Issue 42 summer 24 web - Flipbook - Page 117
Above, Theodore Gillick’s shrine of 2009 to Mother Francesca
Cabrini is an astonishing likeness of the saint, with a reliquary
compact in the left panel
Above, John Lawson’s papal window of 1982 for Goddard &
Gibbs studio directly links Christ with Pope John Paul II as his
apostolic vicar on earth
Archbishop Kevin McDonald5 had already decreed that
some of the confessional alcoves could be removed from
the North aisle, each removal creating a small, enveloping
space in which personal encounter can take place with a
saint. Gillick then interpreted one of these spaces with
an exquisite, formal bronze roundel depicting Cabrini, the
migrants she protects, the family and friends they have
left overseas, and the well-meaning yet impersonal
bureaucracy they encounter when they arrive with their
small suitcases from abroad.
Devotion to St John stood at the heart of the diocese and
province through the dedication of the seminary at Wonersh. It is only fitting that there should remain a strong
and tangible locus for devotion to St John at St George’s.
On closure of St John’s Seminary, the Archbishop John
Wilson6 brought an icon and two side altars to cathedral.
He wished to respect the seminary’s alumni in their devotion to John, the disciple whom Jesus loved.7 They
share that devotion with Saint Pope John Paul II and their
prayers at the newly installed altarpiece strengthens its
sacramental presence through their ordained priesthood.
Working from the Sisters’ publications, I wrote a
dedicatory résumé of the saint’s work and a migrants’
prayer of intercession which, with the Dean’s imprimatur,
were engraved and poly-chromatically lettered by the
Gillick brothers.
The Altar of St John
F A Walters had created a neo-Classical altar and reredos
dedicated to the patron saint of the Wonersh seminary in
Incorporating a fragment of finger-bone in a crystal glass
compact, the whole reliquary shrine rolls out on a steel
frame to facilitate inspection and maintenance of the void
behind, the electrics and rainwater downpipe.
Saint Pope John Paul II
At St George’s, the papal window recalling John Paul II’s
visit in 1982 predates his more recent canonisation: his
healing of the sick is juxtaposed with Jesus healing the
lame and the blind. The influx to Britain of eastern
Europeans after expansion of the European Union re-emphasised Pope John Paul II to a new cohort of worshippers.
Located in Romilly Craze’s vestigial North transept, I had
had ideas how this vast figurative display might become a
focus for prayer but there had been no champion
community, no protagonist to bring about his “cause”.
i
Above, Frederick A Walters’ seminary side altar of St John the
Evangelist is located in the faux-transept, in place of Archbishop
Amigo’s effigy monument
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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