Laying the cornerstone .
the soaring bell tower also resembles a watchtower . Here and there is a parapet — a low wall surrounding a patiolike area — suggesting a military barricade . Some parapets have crenellations , teethlike notches cut into their walls , which represent cannon placements . Look for these notches topping the tower-like flat columns flanking the main entrance .
Also , notice the second-floor dormitory parapet overlooking the parking lot . Through the decades , seminarians no doubt spent many warm evenings here taking a break from battling their studies .
Art Beneath the Feet
While going about everyday business at the seminary , it is easy to overlook the wonder right beneath the feet . For the past 100 years , students , staff , faculty , and visitors have been striding upon some of the most beautiful ornamental tile work in the country .
During the 1920s , Detroit ’ s own Pewabic Studios was perhaps the nation ’ s premier pottery and art tile studio . Pewabic frequently worked with Donaldson & Meier , the seminary ’ s architect , in decorating churches .
No surprise , then , that Bishop Gallagher chose Pewabic , led by founder Mary Chase Stratton , to adorn his new seminary with its custom-made work .
Ms . Stratton chose earth-toned ceramic tiles to line the quadrant hallways . They coordinate easily with the red oak paneling , or wainscoting , along the lower third of the hallway walls . Pewabic ’ s work in the main and college dormitory chapels , though , really stands out .
Ms . Stratton and her designers were master artists , evidenced by the
extravagant flower and nature designs in multiple shades of blues and greens in the sanctuaries of both chapels . Centered within the floor of the main chapel sanctuary is a decorative cross , formed by medallions representing the Holy Trinity and other religious symbols . Tiling in a colorful zigzag pattern forms the boundary of the cross . The design is truly a marvel .
In a 2019 interview for the archdiocese ’ s magazine , Unleash the Gospel , Annie Dennis , education director at Pewabic Pottery , shares a theory about the Sacred Heart installation . Because the browns and reds of the ceramic tiles so resemble the colors of Michigan clay , she believes Stratton used clay from the actual seminary construction site .
Ms . Dennis also settles , at least unofficially , the longstanding issue of whether Sacred Heart or St . Paul Cathedral in Minnesota has the second largest collection of Pewabic ornamentation , after the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington , D . C . Invoicing records in Pewabic ’ s archives are sketchy , she says . But after visiting Sacred Heart and examining its Pewabic collection , “ There is no way that church in Minnesota has more than this .”
Life of Its Own
Throughout his pontificate , Pope John Paul II continually called for a spiritual rebirth of the Church and the world through a “ new evangelization .” Through God ’ s grace , this spirit of renewal certainly took hold at Sacred Heart as the new century drew near .
Beginning in the 1990s and into the 2000s , seminarian and lay student enrollment began a steady and encouraging increase . The rising numbers led to a happy problem for the administrations of rectors Archbishop . Allen Vigneron , Father Steven Boguslawski , OP , Msgr . Jeffrey Monforton , and Msgr . Todd Lajiness . The building and grounds would have to be expanded and improved . Here are just a few upgrades made through the years :
• Adding 29 new rooms to the graduate dormitory , 1997
• Installing a distance-learning suite , lecture hall , and smart technology in the classrooms , 2003-04
• Creating 12 new faculty and staff offices in an unused lower-level quadrant , 2004
• Demolishing a shuttered third-floor dormitory and creating 10 new student rooms , 2010
• Creating a quarter-mile running track that circles the seminary ’ s athletic field , 2014
A building cannot “ learn ,” of course , as architect Brand suggests . But when a structure ’ s caretakers choose to invest treasure and talent to make it a more beautiful and functional place to learn and thrive , it does seem to take on a life of its own .
Fire in the Chapel
We know that God brings about good things through misfortune . The Sacred Heart community experienced the mysterious ways of God on February 12 , 2009 . Two seminarians were making a late-night Holy Hour in the main chapel . They heard a crackling sound and saw an orange glow coming from the ceiling . “ Fire !” “ And so began a night of great tragedy , intense cooperation , and lots of water that will forever be a part of Sacred Heart history ,” relates a 2009 Mosaic article .
The Detroit fire department quickly squelched the fire by pumping thousands of gallons of water into the attic — water that flooded the chapel and rained into the library below . Even worse , smoke from the ceiling had already despoiled every inch of the chapel . But here is the good part . The administration decided to turn
6 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Fall 2023