Completed in 2017, St. Turibius Chapel has been a beloved project of ours since 2004—the culmination of a larger vision for a “beautified” chapel at this historic seminary. It is important to emphasize the notion of “beautified” because the Church had always emphasized the revelation of Beauty in her sacred architecture—only ignored for a brief experiment in Modernism. The completed vision of St. Turibius Chapel expresses Beauty with a close study of the chapel's contribution to Catholic architecture and liturgical arts in 1931, and with a serious dedication to the Church's time-honored notion of organic development. Elements such as the recreated murals by Gerhard Lamers, new decorative porcelain floor patterns, and recognizable Catholic art, symbols and liturgical furnishings restore a focus on the prayer life of the seminarians and retrieve a hierarchical focus on the liturgy for the highest forms of Catholic worship.
The sanctuary mural is by German immigrant artist Gerhard Lamers completed in 1937. Lamers was responsible for liturgical murals throughout the Midwest and especially in the Columbus and Cincinnati regions. The mural was covered with grey latex paint during the 1988 renovations. Evergreene Architectural Arts meticulously recreated the mural with every detail and expression of Lamers.
