [Ibid]

In truth - the chapel achieves more than that - it exudes the faith in a "brotherly love" that surpasses that of human love and expresses in design, decoration and atmosphere the unearthly, heavenly and ultimate love of God - this was truly William's goal!

- Siobhan Laskey, 2008