The Linehan Chapel at Nazareth College – Pittsford, NY

Exploring inside the Linehan Chapel at Nazareth College in Rochester.

by Chris Clemens

I had the pleasure of being invited to Nazareth College for a round table discussion with spiritual life leaders from area colleges. Getting an opportunity to meet with people from all backgrounds and faith perspectives was an honor all its own. I had never visited the college for the purposes of this blog and our meeting was just 20 feet from the entrance to the chapel. Seeing the inside made perfect sense while I was on campus.

Lynne Boucher, who is the Director of the Center for Spirituality at Nazareth College. She set up an opportunity for me to arrive a bit before our meeting and visit with Ruth Santiago.

Ruth’s formal title for the department is ‘Secretary’ but I’m told that she is truly the heart of the department. With 14 years in her position, Ruth knew the ins and outs of everything in the department. She got me all set up with some reading material about the history of the chapel and showed me around.

The Linehan Chapel At Nazareth College

The Linehan Chapel was built in 1927 and is the artistry of architect Joseph P. Flynn. He designed the chapel to be part of the Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse, though in 2001 it became the Golisano Academic Center.

Since then the Sisters of St. Joseph have built a more modern residence for themselves just off the college’s campus on French Road.

Flynn designed the chapel in an English Tudor Gothic style, a style most noted for the Tudor Arch (or, four centred arch) which provides a really wide sense of space. The 55 foot high arches are flanked with trusses decorated in gold leaf icons at the base. Each of those icons represent a symbol of particular importance for the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Other notable artwork in the chapel was stained glass designed and installed by Pike Stained Glass of Rochester, New York. All but one of the stained glass windows in the chapel depict a female saint, but one. St. Joseph is the one male saint appearing in a window, located above the altar beneath a smaller quatrefoil rose window.

In between windows are raised reliefs of the stations of the cross created by the Meyer Studio out of Munich, Germany.

The Skinner Organ Company built the older pipe organ located in the choir loft. The chapel also has a newer, smaller Wicks Pipe Organ at the altar.

Chapel Use

The Linehan Chapel now serves as a sacred space for the college to host a number of different activities.

There are on average about 35 weddings a year, but the chapel also hosts a Catholic and Protestant masses on Sunday mornings. Those masses are attended by students as well as area neighbors. The college music department takes every opportunity then can to use the space, too. Since portions of the ceiling are lined with cork, the acoustics here help both organs reach their greatest potential.

Possibly the use that is most interesting is the ever growing interest in yoga classes practiced on the altar. The brainchild of Lynne, the yoga classes in the chapel began as a method of not only bettering the physical wellness of students, but incorporating a spiritual teaching. Lynne said the popularity of the classes spread way quicker than she anticipated. Within a few years the college has added upwards of six classes a week, some of them getting upwards of 100 people! Apparently the night time candle lit yoga classes are a favorite of a lot of students and the classes have helped bring a whole new set of students to the Center for Spirituality who may not have sought out the department otherwise.

Golisano Academic Center Building

While it isn’t perfectly a description of the chapel, I should point out that the Golisano Academic Center that houses the chapel also has some pretty incredible architecture.

The oldest of all the buildings on campus has an entranceway that is possibly one of the most recognizable in the town of Pittsford. A local artist, Jon Alexander, created the nine foot statue of St. Joseph which stands among the pillars and ornate carvings surrounding the front doors to the building.

Just inside those front doors is an oak paneled foyer that invites all who enter to continue just a few more steps in to the Linehan Chapel.

While I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to sit amongst such a great group of minds and to have been asked to share the vision for this blog, I am just as grateful for having been given the chance to see the inside of one of the area’s best maintained pieces of sacred architecture. Many thanks to Lynne and Ruth of the Center for Spirituality for the experience!

*This post previously appeared on ExploringTheBurnedOverDistrict.com

Chris Clemens is the Founder/Publisher of Exploring Upstate. From his hometown in Rochester, he spends as much time as possible connecting with the history, culture, and places that make Upstate New York a land of discovery. Follow him on Twitter at @cpclemens