Category: Divine Stone

Bishop Horatio Potter (1802-1887) was the Cathedral’s Founder. Additionally he was the sixth Bishop of New York. In 1872 he secured the requisite permissions for the Cathedral. The architect for Bishop Potter’s tomb was Thomas Nash and the sculptor was Isidore Konti. The English Gothic style of the 15th century is apparent. Specifically, studies of the tomb of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey influenced the design.

The sarcophagus, the recumbent figure of the Bishop and the figures of the five ornamental niches of the front are of Indiana limestone. The figures, from left to right are Edward the Confessor, St. Remigius, St. John the Divine, St. Isidore and St. Theodosius. Bishop Horatio Potter’s tomb is located in the Ambulatory between the fourth and fifth great pillars opposite the entrance to St. Saviors Chapel. Its position directly behind the High Altar is that traditionally reserved for the Founder of a cathedral. The Bishop’s remains were transferred here from Poughkeepsie on St. John’s Day in 1921.

Isidore Konti

Isidore Konti (July 9, 1862 – January 11, 1938) was a Vienna born sculptor. He entered the Imperial Academy in Vienna at age 16. In 1886 he won a scholarship to study in Rome for two years. Later upon returning to Austria, Konti worked as an architectural modeler. After moving to America and working on the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, he eventually moved to New York City. In New York he began working as an assistant to fellow Austrian expatriate Karl Bitter. Like many sculptors of that epoch Konti created architectural sculpture. His skills as a modeler kept him in much demand. Accordingly in 1906 The National Academy of Design elected him an Associate member and he became a full Academician in 1909. Konti died in Yonkers, New York.

Another Bishop Potter’s Tomb

In September 1883, his failing health forced Bishop Horatio Potter to ask for an assistant to relieve him of administrative tasks. As a result the Diocesan Convention elected Henry Codman Potter. Henry C. Potter was the nephew of Bishop Horatio Potter and at the time was rector of Grace Church, New York.

After Horatio Potter obtained the charter for the cathedral, nothing more was done until the episcopate of his nephew. When Henry Potter became assistant bishop, he convened the Trustees to address the property issue. Earlier a board of trustees was convened to purchase property below Central Park. Several donors were secured but after the Panic of 1873, they could no longer contribute. This time, in 1887, they chose a site in Morningside Heights, the highest ground in Manhattan. On December 27, 1892 he laid the cornerstone. In the the winter of. 1896-1897 Bishop Henry Potter worked full time raising money for the Cathedral.

This Bishop Potter’s tomb is located in the Chapel of St. James. The tomb is carved from Siena marble. On the tomb is a recumbent figure of the Bishop in Seravezza marble. The finely carved figure was sculpted by Mr. James E. Fraser.

James Earle Fraser

James Earle Fraser (November 4, 1876 – October 11, 1953) was born in Winona, Minnesota. Fraser began carving figures early in life from pieces of limestone scavenged from a stone quarry close to his home. He attended classes at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago In 1890. He also studied at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts and the Academie Julian in Paris in the late 19th century.

His architectural sculpture and monuments adorn many locations in New York and Washington, D.C. As a result Fraser became one of the most prominent American sculptors of the first half of the 20th century. If you check your pocket change, you may be carrying around one of his sculptures. He designed the Indian Head Buffalo nickel.

• Among other sources we relied heavily of various editions of A Guide to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in the city of New York, by Edward Hagman Hall

Tom Fedorek became a docent at the Cathedral in 1984. He knew Alan Bird and several of the cutters and carvers. He is now the Senior Volunteer Guide. His video presentations on the Portal of Paradise are must see and hear. They cover the history of this 12 year endeavor, the design elements and the people who worked on it. Additionally, the biblical connections are defined. Each of the four episodes are important. If you don’t have time at one sitting for them all, please come back. Enjoy Tom Fedorek’s guide to the Portal of Paradise.

Episode 1 – 8 minutes, 12 seconds

Episode 2 – 13 minutes, 53 seconds

Episode 3 – 13 minutes, 39 seconds

Episode 4 – 15 minutes, 58 seconds

In this last video, there isn’t the usual discussion of the base for the final statue, that of John the Baptist. We asked Tom to tell us about the carver of that base and its symbolism. Here is what he told us.

“The base stone was carved by Jean-Claude Marchionni. JC’s work tends to be busier and more roughly textured than Simon’s.

“As for the symbolism, Isaiah writes of the prophet called to announce the coming of the Lord and the deliverance of his people from exile: ‘A voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God’. (Isaiah 40:3) The Gospel writers understood John the Baptist, the immediate forerunner of Jesus, to be his prophet. All four Gospels refer to John as ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness.’ “

I believe we are intended to interpret the ears on the base stone as the world waiting expectantly to at long last hear the voice prophesied by Isaiah

– Tom Fedorek

Lastly, of note is the small dog with the camera around its neck. The dog’s name is Cooper and celebrates both Martha Cooper, a photographer who documented the portal carving project for four years, as well as the thousands of camera-toting tourists who flock to the Cathedral each year. This concludes Tom Fedorek’s Guide to the Portal of Paradise.

• We are indebted to Tom Fedorek for his presentations and his knowledge of the Cathedral, and the overall work of the Department of Education and Visitor Services.
• As well, our gratitude to Ruth Whaley, Manager, Community and Educational Initiatives for the work that they do.

We are saddened to learn of the passing of Mary Bloom, photographer. Mary was a photographer-in-residence at the Cathedral for twenty years. Her many images documented the events and people who came and went during those times. Her time at the Cathedral coincided with the Dean Morton Era stoneyard and of course she photographed that as well.

Nelson Mandela was one of the distinguished people who came to the Cathedral. While she could have photographed him anywhere in that magnificent building, she led him to the stoneyard. There, she placed him by the carving of his likeness. She said she wanted the stone carver to know that Mandela had seen the carving.

Feast of St. Francis, the Annual Blessing of the Animals

For 30 years, on the first Sunday in October, the Cathedral holds the Blessing of the Animals. It was this past Sunday. Mary was one of the c0-founders, an event that Dean Morton brought to life. Most years she organized the procession up the great aisle to the altar in the central crossing.

Additionally, Mary spent many years as the staff photographer for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Along with Robert F. Rodriguez, Martha Cooper and Deborah Doerflien, Mary Bloom – photographer preserved the visual story of the Cathedral and the stoneyard. For this we are grateful.

Mary corresponded with us a month ago saying that she was again starting to scan the images she wanted to share with us. In closing, she said “Sorry for the delay…life gets in the way.”

We hope she is now being greeted by the throngs of animals she adored.

Photojournalist Robert F. Rodriguez chronicled the Dean Morton Era stoneyard almost from its beginning. He has been in the process of digitizing thousands of his images. As he began digitizing this latest batch, he was struck with the fact that they were images he took forty years ago. Today, Robert sent them to us and we are grateful.

Robert’s images here capture a day in the life of the stoneyard. Everyone busy, active, producing stones for the Southwest Tower. We see large quarry blocks that have arrived and soon to be marked for sawing.

As he saw these images after all this time, he thinks about them and well….Robert says it best…

” April 13, 1981 seemed like a routine day in the stoneyard… all the stonecutters were at their bankers, the clink-clink of chisels reverberating. Alan Bird and Ruben Gibson were playing an unending game of musical limestone blocks. They were squeezing cut stones into tight spaces. A small group of well dressed tourists stopped by to see progress.

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…But seen through a 40 year prism, the day becomes a snapshot, a day preserved, a day recorded for posterity.

I’ve been scanning and digitizing my stoneyard negatives for some time now and, as I was entering the date, it stuck me that these seemingly mundane events at the stoneyard happened exactly forty years ago. How the years have passed and I feel fortunate that I can look back at the day and have a record to show what happened.

My photographs show a busy banker area with Jose Tapia and James Jamerson working so closely together that they were almost back to back… Poni Baptiste meticulously checking her stone against the zinc templates…Nelson Otero, usually working on the planer, picking up a chisel to work on stone.

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The sawing and cutting area was so crammed with a recent delivery of limestone blocks that they could barely find room for the finished stones until they could be stacked outside. Alan Bird, Ruben Gibson and Robert Stanley gingerly hoisted stones and stacked them like huge puzzle pieces.

Truthfully, nothing special happened that day and I have a record to show how my dear colleagues went about their business on this very ‘uneventful’ day.” – Robert F. Rodriguez

• We are indebted to Robert F. Rodriguez for sharing the events of Forty Years Ago, Tuesday, April 13, 1981

The Cathedral dedicated “The Sacrifice” in 1923. They placed the sculpture in the Chapel of St. Ansgar. The Chapel is one of the seven Chapels of Tongues radiating around the Apse and surrounding the Sanctuary. Malvina Hoffman, one of America’s foremost sculptors, carved the 4 1/2 ton piece. She used Caen Stone, a French limestone.

Sculptor Malvina Hoffman

Malvina Hoffman (1885-1966) was born in New York and studied art at several schools there. She became enamored of sculpture as she discovered what she could accomplish with this 3 dimensional medium. She moved to Paris to work and study where she participated in prize winning salon work. While in Paris, she persisted in her desire to work with Auguste Rodin, finally convincing him of her value and talent.

Off and on over the next seven years, until Rodin’s death in 1917, the French master helped Hoffman. He helped her to improve her technical knowledge and understanding of carving, modeling and foundry techniques. Additionally, under Rodin, she improved her artistic discipline and expressive abilities. Student and teacher developed a close friendship and when World War I broke out in 1914, Hoffman helped Rodin store his sculptures before she returned to the United States. After her return to New York, Hoffman improved her understanding of the human form by studying anatomy at the city’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.

“The Sacrifice”

Hoffman’s first major sculpture after the war was “The Sacrifice” a massive memorial to Harvard University’s war dead. In the piece, we see the head of a 12th-century crusader lay on the lap of a draped woman. Mrs. Robert Bacon commissioned the sculpture in memory of her late husband, the U.S. ambassador to France and the alumni of Harvard University who lost their lives during World War I. “The Sacrifice”, dedicated in 1923 at the Cathedral, stayed in St. Ansgar’s Chapel until 1932. It was then that the newly completed War Memorial Chapel at Harvard installed the piece.

The representation of the dead Crusader stands for those who went from Cambridge, England in the 12th century and gave their lives for an ideal. The Crusader is lying upon a cross with his head pillowed in a woman’s lap. According to the traditional position of the feet, this crusader never reached Jerusalem. Crossed feet would indicate one who had made it. The woman may typify Alma Mater (nourishing mother) as well as those women who gave their best to a great cause and made their lonely grief their glory. The two figures symbolize mutual sacrifice.

Caen Stone