Stanford Memorial Church - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Stanford Memorial Church (also known as MemChu) is located at the center of the Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

campus in Stanford, California

Stanford, California

Stanford is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and is the home of Stanford University. The population was 13,809 at the 2010 census....

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was built during the American Renaissance

American Renaissance

In the history of American architecture and the arts, the American Renaissance was the period in 1835-1880 characterized by renewed national self-confidence and a feeling that the United States was the heir to Greek democracy, Roman law, and Renaissance humanism...

by Jane Stanford

Jane Stanford

Jane Stanford was the co-founder of Stanford University with her husband, Leland Stanford, whom she wed in 1850. She was the daughter of a shopkeeper and lived on Washington Avenue in Albany, New York, before her marriage...

as a memorial to her husband Leland

Leland Stanford

Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...

. Designed by architect Charles A. Coolidge

Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge

Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge was a successful architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, operating between 1886 and 1915, with extensive commissions in monumental civic and collegiate architecture in the spirit and style of Henry Hobson Richardson....

, a protégé of Henry Hobson Richardson

Henry Hobson Richardson

Henry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...

, the church has been called "the University's architectural crown jewel".

Designs for the church were submitted to Jane Stanford and the university trustees in 1898, and it was dedicated in 1903. The building is Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

in form and Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

in its details, inspired by churches in the region of Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

and, especially, Ravenna

Ravenna

Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...

. Its stained glass windows

Stained Glass Windows

Stained Glass Windows was an early broadcast television program, broadcast on early Sunday evenings on the ABC network. The program was a religious broadcast, hosted by the Reverend Everett Parker....

and extensive mosaics are based on religious paintings the Stanfords admired in Europe. The church has four pipe organs, which allow musicians to produce many styles of organ music. Stanford Memorial Church has withstood two major earthquakes, in 1906 and 1989, and was extensively renovated after each.

Stanford Memorial Church was the earliest and has been "among the most prominent" non-denominational churches on the West Coast of the United States

West Coast of the United States

West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...

. Since its dedication in 1903, the church's goal has been to serve the spiritual needs of the university in a non-sectarian way. The church's first chaplain, David Charles Gardner, began a tradition of leadership which has guided the development of Stanford University's spiritual, ethical, and academic relation to religion. The church's chaplains were instrumental in the founding of Stanford's religious studies

Religious studies

Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...

department, moving Stanford from a "completely secular university" at the middle of the century to "the renaissance of faith and learning at Stanford" in the late 1960s, when the study of religion at the university focused on social and ethical issues like race and the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

Early history

Stanford Memorial Church is located at the end of the mile-long axis of Stanford University, visible from a distance; the main vista begins at the main entrance, continues to Palm Drive, traverses "the Oval" (a large oval lawn), enters the Main Quad (the core of the university), and finally crosses Memorial Court and the Inner Quad courtyard. The church was commissioned by Jane Stanford

Jane Stanford

(1828–1905) as a memorial to her husband, Leland Stanford

Leland Stanford

Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...

(1824–93).The Stanfords built the university, which opened in 1891, to honor their only child, Leland Stanford, Jr.

Leland Stanford, Jr.

Leland Stanford Jr. , Leland DeWitt Stanford until age nine, was the only child of Governor Leland Stanford of California and his wife Jane Stanford née Lathrop, and is the namesake of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, United States.Leland Jr...

, who died in 1884 of typhoid shortly before his sixteenth birthday. A church had been envisioned but not started when the senior Leland Stanford died in 1893. The Stanfords had intended that a church should become "the centerpiece of the university complex". They were deeply religious, and for their day and social standing, "open-minded ecumenicalists", so they included in the university's original charter that a church built on campus should be a "nondenominational—if essentially Protestant—house of worship". They had traveled Europe for many years, visiting churches, museums, and notable buildings and finding inspiration for the architecture of both the university and church. They received their greatest inspiration from the Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco , is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". All other urban spaces in the city are called "campi"...

in Venice.

During one of the Stanfords' European trips they befriended Maurizio Camerino, an artist with a reputation for producing high-quality mosaics, who was managing the Antonio Salviati

Antonio Salviati

Antonio Salviati was an Italian glass manufacturer and founder of the Salviati family firm.A native of Vicenza, Salviati was a lawyer who got interested in glasswork after becoming involved in restorations being done on the mosaics of Saint Mark's Cathedral in Venice...

studios in Venice. After Leland Stanford's death in 1893, legal disputes tied up the Stanford estate and prevented the completion of the university for several years. When the disputes were settled in Jane Stanford's favor, she was finally able to put into motion her wish for a church. In 1898, she and the university trustees requested design submissions for the church. Once Stanford Memorial Church was ready for decoration, Jane Stanford visited Camerino, who had taken over the ownership of Salvati and Company in 1890, and commissioned him to produce mosaics for the church. Stanford spent two months in Venice, working closely with Camerino and selecting the watercolors he created that were eventually developed into the mosaics. The process of finalizing the designs took several months after Stanford returned home to California, as new paintings and modifications were shipped to her by boat. The art contained in the church "greatly occupied" Stanford; as former chaplain Robert C. Gregg put it, "The structure was to be without flaw". Stanford was determined that the quality of the church's workmanship would equal the medieval churches she had admired in Europe.

Groundbreaking for the church was held in 1899. After a delay of almost a year, Stanford Memorial Church was dedicated on January 25, 1903, with "impressive ceremonies". Demonstrating Jane Stanford's goal of ecumenicism, Rabbi Jacob Voorsanger of San Francisco's Congregation Emanu-El read the first Bible lesson. The church's pastor, Heber Newton, gave the sermon. A second service was held later that day, and D. Charles Gardner, the chaplain, gave the sermon. Stanford Memorial Church's first christening was held between the two services.

Jane Stanford once remarked: "While my whole heart is in the university, my soul is in that church". She died in 1905, and so did not live to see the damage caused by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake

1906 San Francisco earthquake

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...

. Her funeral took place in the church, referred to as one of her most important accomplishments and "the truest reflection of her visionary leadership" in March 1905. Demonstrating her belief in ecumenicism, clergy from several religious traditions, including a Rabbi, a Presbyterian minister, a Methodist minister, an Episcopal bishop, and a Baptist minister, officiated at the service.

Earthquakes

Stanford Memorial Church has suffered two major earthquakes, in 1906

1906 San Francisco earthquake

and in 1989. Although extensively damaged, the church was restored after each. The 1906 quake wrecked much of the church, felled the spire, cracked the walls, and "injured beyond repair" the mosaics and Carrara marble statuary in the chancel. The main cause of the severity of the damage was that the church's original construction failed to attach the crossing structure to the surrounding masonry and roof structures. The result was that when the tower swayed in the earthquake, it pushed against the walls and roofs of the nave, transepts and chancel, causing the walls to move and the roof of the nave to be forced towards the gable of the facade. The upper north face of the building was affected by the movement of the nave roof against the gable and fell forward into the Inner Quad courtyard, "its wondrous mosaic was blown out and totally destroyed".

The spire fell into the chancel, bringing down the roof and doing massive damage to the internal fittings. The twelve marble statues of the apostles, which stood in front of the niches surrounding the altar, were damaged and never replaced. The spire was never repaired and the tower was removed and replaced by a simpler structure; however, the clock was saved and eventually placed in another building on campus, the Stanford Clock Tower

Stanford Clock Tower

The Stanford Clock Tower with its attached, colonnaded pergola is located at the so-called “Circle of Death” at the corner of Escondido and Lasuen Malls on the campus of Stanford University...

. The crossing of the church was the only part of the building to remain relatively stable after the quake, and the only mosaics not destroyed in the quake were the four angels that decorated the crossing dome's pendentives

Pendentive

A pendentive is a constructive device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points at the bottom and spread at the top to establish the continuous circular or...

.

Repairs of the earthquake damage began immediately. The extent of the damage was such that the church had to be completely rebuilt. It was dismantled stone by stone, which, along with the windows, were labelled and stored. "To assure permanence" in case of further earthquakes, the masonry was anchored to concrete-reinforced walls. The building's crossing received a tiled hipped roof and an oculus

Oculus

An Oculus, circular window, or rain-hole is a feature of Classical architecture since the 16th century. They are often denoted by their French name, oeil de boeuf, or "bull's-eye". Such circular or oval windows express the presence of a mezzanine on a building's façade without competing for...

, which lit the interior of the church, and was added above the renovated dome. The original dome had been decorated with a "a frescoed Victorian interpretation of God's eye—complete with tear—surrounded by cherubs and shooting star". The new dome had a frescoed ceiling decorated with bronze designs as opposed to the gold leaf present before the earthquake. A further structural alteration was that the irregular rose window

Rose window

A Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery...

of the facade was replaced by a more regular round-arched window like the smaller ones flanking it.

The dedication, which was engraved in large letters below the facade mosaic, was replaced by a smaller dedication plaque placed at the lower left of the facade. The mosaics were restored by Camerino, who did not appraise the damage until 1913. He had saved the original drawings in Venice, so he removed and re-fabricated the chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

mosaic, and redesigned the entire exterior mosaic. Camerino also donated mosaics to fill the spaces left by the removal of the dedication. The tile floor was replaced with cork. The Stanford alumni magazine, in early 1917, declared the renovation complete, stating that "the church, for almost the first time since it was begun, is finished".

In 1989 the church was damaged again, in the Loma Prieta earthquake

Loma Prieta earthquake

The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake, was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. local time...

. The integrity of the structure remained, but the crossing structure, the only major part of the building that was not damaged in the 1905 earthquake, buckled and caused several stones in the north and west arches to slip as much as to 2 inch (0.0508 m). The four mosaic angels in the pendentives supporting the dome were damaged. An eight-foot mosaic section of an angel's left wing fell 70 feet (21.3 m) to the floor. Several stones from the east arch wall fell onto pews in the balcony, and the organ-loft railing collapsed inward. Although the damage was minor, the church remained closed until 1992 while restoration was carried out.

In this restoration the entire crossing was strengthened by bracing it behind the dome and securing it to the superstructure of the building. The roofs, which had not been replaced since 1913, were rebuilt with plywood diaphragms

Diaphragm (structural system)

In structural engineering, a diaphragm is a structural system used to transfer lateral loads to shear walls or frames primarily through in-plane shear stress...

and 30,000 new red clay tiles were installed. The wing of the damaged angel was restored; Stanford University hired William Kreysler and Associates to create a new backing system to secure this angel and three other mosaic angels to the base of the dome. The stones from the arches were replaced. During the renovation after the earthquake, a piece of the original mosaic from the vestibule, with its Chi Rho
Chi Rho
The Chi Rho is one of the earliest forms of christogram, and is used by Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters chi and rho of the Greek word "ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ" =Christ in such a way to produce the monogram ☧...

, was found in the foundation and inserted into the Communion Table in the chancel, linking the current building with the pre-1906 church. Other improvements to the church were also made at this time. The Victorian chandeliers were repaired and rewired, and the transept balconies, which had been closed for twenty years because they were declared unsafe, were reopened, after the false doors on the south side of each balcony were replaced by emergency exit

Emergency exit

An emergency exit in a structure is a special exit for emergencies such as a fire: the combined use of regular and special exits allows for faster evacuation, while it also provides an alternative if the route to the regular exit is blocked by fire, etc....

s and connected to existing staircases on the other side of the wall. Stanford Memorial Church was rededicated by chaplain Robert C. Gregg on November 1, 1992.

Influence

Before the 1950s, Stanford "had the reputation of being a completely secular university". Stanford professor Van Harvey refers to this as a "background of aggressive secularism and the almost complete neglect of the academic study of religion". In 1946, Merrimon Cuninggim

Merrimon Cuninggim

Merrimon Cuninggim was a Methodist minister, president of Salem College in North Carolina from 1976 to 1979, thirteen years executive director of the Danforth Foundation before resigning in protest in 1973, and dean of Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University where in 1952 he...

, a visiting chaplain at Stanford Memorial Church, criticized the "dearth" of religious and spiritual resources available at Stanford for its students and criticized the university's lack of academic courses offered in the study of religions. Cuninggim insisted that the university's administration and trustees were responsible because they had interpreted the non-sectarian clause in Stanford's charter in "a negative and restrictive fashion rather than as enabling the tolerance and the flourishing of many religious faiths on campus".

Cuninggim also charged that Stanford's religious policies were inadequate compared to other prominent U.S. universities. Harvey speculated that if Stanford had established a seminary

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

like other prestigious universities, its religious studies

Religious studies

department and the "ethos" of the entire institution would be different. In 1966, however, the Board of Trustees got a court order that allowed them to change the non-sectarian clause in Stanford's charter so that they could expand the university's religious program, which included permitting sectarian worship services at Stanford Memorial Church.

Stanford did not employ a full-time professor in religion until 1951 and did not establish a religious studies department until 1973, later than most other universities in the U.S. Earlier courses in religion were largely offered by the chaplains of Stanford Memorial Church. David Charles Gardner offered a course in Biblical history and literature beginning in 1907, and by 1910, he was teaching New Testament Greek and Bible classes. Gardner's successor, D. Elton Trueblood

D. Elton Trueblood

David Elton Trueblood , who was usually known as "Elton Trueblood" or "D. Elton Trueblood", was a noted 20th century American Quaker author and theologian, former chaplain both to Harvard and Stanford universities....

, taught classes about the philosophy of religion

Philosophy of religion

Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy concerned with questions regarding religion, including the nature and existence of God, the examination of religious experience, analysis of religious language and texts, and the relationship of religion and science...

. In 1941 Trueblood's efforts to expand the study of religion resulted in the creation of a minor in religion, as well as twenty-one courses offered by him and four faculty members. By 1960, the chaplains of Stanford Memorial Church no longer had to run the program, which had expanded to allow students the option of majoring in the study of religion. By the mid-1960s, the religious studies program at Stanford was enjoying "enormous success".

In the 1960s, the study of religion at Stanford focused not on academics, but on social and ethical issues like race and the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

. Leading this focus was Stanford Memorial Church chaplain David Napier, who was "a powerful critic of U.S. policy in Vietnam". Napier, along with Stanford professors Michael Novak

Michael Novak

Michael Novak is an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. The author of more than twenty-five books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known for his book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism...

and Robert McAfee Brown

Robert McAfee Brown

Robert McAfee Brown was an American theologian and activist.Brown earned a bachelor's degree from Amherst College in 1943 and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1944...

, were the subject of a Time Magazine article in 1966, describing "the renaissance of faith and learning at Stanford". Students crowded into the church to hear anti-war speeches by them, as well as by "notables" such as Linus Pauling

Linus Pauling

Linus Carl Pauling was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator. He was one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century...

and William Sloan Coffin.

In 1993, Stanford became the first major educational institution in the United States to give formal permission allowing same-sex commitment ceremonies at its chapel. The first ceremony, called "vows of commitment", took place on Labor Day, September 6, 1993, and was performed by Associate Dean of the Chapel, Diana Akiyama

Diana Akiyama

The Rev. Dr. Diana Akiyama was the director of the Office for Religious and Spiritual Life at Occidental College, Los Angeles from 2003-2008. She has also held a lecturing post at Stanford University in feminist studies and anthropology, and was formerly an associate dean of Stanford Memorial...

. Stanford's Memorial Church's dean at the time, Robert C. Gregg, obtained permission from the university administration and discussed it with his staff before the ceremony was performed.

Chaplains

Stanford Memorial Church, throughout its history, has been served by chaplains who have been influential amongst the Stanford University student body and community at large. R. Heber Newton

R. Heber Newton

Richard Heber Newton was a prominent American Episcopalian priest and writer. He was rector of All Souls' Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City from 1869–1902...

, the first and last pastor of Stanford Memorial Church, resigned after four months in 1903 "because he disagreed with Mrs. Stanford on some aspects of church management". According to Stanford biographer Robert W. P. Cutler, "Newton's tenure had been a disappointment to Mrs. Stanford". Newton had been rector of All Souls' Church, New York City (1869–1902). He was a leader in the Social Gospel

Social Gospel

The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...

movement, a supporter of Higher Criticism of the Bible, and sought to unify Christian churches in the United States. David Charles Gardner, who replaced Newton and was the first chaplain of Stanford Memorial Church, served the church from 1903 to 1936. An Episcopal

Episcopal Church (United States)

The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...

minister, Gardner was known as "the Padre" to his students at Stanford. He was born in England, immigrated to the U.S. when he was twenty-one years old, and attended seminary near San Francisco. Gardner taught courses in Biblical history and literature at Stanford. Edith Mirrielees, a student, professor, and Stanford historian, considered him "a preacher of only indifferent ability" but "a strength to the whole university". According to her he was the prime mover behind the creation of the Stanford Home for Convalescent Children, established in 1919, which eventually became the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital is a children's hospital located on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California. It is staffed by over 650 physicians and 4,750 staff and volunteers...

.

D. Elton Trueblood

D. Elton Trueblood

, a Quaker, was the church's chaplain from 1936 to 1946. Trueblood was also a professor of philosophy of religion at Stanford and wrote 33 books, including one about Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

. Trueblood and his wife hosted monthly Friends meetings in their home. He met weekly with Orthodox Jewish students in the vestry of Stanford Memorial Church. Trueblood left Stanford to go to Earlham College

Earlham College

Earlham College is a liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. It was founded in 1847 by Quakers and has approximately 1,200 students.The president is John David Dawson...

. George J. Hall was the interim chaplain between Trueblood and Robert "Rabb" M. Minto, who, except for a short break in his employment in 1949, worked at Stanford for almost twenty years, from 1947–1965. Ordained in the Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

, Minto was known for his handwritten marriage certificates. Paul C. Johnston filled in during Minto's break.

Stanford's next two chaplains, B. David Napier (1966–72) and Robert McAfee Brown

Robert McAfee Brown

Robert McAfee Brown was an American theologian and activist.Brown earned a bachelor's degree from Amherst College in 1943 and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1944...

(1972–73), were among the most politically active chaplains. Napier was an ordained Congregational minister. He was born in China to missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

parents, grew up in the American South, and went to seminary at Yale

YALE

RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...

. He gained fame among Stanford students "for his efforts to relate Scripture to the turbulent political times of the late 1960s". Napier was a "charismatic biblical scholar ... [and] a powerful critic of U.S. policy in Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

". Napier was also a "gifted" preacher and jazz pianist. Brown, the author of 29 books, became "an international leader in civil rights, ecumenical and social justice causes". He also protested U.S. involvement in Vietnam and taught religion and ethics in relation to contemporary life and literature.

Robert Hamerton-Kelly

Robert Hamerton-Kelly

Robert G. Hamerton-Kelly is a Christian theologian, ordained United Methodist pastor, and author and editor of several books on religion and violence.-Life and career:...

(1972–86), born in South Africa, was a United Methodist minister. He taught religion, classics, and Greek at Stanford. Thomas Ambrogi was the acting dean in 1986. He was a former Jesuit priest who was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto, and referred to himself as " a transdenominational Christian with roots in the Catholic tradition". Robert C. Gregg (1987–98), was born in Texas and ordained as an Episcopal

Episcopal Church (United States)

minister. He was also Professor of Religious Studies.Gregg also wrote Glory of Angels, the 1995 book about MemChu. Kelly Denton-Borhaug (1999–2000), a Lutheran minister, came to Stanford in 1996 as an associate dean.

Staff

The Rev. Scotty McLennan

Scotty McLennan

The Reverend William L. McLennan, Jr. — better known as "Scotty McLennan" — was born on November 21, 1948, son of William L. McLennan and Alice Polk Warner. He is an ordained minister, lawyer, professor, published author, public speaker and senior administrator at Stanford University...

has served as Dean

Dean (education)

In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...

for Religious Life at Stanford since 2001. He is joined by associate deans Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann and The Rev. Joanne Sanders to form a multi-faith team. The deans oversee educational programs and serve on administrative committees on campus.

McLennan, a Unitarian Universalist minister, was "an activist neighborhood lawyer" in Boston before becoming a university chaplain, first at Tufts University

Tufts University

Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

. Garry Trudeau

Garry Trudeau

Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip.-Background and education:...

, who was McLennan's roommate when they were students at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, based his Doonesbury

Doonesbury

Doonesbury is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau, that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college...

character, the Rev. Scot Sloan, in part on McLennan.

Rabbi Karlin-Neumann is Stanford's first Jewish associate dean of religious life. Before the university hired her in 1996, the chaplaincy position was called "Dean of Memorial Church"; in order to accommodate Karlin-Neumann, the position's name was changed to "Dean of Religious Life at Stanford". Before coming to Stanford, Karlin-Neumann had been a Hillel

Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life

Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, working with thousands of college students globally...

director and chaplain at UCLA and Claremont College

Claremont College

Claremont College opened in 1990 as a senior secondary Government school in Tasmania, Australia, for students in Years 11 and 12. It provides a full range of courses, preparing students for university, TAFE, traineeships and employment...

, a rabbi in Alameda, California

Alameda, California

Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...

, and was active in Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...

. She has taught courses in Jewish feminism

Jewish feminism

Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Judaism and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women...

, rabbinical ethics, education, and social justice

Social justice

Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...

. She refers to her role at Stanford as "Mem Chu and a Jew, too".

Sanders, an Episcopal

Episcopal Church (United States)

priest, has worked at Stanford since 2001. She has degrees in theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, sports administration and physical education

Physical education

Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....

. Her career has focused on the connection between body, mind, and spirit. She serves as liturgical officer for Memorial Church, is responsible for coordinating and facilitating the religious services at the church, and is active in the athletic community on campus. She is also a member of Stanford's Women's Community Center.

Robert Huw Morgan

Robert Huw Morgan

Robert Huw Morgan is a Welsh-born musician.- Biography :Robert Huw Morgan is the University Organist at Stanford University. A native of Wales, he received his BA and MA from the University of Cambridge, where he was organ scholar at St...

has been Stanford Memorial Church's organist since 1999. He is a lecturer in organ at the Stanford University School of Music. Morgan performs at up to thirty services, mostly weddings, each month at the church. Mary Gallagher is the wedding coordinator at Stanford Memorial Church.

Architecture

Stanford Memorial Church was built during the American Renaissance

American Renaissance

period, a time of architectural eclecticism

Eclecticism

Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases.It can sometimes seem inelegant or...

, so elements of styles from different eras are synthesized in its design. The architectural style of Stanford Memorial Church has been referred to as "a stunning example of late Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

ecclesiastical art and architecture

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

with echoes of Pre-Raphaelitism". As it stands today, having been altered after earthquake damage, Stanford Memorial Church has the plan and structure of a large Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

church while the extensive use of mosaic and the foliate forms of the stone carvings reflect Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

styles seen by Jane Stanford on her visits to the churches of Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

and St Mark's Basilica

St Mark's Basilica

The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture...

, Venice.

The architect was Charles A. Coolidge, a protégé of Henry Hobson Richardson

Henry Hobson Richardson

, and who developed the massing of Richardson's Trinity Church

Trinity Church, Boston

Trinity Church in the City of Boston, located in the Back Bay of Boston, Massachusetts, is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The congregation, currently standing at approximately 3,000 households, was founded in 1733. The current rector is The Reverend Anne Bonnyman...

in Boston, (1876). Like Trinity Church, Memorial Church originally had a large central tower with turrets and a twelve-sided spire, but this was lost as a result of the 1906 earthquake. The church's blueprints were prepared by Clinton E. Day of San Francisco, and Charles E. Hodges

Charles E. Hodges

Charles E. Hodges was the Democratic President of the West Virginia Senate from Monongalia County and served from 1935 to 1939....

was the supervising architect for the project. Jane Stanford hired builder John McGilvray, who was responsible for constructing the St. Francis Hotel

St. Francis Hotel

The Westin St. Francis is a historic luxury hotel located on Powell and Geary Streets on Union Square in San Francisco, California. The two twelve-story south wings of the hotel were built just before the San Francisco Earthquake, in 1904, and the double-width north wing was completed in 1913,...

, the City Hall

San Francisco City Hall

San Francisco City Hall, re-opened in 1915, in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the 1880s to 1917. The structure's dome is the fifth largest in the world...

complex in San Francisco, and much of Stanford University, for the actual construction of Stanford Memorial Church.

Jane Stanford's taste and knowledge of both contemporary and classical art is evident in several aspects of the plan, appearance, and architecture of the church, which "dazzle the eye yet also produce an atmosphere of quiet contemplation". On her direction, Coolidge imitated the "glorious color" of the European cathedrals, especially those in Italy. Although the iconography

Iconography

Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...

in the church is Christian, Stanford was a "late Victorian progressive", and chose the art less for its religious themes and more for its "humanitarian ethics". She requested that the designs include women, "to show the uplifting influence of religion for women"; there are many women depicted in the 24 mosaics throughout the church. Art historian Judy Oberhausen reports that Stanford used compendium

Compendium

A compendium is a concise, yet comprehensive compilation of a body of knowledge. A compendium may summarize a larger work. In most cases the body of knowledge will concern some delimited field of human interest or endeavour , while a "universal" encyclopedia can be referred to as a compendium of...

of biblical illustrations like The Story of the Bible by Charles Foster, which contained 300 illustrations and summarized the events and stories she wished to depict in the church's windows and mosaics.

Jane Stanford's design included inspirational messages placed throughout the church in the form of inscriptions carved into its walls and enclosed in carved frameworks. As Barbara Palmer of the Stanford Report stated, Stanford "had her religious beliefs literally carved into the church's sandstone walls". For example, the following quotations can be found in the church's east transept:For a complete list of the inscriptions, see Hall pp. 39–45.

Religion is intended as a comfort, a solace, a necessity to the soul's welfare; and whichever form of religion furnishes the greatest comfort, the greatest solace, it is the form which should be adopted be its name what it will.

The best form of religion is trust in God, and a firm belief in the immortality of the soul, life everlasting.

Plan

The church is a cruciform

Cruciform

Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.- Cruciform architectural plan :This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross,...

structure measuring 190 feet (57.9 m) long and 150 feet (45.7 m) wide, which originally included the clock and bell tower with an 80-foot (24 m) spire. The facade

Facade

A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....

faces the Inner Quad, and is connected to other buildings by arcades

Arcade (architecture)

An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....

which extend laterally. The entry is through a narthex

Narthex

The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...

or vestibule extending across the building. The nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

has a single aisle on either side, separated by an arcade with a clerestory

Clerestory

Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...

above it. The crossing is formed by a structure of square plan which once supported the central tower. Over it is a shallow dome supported on pendentives

Pendentive

and rising to a skylit oculus. High semicircular Romanesque arches separate the crossing from the nave, transepts

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

and chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

. The chancel and transepts are apsidal

Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

. There are deep galleries with concave balustraded

Baluster

A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...

fronts in the transepts and an organ gallery above the narthex. The sanctuary, in the chancel, is elevated and approached by steps.

Exterior

The chief building material of the church is buff sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

, which came from the Goodrich quarry in San Jose

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

, was delivered by train and rough-cut in the university Quad. It is roofed with terracotta tiles of the Italian imbrex and tegula

Imbrex and tegula

The imbrex and tegula were overlapping roof tiles used in ancient Greek and Roman architecture as a waterproof and durable roof covering. They were made predominantly of fired clay, but also sometimes of marble, bronze or gilt...

form. The nave, chancel and transepts appear to project from the robust square central structure which is now roofed with tiles and has a small skylight above its centre.

The ornate facade

Facade

A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....

is divided into two zones with a gable roof of low pitch surmounted by a Celtic cross

Celtic cross

A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated...

. In the lower zone, there are three arched entrances; the central one is slightly larger than the others. The surrounding stonework is intricately carved with stylized flora, twisted-cable moldings, and bosses of sculpted cherubim, a motif which occurs in different media throughout the church. In the spandrels are mosaic depictions of the biblical concepts of love, faith, hope and charity intertwined in a vine representing the "tree of life

Tree of life

The concept of a tree of life, a many-branched tree illustrating the idea that all life on earth is related, has been used in science , religion, philosophy, mythology, and other areas...

".Love is represented by a mother with wings encircling children.

In the upper zone of the facade, surrounded by more elaborate stonework, is a large central window, with groups of three smaller windows on each side. The original central window was a quatrefoil-shaped rose window

Rose window

, but after the 1906 earthquake, it was replaced by a "classical round-head window that more grandly restates the smaller flanking, articulated openings" and that corresponded with the mission-style architecture

Mission Revival Style architecture

The Mission Revival Style was an architectural movement that began in the late 19th century for a colonial style's revivalism and reinterpretation, which drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century Spanish missions in California....

of the Quad. Beneath the windows are inlaid panels of colored marble.

The gable and surrounding surfaces contain the church's largest mosaic, created by Paoletti, and recreated by him after the 1906 earthquake. Measuring 84 feet (25.6 m) wide at the base and 30 feet (9.1 m) in height, at the time of its completion, it was the largest mosaic in the U.S. It depicts a group of men, women and children, 47 in all, surrounding and "paying close heed" to Christ, the mosaic's central figure. Paoletti included a landscape with "waving palms and a gleaming sky" behind Christ.

After Jane Stanford's death, the mosaic popularly gained the name "The Sermon on the Mount", although Stanford University historian Richard Joncas insists that the mosaic does not depict the scene as described in the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

and has referred to it simply as "an indefinite biblical scene". In the Stanford University press release about the gift of watercolor cartoons for the church's mosaics, Paoletti's design for the facade is described as "Christ Welcoming the Righteous into the Kingdom of God", based on Matthew 25:34. Paoletti created another unfinished watercolor depicting "The Last Judgment", as another option for the facade mosaic, but it was evidently rejected by Stanford.

Interior

Jane Stanford has been described as having a "Victorian aversion to blank space" and so created a church that is "a dimly lit cavern of glowing mosaic surfaces ... and vibrant, stained-glass windows". The church is richly decorated throughout, its architectural features carved with formalized foliate ornament, and the walls adorned with mosaics in the Byzantine manner. The stained-glass windows were crafted by J. and R. Lamb

J&R Lamb Studios

J&R Lamb Studios, America's oldest continuously-run decorative arts company, is famous as a stained glass maker, preceding the studios of both John LaFarge and Louis C. Tiffany..- History :...

of New York. The chandeliers, installed in 1915, are in the Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

tradition and have gold decorative patterns cast in pot metal

Pot metal

Pot metal, also known as monkey metal, white metal or die-cast zinc, is a slang term that refers to alloys that consist of inexpensive, low-melting point metals used to make fast, inexpensive castings....

.

The church is entered through three bronze doors adorned with angels, a recurring motif throughout the church. The doors open up into a narthex

Narthex

or vestibule

Vestibule (architecture)

A vestibule is a lobby, entrance hall, or passage between the entrance and the interior of a building.The same term can apply to structures in modern or ancient roman architecture. In modern architecture vestibule typically refers to a small room or hall between an entrance and the interior of...

decorated with mosaics on the walls and stone carvings on the architectural details. There is a variety of styles and motifs reflecting the hands of different craftsmen. The mosaic that adorns the floor depicts the Lamb of God

Lamb of God

The title Lamb of God appears in the Gospel of John, with the exclamation of John the Baptist: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" in John 1:29 when he sees Jesus....

surrounded by the symbols of the four gospel writers

Four Evangelists

In Christian tradition the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles:*Gospel according to Matthew*Gospel according to Mark...

: St. Matthew

Matthew the Evangelist

Matthew the Evangelist was, according to the Bible, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the four Evangelists.-Identity:...

(the winged angel), St. Mark

Mark the Evangelist

Mark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main sees of Christianity....

(the winged lion), St. Luke

Luke the Evangelist

Luke the Evangelist was an Early Christian writer whom Church Fathers such as Jerome and Eusebius said was the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles...

(the ox), and St. John

John the Apostle

John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...

(the eagle). These symbols also appear in other areas of the church. A Celtic cross adorns the central wooden door that leads into the nave, and Latin epigraphs have been engraved above the two side doors.

Above the narthex

Narthex

is an organ gallery. The nave is arcaded

Arcade (architecture)

and has a single aisle on each side with clerestory windows above. The exposed timber ceiling was inspired by Trinity Church and is constructed with tied hammer beams, which can be seen radiating in the chancel. The floor of the church slopes downward towards the crossing. The chancel and transepts are three semi-circular apses. They are separated from the broad central space by large semi-circular arches on stout columns with carved capitals. The transept apses each have a balcony with a concave balustrade.

Directly above the crossing is a dome

Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....

supported on pendentives. Around the base of the dome are decorative gilt bands, the lower depicting a scrolling vine. Jane Stanford intended the dome's decoration of to be of mosaic tiles showing a variety of symbols, but the church's builders thought it would make the dome too heavy, so the decorations were painted. On the spandrels of the pendentives are mosaics of four angels measuring 42 feet (12.8 m) from wing tip to wing tip, rising from clouds. The angels survived the 1906 earthquake, but the angel looking downward was severely damaged during the 1989 earthquake because an 8-foot section of its left wing fell 70 feet (21.3 m).

The chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

, according to Hall, contains "artistic work of a kind seldom seen anywhere". The raised tiled floor of the chancel curves outward into the body of the church, and is approached by seven marble steps. The sanctuary

Sanctuary

A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...

is raised further, and enclosed by a marble altar rail behind which is an altar carved from white Carrara marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

by L.M. Avenali. The altar supports a "simple unadorned brass cross that reflects the colors of the mosaics surrounding it." The cross was made by William van Erp and was dedicated to the memory of Jane Stanford in 1948.

Behind the altar is a mosaic reproduction of Roselli's "Last Supper". Around the lower walls of the chancel are twelve niches decorated with golden mosaic tiles. They hold candles, but originally held statues of the twelve apostles, destroyed in 1906 and were never replaced. According to local legend, the cherubim carved in stone above the golden niches and in the pillars' capitals are illustrations of children living on campus at the time of the church's construction. To the west side of the chancel stands brass lectern in the form of a reading angel, which Jane Stanford brought from Europe and dedicated to her husband on the anniversary of his birth in 1902.

Three stained glass windows in the apse depict the nativity

Nativity of Jesus

The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....

, crucifixion

Crucifixion

Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...

, and ascension of Christ. The mosaics between them show angels, those on the left carrying a cross, those on the right carrying a crown. On the longer sections of the chancel wall, on either side of the windows, are mosaics depicting a choir of angels. Above them is a tier of mosaics with representations of the prophets and kings of Israel. Other mosaics abound in the transepts, clerestory, and the choir loft at the northern end of the church. A series of mosaics in the upper transepts depict Old Testament figures on the east side and Christian saints on the west side. On Jane Stanford's direction, they alternate male and female.

The arches, balcony rails, and pillars throughout the church have relief carvings created by a team of 10 men who worked for two years from scaffolding

Scaffolding

Scaffolding is a temporary structure used to support people and material in the construction or repair of buildings and other large structures. It is usually a modular system of metal pipes or tubes, although it can be from other materials...

. A large double pillar before the entrance of the west transept have inscriptions dedicated to members of the Stanford family. After the 1989 earthquake, a third of the west transept was converted into a small chapel. The altar and chairs in this chapel were designed by Bay Area artist Gail Fredell who decorated the chapel's altar by using Salvatti's original mosaics, which had been stored since the church's reconstruction following the 1906 earthquake.

Windows

According to architectural historian Willis L. Hall, the church's 20 large stained glass windows

Stained Glass Windows

"are as much a feature of the church as the mosaics". The windows, designed by Frederick Stymetz Lamb (1863–1928) and fabricated by J&R Lamb Studios

J&R Lamb Studios

J&R Lamb Studios, America's oldest continuously-run decorative arts company, is famous as a stained glass maker, preceding the studios of both John LaFarge and Louis C. Tiffany..- History :...

, his father's firm in New York City, took three years to complete, and eight months to install at Stanford. Jane Stanford hired Lamb because she felt he was more interested in "the ecclesiastical rather than commercial aspect of the work". The installation of the windows at Stanford Memorial Church was the largest enterprise of its kind at the time, and the project is considered one of the best examples of Lamb's work. Stanford chose the life of Christ for the windows' theme, inspired by the religious paintings by European master painters such as Shields

Frederic Shields

Frederic James Shields , was a British artist, illustrator and designer closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites through Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown.-Early years:...

and Doré

Gustave Doré

Paul Gustave Doré was a French artist, engraver, illustrator and sculptor. Doré worked primarily with wood engraving and steel engraving.-Biography:...

. Her personal touch is shown in one of the nave

Nave

windows, which is based on a cartoon by Paoletti and depicts Christ welcoming the soul of a child into Heaven before the eyes of its grieving mother, an allusion to the death of Leland Stanford, Jr.

Leland Stanford, Jr.

, the Stanfords' only child and the university's namesake, who died in 1884 of typhoid shortly before his 16th birthday.

Oberhausen, who has studied the source of the mosaics and windows, states that at least four stained glass windows were inspired by the paintings of Pre-Raphaelite artists that were enjoying a resurgence in popularity at the time. These windows are: "Christ in the Temple" in the east transept, based upon a painting by William Holman Hunt

William Holman Hunt

William Holman Hunt OM was an English painter, and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Biography:...

; "The Annunciation" in the east nave, inspired by a work by Frederic Shields

Frederic Shields

Frederic James Shields , was a British artist, illustrator and designer closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites through Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown.-Early years:...

; "The Nativity" in the chancel, based upon a painting by Edward Fellowes-Prynne; and "The Good Shepherd" in the west transept, inspired by a painting by Sibyl C. Parker, the only female artist represented in the artwork of the church. None of the windows of Stanford Memorial Church required replacement after the 1906 quake, except for "the famous rose window of the original structure" in the organ loft which was replaced by the current large, central arch window. This window, entitled "Lilies of the Field", is the only window in the church that cannot be viewed from the inside because it is blocked off by the central organ. There is a cross in the center of this window made of "faceted pieces of glass that are inset like gems", which sparkle when light strikes it.

The church's clerestory contains many smaller windows of individuals from the Bible or Christian history. The windows in the nave above the east arcade depict the following Old Testament figures: Abraham

Abraham

Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...

, Hagar

Hagar (Bible)

Hagar , according to the Abrahamic faiths, was the second wife of Abraham, and the mother of his first son, Ishmael. Her story is recorded in the Book of Genesis, mentioned in Hadith, and alluded to in the Qur'an...

and her child Ishmael

Ishmael

Ishmael is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first born child according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar...

, Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

, Pharaoh's Daughter

Bithiah

According to Hebrew beliefs; Bithiah or in Modern Hebrew Bityah was an Egyptian princess, and a daughter of Pharaoh. The name of her father is not in the Bible, but Rabbinic Midrash makes her the daughter of one of the Pharaohs of the Exodus,...

, Joshua

Joshua

Joshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua...

, and Deborah

Deborah

Deborah was a prophetess of Yahweh the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5....

. The windows in the east transept depict David

David

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

, Ruth

Book of Ruth

The Book of Ruth is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament. In the Jewish canon the Book of Ruth is included in the third division, or the Writings . In the Christian canon the Book of Ruth is placed between Judges and 1 Samuel...

, Solomon

Solomon

Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...

, The Queen of Sheba, Elijah, Esther

Esther

Esther , born Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Biblical Book of Esther.According to the Bible, she was a Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus...

, Isaiah

Isaiah

Isaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus...

, Judith, Daniel

Daniel

Daniel is the protagonist in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew Bible. In the narrative, when Daniel was a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity where he was educated in Chaldean thought. However, he never converted to Neo-Babylonian ways...

, and Hannah

Hannah (Bible)

Hannah is the wife of Elkanah mentioned in the Books of Samuel. According to the Hebrew Bible she was the mother of Samuel...

. In the nave above the west arcade feature saints and virtues: Stephen

Saint Stephen

Saint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....

, Agnes, Peter

Saint Peter

Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

, Priscilla, John

John the Apostle

, and Hope

Hope

Hope is the emotional state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. It is the "feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" or the act of "look[ing] forward to with desire and reasonable confidence" or...

. In the west transept are Simeon

Simeon the Righteous

Simeon is the "just and devout" man of Jerusalem who, according to , met the Virgin Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as they entered the Temple to fulfill the requirements of the Law of Moses on the 40th day from Jesus' birth.According to the Biblical account,...

, Anne

Saint Anne

Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...

, Matthew

Matthew the Evangelist

Matthew the Evangelist was, according to the Bible, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the four Evangelists.-Identity:...

, Faith

Faith

Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...

, Mark

Mark the Evangelist

, Charity

Charity (virtue)

In Christian theology charity, or love , means an unlimited loving-kindness toward all others.The term should not be confused with the more restricted modern use of the word charity to mean benevolent giving.- Caritas: altruistic love :...

, Luke

Luke the Evangelist

Luke the Evangelist was an Early Christian writer whom Church Fathers such as Jerome and Eusebius said was the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles...

, Dorcas

Dorcas

Dorcas was a disciple who lived in Joppa, referenced in the Book of Acts of the Bible. Acts recounts that when she died, she was mourned by "all the widows ... crying and showing the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them."...

, Paul, and Martha

Martha

Martha of Bethany is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem...

. The clerestory above the east and west doors are two windows of angels. Unlike the other windows throughout the church, they do not receive natural light from outside and are artificially illuminated instead.

East Nave

Title	Inspired by
"The Annunciation Annunciation The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her... "	Frederic Shields Frederic Shields Frederic James Shields , was a British artist, illustrator and designer closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites through Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown.-Early years:...
"The flight into Egypt Flight into Egypt The flight into Egypt is a biblical event described in the Gospel of Matthew , in which Joseph fled to Egypt with his wife Mary and infant son Jesus after a visit by Magi because they learn that King Herod intends to kill the infants of that area... "	Bernhard Plockhorst Bernhard Plockhorst Bernhard Plockhorst was a German painter and graphic artist. In Germany, Plockhorst is only known to experts today, whereas his pictures are still very popular in the United States and their reproductions can be found in many American homes and churches.- Life :Plockhorst was born in Brunswick,...
"The Home at Nazareth Nazareth Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel... "	Heinrich Hofmann Heinrich Hofmann Johann Michael Ferdinand Heinrich Hofmann was a German painter of the late 19th to early 20th century. He was the uncle of the German painter Ludwig von Hofmann. He was born in Darmstadt, Germany and died in Dresden, Germany...

West Nave

Title	Inspired by
"The Dream of Pilate's Wife Pontius Pilate's wife Pontius Pilate's wife is unnamed in the New Testament, where she appears a single time in the Gospel of Matthew. Alternate Christian traditions have referred to her as Saint Procula or Saint Claudia, and the combinations Claudia Procles and Claudia Procula have been used... "	Doré
"The Angel at the Tomb"Lamb created "subtle shadows" in the angel's robe by using layers of colored glass and white glass. He also created a luminescent effect by setting the angel against a dark background.	Axel Ender
"Lo, I Am with You Always"	designed by Antonio Paoletti

East transeptThe best time to view these windows is in the early morning.

Title	Inspired by
"The Child Jesus in the Temple" Finding in the Temple The Finding in the Temple, also called "Christ among the Doctors" or the Disputation , was an episode in the early life of Jesus depicted in the Gospel of Luke. It is the only event of the later childhood of Jesus mentioned in a gospel.The episode is only described in...	"The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple is a painting by William Holman Hunt intended as an ethnographically accurate version of the subject traditionally known as "Christ Among the Doctors", an illustration of the child Jesus debating the interpretation of the scripture with learned rabbis... " by William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt OM was an English painter, and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Biography:...
"The Baptism of Christ"	Gustave Doré Gustave Doré Paul Gustave Doré was a French artist, engraver, illustrator and sculptor. Doré worked primarily with wood engraving and steel engraving.-Biography:...
"The Sermon on the Mount Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew... "	Hofmann
"Christ Calming the Tempest"	Anton Dietrich Anton Dietrich Anton Dietrich was a German painter. At 14, Dietrich came to the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, where he was student of sculptors, including Ernst Julius Hähnel...
"The Raising of Jairus' Daughter Daughter of Jairus The record of the daughter of Jairus is a combination of miracles of Jesus in the Gospels .The story immediately follows the exorcism at Gerasa. Jairus, a patron of the synagogue, asks Jesus to heal his dying daughter. However, according to Matthew, his daughter is already dead, not dying... "	Hofmann

West Transept

Title	Inspired by
"The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes" Feeding the multitude Feeding the multitude is the combined term used to refer to two separate miracles of Jesus in the Gospels.The First Miracle, "The Feeding of the 5,000" is the only miracle which is present in all four canonical Gospels...	"Pan y Peces" by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Bartolomé Estéban Murillo Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children...
"Christ and the Adulteress" Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery is a small panel painting in grisaille by the Netherlandish Renaissance printmaker and painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder...	Hofmann
"The Good Shepherd Good Shepherd Good Shepherd may refer to:In Christianity:* The Good Shepherd , pericope found in John 10:1-21, and a popular image in which the Good Shepherd represents Jesus... "	"The Door of the Fold" by Sibyl C. Parker
"Christ in the Home at Bethany"	Hofmann
"Christ in Gethsemane" Agony in the Garden The Agony in the Garden refers to the events in the life of Jesus between the Last Supper and Jesus' arrest. Jesus' struggle praying and discussing with God, before accepting his sacrifice, before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane also denotes a state of mind - agony.-Scriptural...	Hofmann

Chancel

Title	Inspired by
"The Nativity"	Edward Fellowes-Prynne
"The Crucifixion"	Ernst Deger Ernst Deger Ernst Deger was a 19th century German religious artist.*...
The Ascension	Johann Karl Loth ("Carlotto")Carlotto's painting was in turn probably inspired by Raphael's painting Transfiguration (Raphael) The Transfiguration is considered the last painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raphael. It was left unfinished by Raphael, and is believed to have been completed by his pupil, Giulio Romano, shortly after Raphael's death in 1520... of the Transfiguration of Christ.

Mosaics

The mosaic project began in 1900 and took five years to complete. Jane Stanford chose mosaics to decorate her church because of the similar weather in Italy and Northern California, where the moderate climates and rainy seasons in both settings protect the images from erosion and clear the pollution that accumulates on many buildings in large cities. As Hall states, the "mosaics on the facade are always clear and brilliant." Their "shimmering quality" was created by different tones of green and gold; the artists that installed the mosaics had over 20,000 shades of colors to choose from. The images cost US$97,000,This figure is the equivalent of almost US$2 million in 2002. and were based upon original watercolors created by artist Antonio Paoletti.Salviati & Company also designed and built eight large mosaics in Stanford's museum

Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts

The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, formerly the Stanford University Museum of Art, and commonly known as the Cantor Arts Center, is an art museum on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. The museum, which opened in 1894, consists of over...

and decorated the vestibuile of the university's mausoleum

Stanford Mausoleum

The Stanford Mausoleum, located in the northwest of the Stanford University campus in the Stanford University Arboretum, holds the remains of the university's namesake Leland Stanford, Jr...

. Jane Stanford worked closely with Paoletti, planning a combination of Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

and New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

scenes that represented men and women equally. After Stanford approved Paoletti's designs, full-sized images were created as patterns, and then divided into two-foot-square sections, which were made into glass by other artists. The mosaics were made in Venice, shipped by boat in pieces to New York and then by railroad to California, where they were placed on the church's walls.After the mosaics were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, they were able to be recreated because the original designs had been stored in the Salviati & Company studios.

The mosaic adorning the church's chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

is a reproduction of Roselli's fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

of the Last Supper

Last Supper

The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...

from the Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio...

in the Vatican

Apostolic Palace

The Apostolic Palace is the official residence of the Pope, which is located in Vatican City. It is also known as the Sacred Palace, the Papal Palace and the Palace of the Vatican...

. Camerino obtained permission from Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...

to reproduce it at Stanford Memorial Church. Unlike other works, which were reproduced frequently, it was the only reproduction of Roselli's fresco at the time. Artisan Lorenzo Zampato was given the task of supervising the in-studio fabrication and final installation at Stanford. There are 12 mosaics in each transept balcony that are split into two sets of six, creating an arc of six mosaics, ten windows, and six mosaics. Most of the church's mosaics were made from 1/8-inch tiles; larger 3/4-inch tiles were used on the higher mosaics, and smaller 1/4-inch tiles were used in "The Last Supper" mosaic. Mosaics are "virtually everywhere" inside the church and have been described as "a perfect complement to Frederick Lamb's stained-glass windows".List taken from Hall, pp. 31–33

Title(s)	Location
"Christ Welcoming the Righteous into the Kingdom of God"Commonly known as "The Sermon on the Mount"	Outside facade
Love, Faith, Hope, and Charity mosaics	Below facade, between windows
Monogram medallionsForms the Greek letters alpha and omega and Christ's initials (Chi Rho Chi Rho The Chi Rho is one of the earliest forms of christogram, and is used by Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters chi and rho of the Greek word "ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ" =Christ in such a way to produce the monogram ☧... ).	Vestibule
Two cherub groupsCherubs holding tablets with the inscriptions, Domus Dei Locus Orations ("The House of God, the place of prayer") and Domus Dei Aula Coeli ("The House of God, the forecourt of heaven").	In the frieze over the doors from the vestibule to the nave
"Our Lord on His Throne Surrounded by the Four Evangelists Four Evangelists In Christian tradition the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles:Gospel according to MatthewGospel according to Mark... , Apostles Apostle (Christian) The term apostle is derived from Classical Greek ἀπόστολος , meaning one who is sent away, from στέλλω + από . The literal meaning in English is therefore an "emissary", from the Latin mitto + ex... , Kings and Friends"	Under the organ loft and over the doors
"The Prayer of Hannah Hannah (Bible) Hannah is the wife of Elkanah mentioned in the Books of Samuel. According to the Hebrew Bible she was the mother of Samuel... ", "Ahasuerus Ahasuerus Ahasuerus is a name used several times in the Hebrew Bible, as well as related legends and Apocrypha. This name is applied in the Hebrew Scriptures to three rulers... Selects Esther Esther Esther , born Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Biblical Book of Esther.According to the Bible, she was a Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus... to be his Queen", "The Judgment of Solomon Judgment of Solomon The Judgment of Solomon refers to a story from the Hebrew Bible in which King Solomon of Israel ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child. It has become a metaphor referring to a wise judge who uses a stratagem to determine the truth, tricking the parties into revealing... ", "Saul Saul -People:Saul is a given/first name in English, the Anglicized form of the Hebrew name Shaul from the Hebrew Bible:* Saul , including people with this given namein the Bible:* Saul , a king of Edom... Casts His Spear at David David David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary... ", "God's Promise to Solomon when Building the Temple Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, was the main temple in ancient Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount , before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE.... "	East Nave, under the arches of the east wall
"The Garden of Eden The Garden of Eden The Garden of Eden is the second posthumously released novel of Ernest Hemingway, published in 1986. Begun in 1946, Hemingway worked on the manuscript for the next 15 years, during which time he also wrote The Old Man and the Sea, The Dangerous Summer, A Moveable Feast, and Islands in the... "This mosaic measures 12 feet (3.7 m) by 15 feet (4.6 m).	East door, near the pilaster
"God Separating Light from Darkness", "Driven From Eden", "The Deluge", "The Tower of Babel Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel , according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built in the plain of Shinar .According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where... ", "Moses Moses Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed... Saved From the Water"	East clerestory over the arches
"Noah is Ordered to Build the Ark" Noah's Ark Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the... , "Abraham Abraham Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam... is Informed He Will Have a Son" Isaac Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites... , "Angel Gabriel Gabriel In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an Archangel who typically serves as a messenger to humans from God.He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke Gabriel foretells the births of both John the Baptist and of Jesus... Announces to Zacharias Zechariah (priest) In the Bible, Zechariah , is the father of John the Baptist, a priest of the sons of Aaron, a prophet in , and the husband of Elisabeth who is the cousin of Mary the mother of Jesus.In the Qur'an, Zechariah plays a similar role as the father of John the Baptist and ranks him as a prophet alongside... the Conception of John the Baptist John the Baptist John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River... ", "Abraham Sees the Promised Land Promised land The Promised Land is a term used to describe the land promised or given by God, according to the Hebrew Bible, to the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob. The promise is firstly made to Abraham and then renewed to his son Isaac, and to Isaac's son Jacob , Abraham's grandson... ", "Daniel's Daniel Daniel is the protagonist in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew Bible. In the narrative, when Daniel was a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity where he was educated in Chaldean thought. However, he never converted to Neo-Babylonian ways... Prophecy"	East clerestory between the windows
"Last Supper Last Supper The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is... ", "Seraph Choir"Also called "The Glory of the Angels".	The wall of the chancel
"John the Baptist John the Baptist John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River... ", "Ezekiel Ezekiel Ezekiel , "God will strengthen" , is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet... ", "Samuel", "Jeremiah Jeremiah Jeremiah Hebrew：יִרְמְיָה , Modern Hebrew:Yirməyāhū, IPA: jirməˈjaːhu, Tiberian:Yirmĭyahu, Greek:Ἰερεμίας), meaning "Yahweh exalts", or called the "Weeping prophet" was one of the main prophets of the Hebrew Bible... "	Above the east apse
"David David David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary... ", "Elijah", "Moses Moses Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed... ", "Isaiah Isaiah Isaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus... "	Above the west apse
The four archangels emerging from clouds.The ceiling of the dome is decorated in mosaic, a notable feature being a frieze Frieze thumb\|267px\|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon... containing a large number of medallions.	Over the four pilasters supporting the dome
Spandrels decorated in mosaic	Dome ceiling
Child's faceThis is the hidden mosaic in the church, and one of two mosaics to survive the 1906 earthquake.	Triangular area in front of dome
"Rebekah and Isaac Isaac Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites... ", "Rachel Rachel Rachel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, is a prophet and the favorite wife of Jacob, one of the three Biblical Patriarchs, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She was the daughter of Laban and the younger sister of Leah, Jacob's first wife... Sees Jacob Jacob Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the... Approaching", "The Lord Speaks to Moses from the Burning Bush Burning bush The burning bush is an object described by the Book of Exodus as being located on Mount Sinai; according to the narrative, the bush was on fire, but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name... ", "Moses is Ordered to take Israel out of Egypt The Exodus The Exodus is the story of the departure of the Israelites from ancient Egypt described in the Hebrew Bible.Narrowly defined, the term refers only to the departure from Egypt described in the Book of Exodus; more widely, it takes in the subsequent law-givings and wanderings in the wilderness... ", "Joshua Joshua Joshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua... finds a Captain for His Hosts"	Starting at the church entrance, the west wall of the nave, under the arches
"Old Testament Prophecies Concerning the Coming of Christ"	Over the west door, near the pilaster
"Moses Receiving the Tablets of the Law Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,... ", "Joshua Joshua Joshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua... Successor of Moses", "David Anointed for the First Time", "Meeting of David and Abigail Abigail Abigail was the wife of Nabal; she became a wife of David after Nabal's death .In the passage, Nabal demonstrates ingratitude towards David, and Abigail attempts to placate David in order to stop him taking revenge... ", "David Singing His Psalms Psalms The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible... "	West clerestory, over the arches
"Joseph Joseph (Hebrew Bible) Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.... Sold by His Brothers", "Jacob Jacob Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the... Going to Canaan Canaan Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan... ", "Isaac Isaac Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites... Blessing Jacob", "Dream of Jacob", "Abraham Restrained From offering up Isaac Binding of Isaac The Binding of Isaac Akedah or Akeidat Yitzchak in Hebrew and Dhabih in Arabic, is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah... "	West clerestory between windows
"Noah Noah Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark... ", "Noah's Wife", "Isaac", "Rebecca", "Jacob", "Rachel", "Tobias Book of Tobit The Book of Tobit is a book of scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon, pronounced canonical by the Council of Carthage of 397 and confirmed for Roman Catholics by the Council of Trent... ", "Sarah Book of Tobit The Book of Tobit is a book of scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon, pronounced canonical by the Council of Carthage of 397 and confirmed for Roman Catholics by the Council of Trent... (Tobias's wife)", "Nathan Nathan (Prophet) Nathan the Prophet was a court prophet who lived in the time of King David and Queen Bathsheba. He came to David to reprimand him over his committing adultery with Bathsheba while she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite whose death the King had also arranged to hide his previous transgression.His... ", "Deborah Deborah Deborah was a prophetess of Yahweh the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5.... ", "Aaron Aaron In the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites... ", "Naomi Naomi (Bible) Naomi is Ruth's mother-in-law in the Old Testament Book of Ruth... "The lunettes over the doors are decorated with cherub singers and the remainder of the wall has tapestry mosaic work in a variety of colors.	East Transept Gallery wall
"St. Helena Helena of Constantinople Saint Helena also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople was the consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I... ", "St. James James the Just James , first Bishop of Jerusalem, who died in 62 AD, was an important figure in Early Christianity... ", St. Margaret Margaret the Virgin Margaret the Virgin, also known as Margaret of Antioch , virgin and martyr, is celebrated as a saint by the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches on July 20; and on July 17 in the Orthodox Church. Her historical existence has been questioned; she was declared apocryphal by Pope Gelasius I in 494,... ", "St. Andrew Saint Andrew Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him... ", "St. Philemon", "St. Thaddeus", "St. Elizabeth Elizabeth (Biblical person) Elizabeth is also spelled Elisabeth or Elisheva... ", "St. Bartholomew", "St. Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses... ", "St. Barnabas", "St. Gertrude Gertrude of Nivelles Saint Gertrude of Nivelles was abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Nivelles, in present-day Belgium.She was a daughter of Pepin I of Landen and Saint Itta, and a younger sister of Saint Begga, Abbess of Andenne, Saint Bavo and Grimoald I.One day, when she was about ten years of age, her father... ", "St. Philip Philip the Apostle Philip the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle who preached in Greece, Syria, and Phrygia.... "The lunettes of the doorways and the walls are decorated with tapestry mosaic work.	West Transept Gallery wall

Organs

Stanford Memorial Church houses four organs

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

, a "situation only a few places in the nation can boast", since most churches only have one. The presence of multiple and high-quality organs makes Stanford an ideal location for accomplished musicians, and the sanctuary one of California's best settings for instrumental and choral performance. The organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

is Robert Huw Morgan

Robert Huw Morgan

.

Stanford Memorial Church's original organ is still in use. It was built by Murray M. Harris

Murray M. Harris

Murray M. Harris is considered to be the "Father of Organ Building in the American West", and is remembered for building pipe organs of exceptional beauty and quality.-Background:...

in 1901 and sits in the upstairs galley. In 1915, an echo division with eight ranks of pipes

Organ pipe

An organ pipe is a sound-producing element of the pipe organ that resonates at a specific pitch when pressurized air is driven through it. Each pipe is tuned to a specific note of the musical scale...

was added. Damaged in the 1906 earthquake, the organ was rebuilt in 1925, enlarged in 1933, and thoroughly restored in 1996. It features three manuals

Manual (music)

A manual is a keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays...

(keyboards for the hands), 57 stops, and over 3,700 pipes. Morgan compares the Murray-Harris organ to a "Rolls Royce

Rolls-Royce (car)

This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...

" and its successor, the Fisk-Nanney organ to a "Maserati

Maserati

Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...

".

The largest organ is the Fisk-Nanney organ, built in 1985 by the C. B. Fisk company and described by Morgan as "a desperately famous instrument". It is named after its designer, Charles Fisk, and for Herbert Nanney, who was the church's organist for 39 years. The Fisk-Nanney organ was commissioned in 1973, when the church received a special endowment. Its completion was delayed for over 25 years due to logistical and financial problems. In order to accommodate the organ's weight, the choir loft had to be rebuilt and reinforced.
The Fisk-Nanney is a four-manual instrument with 73 ranks and almost 4,500 pipes composed of various alloys of tin and lead. It uses a "combination of elements from historic East German, North German, and French organs plus dual temperaments

Musical temperament

In musical tuning, a temperament is a system of tuning which slightly compromises the pure intervals of just intonation in order to meet other requirements of the system. Most instruments in modern Western music are tuned in the equal temperament system...

", and is the only organ in the church capable of authentically reproducing nearly all organ music written from the 16th through the 18th centuries. The organ features both French- and German-style reeds

Reed pipe

A reed pipe is an organ pipe that is sounded by a vibrating brass strip known as a reed. Air under pressure is directed towards the reed, which vibrates at a specific pitch. This is in contrast to flue pipes, which contain no moving parts and produce sound solely through the vibration of air...

and principal choruses

Flue pipe

A flue pipe is an organ pipe that produces sound through the vibration of air molecules, in the same manner as a recorder or a whistle. Air under pressure is driven down a flue and against a sharp lip called a Labium, causing the column of air in the pipe to resonate at a frequency determined by...

. It is equipped with a Brustpositiv division in meantone temperament

Meantone temperament

Meantone temperament is a musical temperament, which is a system of musical tuning. In general, a meantone is constructed the same way as Pythagorean tuning, as a stack of perfect fifths, but in meantone, each fifth is narrow compared to the ratio 27/12:1 in 12 equal temperament, the opposite of...

that offers two split keys per octave (D-sharp/E-flat and G-sharp/A-flat). A lever allows the remaining divisions to alternate between well temperament

Well temperament

Well temperament is a type of tempered tuning described in 20th-century music theory. The term is modelled on the German word wohltemperiert which appears in the title of J.S. Bach's famous composition, The Well-Tempered Clavier...

and meantone temperament, a feature made possible by the inclusion of five extra pipes (two for each sharp key) per octave

Octave

In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

. The organ's case is made of poplar

Poplar

Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....

and the keyboards are fashioned from grenadilla. The naturals and sharps

Sharp (music)

In music, sharp, dièse , or diesis means higher in pitch and the sharp symbol raises a note by a half tone. Intonation may be flat, sharp, or both, successively or simultaneously...

are rosewood

Rosewood

Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for guitars, marimbas, turnery , handles, furniture, luxury flooring, etc.In general,...

capped with bone.

Morgan describes the organ as ringing with "'incredible clarity' and 'dark color'". It is able to "reproduce the sound of Baroque music as authentically as possible". In 2005 Morgan performed the complete organ works of Dieterich Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and in church services...

during a series of recitals, eight hours in all, to celebrate the organ's 20th anniversary. During the 2009–2010 season, Morgan commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Fisk-Nanney organ and his 10th year at Stanford in a concert series of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

, which took 18 hours to complete.

The side chapel houses the Katherine Potter-Brinegar organ, a one-manual Renaissance-style instrument built by Paul Fritts

Paul Fritts

Paul Fritts an American organ builder based in Tacoma, Washington who, following historical models, has created over twenty mechanical action instruments that have contributed to the revival of historically informed organ music. The Fritts organ at St. Joseph Cathedral in Columbus, Ohio is his...

and modeled after the work of the 17th-century German organbuilder Esias Compenius. Built in 1995, it "further enhances" the diversity of the church's musical capacity. It has eight stops

Organ stop

An organ stop is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; some can be "on" , while others can be "off" .The term can also refer...

, of which three are reeds. The majority of its pipework is made of wood. The organ can be moved easily to different locations in the building with the aid of hidden retractable wheels.

The continuo organ built by Martin Pasi

Pasi Organ Builders

Pasi Organ Builders, based in Roy, WA, manufactures mechanical action organs and restores historic instruments. Martin Pasi received his first formal experience in organ building during a four year apprenticeship with the Rieger Company in his native Austria...

of Roy, Washington

Roy, Washington

Roy is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 793 at the 2010 census.-History:Roy was officially incorporated on January 16, 1908. It is a rural city outside Tacoma and primarily features ranch-style homes and farms. Roy was one of the early communities in the area,...

was acquired in June 2001. It contains three stops. The case and most of its pipes are made of walnut

Walnut

Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...

, and the keys are made of English boxwood and ebony

Ebony

Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but ebony may also refer to other heavy, black woods from unrelated species. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. Its fine texture, and very smooth finish when polished, make it valuable as an...

Services and facilities

Although the Stanfords were religious and viewed "spiritual and moral values as essential to a young person's education and future citizenship", they were not formally committed to any Christian denomination. As a result, Jane Stanford decreed, from the beginning of Stanford Memorial Church's history, that the church be non-denominational. She believed that adopting this philosophy would "serve the broadest spiritual needs of the university community". The church's first chaplain, Charles Gardner, declared on the day of its dedication that the church's goal was to serve the spiritual needs of the university in a non-sectarian way. The Stanfords' goal was that moral instruction would occur at the church, as demonstrated in the inscriptions carved into its walls, which was influenced by the late 19th-century liberal Protestantism they embraced. As former Stanford chaplain Robert C. Gregg states, "The Stanfords sought to protect free intellectual inquiry—in classroom, laboratory, and church—from any interference prompted by the caution or dogmatism of religious authorities".

Stanford Memorial Church was the earliest interdenominational church on the west coast of the U.S. and has remained "among the most prominent". Multi-faith services are held at Stanford Memorial Church, in addition to denominational and non-denominational Christian services. As many as 150 weddings take place in the church each year as well as many memorial services for people affiliated with the university. Members of the university community use it for "quiet, for reflection, and for private devotions". The church also hosts frequent musical performances from Stanford's own choirs and orchestra, as well as visiting groups such as the vocal ensemble Chanticleer

Chanticleer (ensemble)

Based in San Francisco, California, Chanticleer is a full-time classical vocal ensemble in the United States. Over the last three decades, it has developed a major reputation for its interpretations of Renaissance music, but it also performs a wide repertoire of jazz, gospel, and other venturesome...

. Catholic masses are held in the church several times a week. Offertories

Offertory

The Offertory is the portion of a Eucharistic service when bread and wine are brought to the altar. The offertory exists in many liturgical Christian denominations, though the Eucharistic theology varies among celebrations conducted by these denominations....

at the principal Sunday services are donated to local charitable organizations.

External links

Office for Religious Life at Stanford University
Stanford University Memorial Church facebook page
Historic American Buildings Survey

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