St. Benedict the Moor Artwork &
Architecture
Modern history and theology on
display
What is said by artwork and architecture? Churches indicate an understanding of Faith
and history through art. Questions
prompted by the art work and history of St. Benedict the Moor Church suggest
answers that may be troubling but help us look to the future.
St. Benedict the Moor Church is located just
west of downtown Milwaukee. It is what
is left of the St. Benedict the Moor Colored Mission founded in 1908 by Charles
Lincoln Valle, an African American, and Spanish–American War veteran. The Mission was named after St. Benedict the
Moor (the Black) a 16th century Franciscan Friar, son of Ethiopian
slaves who worked for a wealthy Sicilian.
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| Charles Lincoln Valle |
Blacks were not welcome in Milwaukee
Catholic Parishes so Valle set out to create a center of Faith for Black
Catholics. Eventually the Mission
included the Church, a Hospital and Saint Benedict the Moor Boarding School. Famous students include Red Fox, Lionel
Hampton, and former Mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington. The Church and the mission were served
officially by the Capuchin order of Franciscans since 1911. Archbishop Messmer was pressured by the
Socialist Mayor Hoan not to allow the Mission to be located in the area so he
shifted the responsibility to the Capuchin Franciscans. Messmer’s brother was a Capuchin. Was Hoan concerned about the movement of the
African American community west? Years
later the area was known as ‘Bronzeville.’ Blacks were restricted to Bronzeville
including well known celebrities.
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| Trinity Lutheran Church on 10th and Highland |
The Church is surrounded by other significant
landmarks. To the east is Trinity
Lutheran Church built in 1878. Funds for
the landmark German Gothic church were provided by Pritzlaff Hardware baron John
Pritzlaff. The inscription high up over the entrance is DREIEINIGKEITS
– Trinity; it was a German neighborhood.
Trinity Lutheran protested the location of the Mission across the street
from their church.
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| Pabst Brewery Bottling House |
To the north is the
Pabst Brewery built in 1880. The
buildings appear as medieval Rhineland castles with battlemented parapets. South is the Milwaukee County Courthouse (built
1929 -1931) described by Frank Lloyd Wright as a million dollar rock pile. His design for the building was rejected. On
the west side is the freeway which took away the school and the neighborhood in
the 1960’s. The freeway was promoted by
Socialist Mayor Frank Ziedler. St.
Benedict the Moor School closed in 1967.
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| Saint Benedict the Moor Church with Saint Stephen Eckert, OFMCap |
The Church: excavation began June 1, 1923, cornerstone
laid October 7, 1923. The architect was
Edward Brielmeier & Sons; the general contractor was H. Schmitt & Son. The architectural style is Lombard
Romanesque similar to the Capuchin Church St. Francis built in 1876. It’s a small church sometimes called a
chapel. Dimensions are 50’ x 114’ with a
seating capacity at that time of 400.
The entire cost was $63,000 donated by Ernest G. Miller, president of
Miller Brewing. Miller also provided
funds in 1924 to purchase the adjoining property and buildings of Marquette
College and Academy. The College and
Academy moved their schools to the south and west of the Mission.
The Artwork Restored by David
Ingvoldstad in 2002
The original
artwork was covered over with a bronzed brown paint but was restored to the
original colors in 2002 by David Ingvolstad with advice and direction of
Capuchin Pastor John Celichowski.
Above the altar is a 10x12 foot carving that represents 22 Christian martyrs of Uganda (1885-1887) with St. Benedict the Moor in their midst wearing a Franciscan habit. Above them is a goddess-like representation of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the United States. Originally Mary had a very white face but the restoration has her looking more like the Virgin of Guadalupe. The martyrs bear palms of martyrdom; angels bear lilies, a sign of purity. The massacre is part of the sad story of the European colonization of Africa. Christian missionaries played a role in the colonization process.
The panel was carved from a block of pine by
a noted Tyrolean artist, Signor Ermano Moroder. It was done in his studio in the Italian
sector of Tyrol. Moroder’s brother,
Alphonse, a wood sculptor, had studios at 910 3rd Street in
Milwaukee. Suggestions from the Capuchin
Provincial were relayed through Alphonse.
Between the altar table and the base are the four Fathers of the western
church: St. Augustine of Hippo, Africa whose
face was darkened in the restoration to recognize his African ancestry (354-430),
St. Gregory the Great with a triple crown (540-604), St. Jerome (347-420) and
St. Ambrose of Milan (340-397).
Emperor Constantine (272-337) called for the first Ecumenical
Council to be held in Nicaea in 325. The
Council declared Jesus Christ to be divine – ‘co-substantial’ with the
Father. Would this be a surprise to
Jesus the handy man from Galilee? What
would Jesus think of the re-interpretation of Faith by Augustine whose theology
accommodated the Roman Empire and of Jerome who latinized Scripture? What about Ambrose and Gregory who moved the
Church to claim political authority?
At the base of the altar are three reliefs carved by Moroder. In deliberate reference to the Eucharist, at
the left is the ancient priest Melchisedech offering bread and wine; in the
center are deer at a fountain to symbolize our yearning for spiritual
nourishment and to the right, Abraham about to sacrifice his son Isaac. Christian theology teaches that God the Father
sacrificed his Son for the sins of all, yet Abraham was stopped from
sacrificing his son. At the center is a
tabernacle with a golden cross displaying a risen Christ; unusual in Roman
Catholic art.
Other artwork: There are two plaques on the wall to the left side of the
altar: St. Anthony of Padua with the Child
Jesus and Saint Therese of Avila. The
adjoining hospital was named Saint Anthony of Padua. Bronzeville resident and baseball great Henry
Aaron’s first children were born there.
Saint Therese of Avila is alongside St. Anthony. To the right of the altar are St. Francis of
Assisi and St. Clare who is depicting a famous legend. St. Clare, special friend of Francis, holds a
monstrance with the sacred host to frighten away Muslims who attacked her
convent.
At the right of the altar is a statue of
the Peruvian mulatto, St. Martin de Porres, O.P. The statue was salvaged from the Blessed
Martin de Porres Church located a few blocks away that was torn down because of
the freeway. St. Benedict the Moor
school gym was called the Blessed Martin de Porres gymnasium. At the left of the altar is a statue of St.
Conrad of Parzham, OFM Cap with an oversized key. He was a porter in charge of the door,
providing welcome and hospitality at the Priory. He is said to have been eager to receive and
help strangers. St. Benedict the Moor
Parish provided sanctuary in the 80’s for refugees from Central America. During the current immigration crisis the
Parish supported the New Sanctuary Movement but declined to offer sanctuary on
the church grounds.
Windows: Painted glass windows filter a blue –
green light into the Church. The left
side, the west wall, features women saints except for Aloysius Gonzaga S.J. who
is the patron saint of students. He is at the front, closest to the altar. Also are seen Native American, St.
Catherine Tekakwitha (or Kateri) and St.
Rose of Lima, the first American saint (1586-1617) and neighbor in Lima of
Martin de Porres (1579-1639). In most
Roman Catholic churches art work depicting male saints dominates. But at St. Benedict the Moor, women saints
are given close to equal attention in the Church. Current parishioners pray to God – ‘our
mother and father.’
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| Church window of Saint Alphonsus Ligouri |
Other
Carved reliefs: Also featured
in the church are hand-carved Stations of the Cross along with other bas relief carvings that look like
stations. The stations depict Jesus’
path to his crucifixion. The ninth
station shows a Jewish man happy about Jesus’ torturous path. This is an example of the anti-Semitism found
in Roman Catholic churches that led to the holocaust. The Capuchin Chronicles printed an anti-Semitic
comment about the Mission attempting to buy property in 1911. They were outwitted by a ‘Jewess.’
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| Saint Peter Claver administering to slaves in Cartegena, Columbia |
The parish has
a history of strongly supporting civil rights and immigrant rights. On the west wall at the back of the church is
a carved relief of the three branches
of the Franciscan Order: St. Francis, First order, St. Clare, Second order, St.
Louis of France (Louis IX), Third order.
At the front on the west wall is a carving of St. Benedict the Moor with
his Franciscan brothers and a carving picturing Jesus with African
children.
The stations
and other ‘bronzed’ bas relief pieces
were not restored to the original coloring.
Outside
the church: Over the entrance to the
Church is a statue of St. Benedict the Moor and to the right is an overwhelmingly
brilliant white statue of Stephen Eckert, OFM Cap., pastor from 1913 to 1921 – a
monument to clericalism that has infected the Church since the Middle Ages.
No image, photo, painting, or statue of the
African American layman, Spanish American War veteran, Lincoln Charles Valle,
can be found at the Church. Valle was
dismissed from the mission in 1913 accused of improper drinking and
misappropriation of funds, but the complaints were unsubstantiated. Valle and his wife Julia moved back to
Chicago to continue the work of evangelization. He was appointed to a committee preparing for
the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Abraham Lincoln. Director of the Mission Stephen Eckert, OFM Cap,
in 1914 wrote to the chancellor of the Archdiocese that Valle was “unworthy to
represent Catholics.”
As he saw it, Stephen Eckert focused on the
best interests of the African American community in Milwaukee. Eckert wrote, “They do not seek social
equality in companionship with the white race but simply a square deal, equal
rights as to life, liberty and protection and a fair chance to livelihood.” However he was subject to the prejudice of
the time and did promote the notion that African American families were
incapable of taking care of their children hence the need for St. Benedict the
Moor boarding school. Dolores Williams,
a former boarding school student, comments, “…immorality as defined by Catholic
decision makers is subjective moralizing.”
At the request of the alumni, the Church of
St. Benedict the Moor was designated as an historical landmark in 1998. This
was opposed by the Capuchins.
Books Consulted
St. Benedict the Moor, A Legacy Revisited,
by Dolores A. Foster Williams, M.Ed.
Heritage Press, Racine2009
The Heritage Guidebook, by Russell
Zimmermann, Heritage Banks, Milwaukee, 1978
The Last Hero
The Life of Henry Aaron, by Howard Bryant, Pantheon Books, New York, 2010
