Last week's cross came from the Saint John's Abbey and University Church bell banner!
In the 1950s, Saint John's Abbey was in the process of determining the future of the Abbey and University: how large should both become, in population and area?
Before any ground was to be broken, Abbot Baldwin Dworschak wished a master plan be developed first. Hungarian-born architect Marcel Breuer was chosen to create such a plan, which was approved in 1953.
Just a few years later, Dworschak commissioned Breuer to draw up final plans for the new Abbey and University church.
It was in 1961 when the new Saint John's Abbey and University Church was completed, with room for 200 monks in choir, 1,650 students in pews, and an additional 400 students in the downstairs chapel.
The Abbey Church is known today internationally and is the centerpiece of Saint John's. But to many of our SOT/Sem students and faculty, the church is simply home – a space to gather and worship, praise and sing.
