The Chapel of the Holy Spirit in the Church of St. Peter's, Cranley Gardens, S.W.Morris, Percy C.
Religion
The Chapel of the Holy Spirit in the Church of St. Peter's, Cranley Gardens, S.W.
Morris, Percy C.
Church architecture -- England -- London
Passing to the western bay we find, as we look round, that the springers
continue the tale of praise to God, from all the glorious company of the
apostles, from the goodly fellowship of the prophets, from Martyred Saint
and Holy Church. St. Paul, the great apostle of the Gentiles, bearing
the emblematic sword, is grouped with the youthful St. John, the beloved
apostle, with the chalice in his hand from which the serpent issues, and
at his feet the symbolic eagle. David the King, the psalmist prophet,
with sceptre and harp, is with Isaiah, the “Prophet of Faith,” the great
foreteller of the Messianic deliverance and of the Coming of the Prince
of Peace. St. Stephen, the sweet proto-martyr of the Christian Church,
stands in the south-west springer with St. Alban, the Christian soldier,
and first of all our British saints and martyrs. Last of all, in the
north-west springer is “Holy Church” represented by St. Peter, prince of
the Apostles, “The Rock upon which the Church of Christ was to be built,”
and by Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, wearing his cope, and
carrying his archiepiscopal staff. It was said, half musingly, by one
who saw this last springer in the carving, that the builders had, perhaps
unconsciously, elected that Holy Church should be represented by a
temple. The connection between the name and the object to be represented
was, it is true, not perceived by them, but the selection was of fixed
design. To those who knew and valued the great archbishop, who passed
away in 1903 in the fulness of years, his great qualities and his eminent
services to the Church seemed to mark him out as specially fitted to
stand beside St. Peter, both truly representative of the Church of
Christ.
ORNAMENTAL CARVING.
All round the chapel on either side, above the arcading and sedilia, and
in the recess in which the Holy Table is placed, runs, carved in stone,
the trailing vine with leaves and grapes, emblematic of our Saviour, “The
True Vine,” and of the Wine of the Holy Eucharist; and in the carving of
the arcading and sedilia and of the small bosses of the quatrefoil work
of the arch that carries the east window, will be found the pomegranate,
the lily, and the rose, symbols of Hope and Immortality, of Purity and
Love, together with the eagle of St. John and the crossed keys of St.
Peter.
THE REREDOS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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