The Abbe y Chu r c h The completion of the Abbey Church was a triumph for the monastic community and the students of St. Benedict’s College – it continues to serve as a place for the monks and students to come together to praise God in the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. Its austere simplicity is worthy of note – its intent is to focus all gathered on the altar at its center. The 270’ long Church features a striking ceiling crafted of aluminum tiles to look like a Kansas sunrise or sunset. While there was no collaboration between the architect Barry Byrne and the fresco artist, Jean Charlot, the ceiling powerfully draws your eye to God the Father at the head of the magnificent fresco (which we’ll detail later). High on the bluffs of the Missouri River, the Church resembles a ship, with the tower as its mast – Byrne envisioned a ship sailing through the wheat fields of Kansas. At the base of the bell tower is the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. With the toll of the bell all on campus are reminded to look to the tower, knowing that Christ rests at its base, providing the spiritual foundation for the campus. Why reserve the Blessed Sacrament in its own chapel? Fr. Daniel McCarthy explains and explores this mostsacred space on page 22.
t he pipe or gan Father Anselm Llewellyn spent more than 10 years preparing to lead the effort to acquire a pipe organ for the new Abbey Church. Funding was short at the time, so the dream of the full organ wasn’t realized until 2002. Four divisions, Great, Positiv, Swell, and Pedal are located above the sanctuary. The Epistle and Gospel divisions reside above the choir and are the principle pipes used for the monks’ prayer. At the west end is the Antiphonal division featuring a significant hooded trumpet. The nearly 2,600 pipes are controlled by the three-manual console in the choir. Br. Karel discusses the Abbey’s pipe organ and its intricacies on page 19.
t he altar It was the first desire of the monastic community that the Altar be placed at the center of the Church and that nothing be added to the Church that might detract from it as the focal point. It was their desire that the altar would be a stone table with four legs, but architect Barry Byrne convinced them that such a table might be lost in the grandeur of the space. Thusly the marble altar was designed with its massive brick foundation running through the crypt all the way to the ground. It was decided during construction to raise the altar from its original resting point and two additional steps were added, elevating the celebration of Mass all the more. Massive altar cloths cover the altar according the feast or liturgical season. 10
Kansas Monks
