Wings of Heaven Exhibition June 2 - July 2, 2024
Angel burse embroidered by the Sisters of the Community of St. John Baptist
Trinity, Morgan Dix and the Art of Ecclesiastical Embroidery
For millennia, Angels have represented eternal spiritual beings created by God to act as messengers between heaven and earth. This image of a celestial being with wings is the focus of a new exhibition I have co-curated at Trinity Church Wall Street, Wings of Heaven: Trinity, Morgan Dix and the Art of Ecclesiastical Embroidery.
The exhibit tells the story of the Oxford Movement in America and the Rev. Dr. Dix’s role in promoting its principles such as regular administering of the Sacraments, crosses and candles on the altar, the adoption of vestments and also the establishment of religious communities to work among the sick and disadvantaged populations of 19th century New York City. The objects in the exhibit will show the importance of the church workroom in the life of religious communities as a means of financial support and outlet for artistic expression.
The exhibition centers on an extraordinary set of ecclesiastical embroideries made in 1914 specifically to be used in Trinity’s Chapel of All Saints and dedicated to its ninth rector Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix (1862-1908). Additional examples of angels embroidered on ecclesiastical textiles owned by Trinity and the Community of St. John Baptist will be on display.
Angel Frontlet on the altar of the Chapel of All Saints, Trinity Church Wall Street
The Story of a Memorial
The Trinity Parish Record dated May 1914 contains the following description:
“Many of our people have already seen the beautiful white Frontlet, Burse and Veil which have been given for the Chapel of All Saints, and have been in use during the Easter season. They furnish an example of the highest possibilities of Church embroidery and deserve most careful study. The design was especially made by Mr. Durr Friedley of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the work was done by the Sisters of St. John Baptist at their House in East Seventeenth street.” “The design, modern, yet strongly Gothic in feeling, fills the requisites of true beauty in its simplicity, truthfulness and appropriateness of treatment. The subject is suggested by the words ‘Let all the Angels of God worship Him’ and, as treated expresses earnest reverence for Religious Mysteries…”
It is fitting that the Sisters of the Community of St. John Baptist were asked to create the Angel set and, for such an important commission they enlisted the help of their good friend, Metropolitan Museum of Art curator and one of the convent’s architects, Durr Freedley. Freedley continued to work closely with the Sisters on several more vestment commissions, even after he had moved to Newport, RI to become a successful portrait painter and muralist.
Angel Burse embroidered by the Sisters of the Community St. John Baptist, 1914
Angel burse embroidery pattern drawn by Durr Freedley, 1914
A hand-embroidered label on the back of the frontlet says “To the Glory of God, In Memoriam, Morgan Dix, Priest. (Insignia of the Community of St. John Baptist), MCMXIV”
Practice embroidery for the Angel frontlet, 1914.
The Oxford Movement
The Community of St. John Baptist was founded in England in 1852 by Canon Thomas Thelluson Carter and Harriet O'Brien Monsell. The Sisters' original work, the Clewer House of Mercy, took in abused and destitute women and children from the streets, caring for them and teaching them skills to earn a living. Soon the Sisters were running orphanages, schools, convalescent hospitals, soup kitchens, homes for working girls, and a church needlework business.
At the time the Church of England was mostly silent on the subject of the poor and destitute. Many critics felt that it had long ago lost the hearts of her people, along with a sense of social responsibility. A contemporary account notes that on Easter Day in 1800 only six people attended the communion service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. But the “Age of Reform” was soon to arrive both in government and religion.
In 1833 Rev. John Keble, Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, preached a sermon which denounced the Nation as turning away from God and regarding the Church as a mere institution of society. His sermon caused a national sensation and the subsequent publication of further sermons by other clergy and theologians of the day brought about the religious revival known as the Oxford Movement.
These sermons sought to engage the hearts and minds of the people by calling for greater ritual and renewal of spiritual practices abolished by the Reformation. The Rev. Edward B. Pusey, another early supporter of the Movement, wrote “The Church herself ought to debate upon remedies…We need missions among the poor of our town…organized bodies of clergy living among them…or sisterhoods of mercy”.
Sanctus banner possibly embroidered by the Community of St. John Baptist, Clewer, UK, circa 1880.
Burse and veil embroidered with Cherubim and the Four Evangelists. Late 19th early 20th century.
Sisterhoods and the Church Workroom
In America there was also so much debate between “High” church and “Low” church theology and practices that in 1844 a letter was presented before the House of Bishops reproaching “the abominable idolatries of the Mass.” Warnings were issued to the General Theological Seminary to make sure “candidates for the Ministry are grounded in sound doctrine.” It was in this atmosphere of debate and condemnation that a young Morgan Dix entered seminary. In the History of the Parish of Trinity Church in the City of New York published by Columbia University Press in 1950, Rev. Dr. Dix is described as having “brought, also, a new dignity and proper ritual into the services…what he derived from the Oxford Movement was love of warmth and color in ceremonial worship, a strong urge to bring the Gospel to the less favored members of the community by missionary centers for their religious and physical service, and a militant interest in the establishment of Religious Communities.”
The Sisterhood of St. Mary was the first Anglican religious order established for women in America. In February of 1865, through perseverance and hard work with the poor in New York City, Harriet Starr Cannon, Jane Haight, Mary Heartt, Amelia Asten and Sarah Bridge with the guidance and support of Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix convinced Bishop Horatio Potter to receive them into the Community of St. Mary. St. Mary's School was opened on May 1, 1868. In March, 1871, St. Mary's School was moved to new quarters east of Fifth Avenue, 6 East Forty-sixth Street. CSM initially faced fierce opposition but never wavered in their commitment to their vocation and went on to establish houses of mercy, missions, infirmaries, children’s hospitals, schools and orphanages. In addition to their incredible history of service the Sisters also produced masterpieces of ecclesiastical embroidery. Rev. Dr. Dix remained their champion, pastor and friend until his death in 1908.
In 1870 Helen Stuyvesant Folsom wrote to Mother Harriet at Clewer to request the establishment of an American branch of the Community of St. John Baptist in New York City. In 1874 Sr. Superior Frances Constance (Frances Paine), Sr. Emma and Sr. Fanny arrived in New York City to establish the first Convent of St. John Baptist at 220 Second Avenue (the Folsom family home). In 1877 Rev. Dr. George Hendric Houghton lays the cornerstone for a new Convent building at 233 East 17th Street. It will house 20 Sisters and 20 “industrial trainees,” as well as a Church Work Room that could accommodate ten seamstresses.
Seraphim angel embroidered by Sister Anna of the Community of St. Mary, circa 1880.
Angel embroidered by Sister Anna of the Community of St. Mary, circa 1880.
Seraphim angel embroidery pattern drawn by Rev. Henry Franklin Darby. He collaborated with the Sisters of CSM on numerous embroidery projects, circa 1880.
Exhibition Tour & Program Sunday June 23 - 1:00pm
Learn about the history and relationships spanning nearly 200 years between the hand-embroidered angels on ecclesiastical textiles owned by Trinity Church, the Community of St. John Baptist and the Community of St. Mary. The talk will be led by myself and co-curator, Steven Leavitt, Principal of Transfiguration Vestments. We will be focusing on the beauty and meaning of vestments and ecclesiastical embroidery to the sacred liturgy, including the fraught and intriguing history behind it all. All are welcome to join Trinity Church Wall Street’s 11:15am Sunday, June 23rd service which will be followed by the program held in the reception room across the pedestrian bridge at 76 Trinity Place Commons at 1:00pm. Click on the link below for more information.
Gratitude and Thanks!
Many thanks to Trinity Church Wall Street for hosting this exhibition and recognizing the important role of ecclesiastical textiles play in the celebration of our liturgy. Exhibits like this are encouraging awareness of this often overlooked and underappreciated part of our heritage as Episcopalians.
Marianna Garthwaite Klaiman – Co-curator, Textile Historian
Steven Leavitt – Co-curator, Principal, Transfiguration Vestments
Karla Chee-a-tow - Chairperson, Arts Standing Committee, Trinity Church Wall Street
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