Belmont, North Carolina
Six years ago I had the good fortune of visiting a convent near Pittsburgh on Black Friday. Stunning was the serenity and beauty to be found on a hundred acre oasis across from a frenetic and rather bleak shopping mall. A recent experience in North Carolina reminds me again of this happy memory. Quite taken with a church spire at sunset while passing on a nearby interstate, further exploration the following day revealed another oasis of import. The Belmont Abbey and College provide an aesthetically pleasing and gentle environment for contemplation, meditation, and undergraduate learning. Since the late 19th century, an order of Benedictine monks has offered a Christian undergraduate education, even monastic life to those men called to it.
A few hundred yards from an interstate off ramp, one finds an inviting campus entrance. An imposing basilica on the left gives a pleasing visual boundary, even a sense of reference and enclosure to the cozy college campus. The ornamented brick structure from the 19th century is surprisingly modern in its interior feel. This is compensated for by a fine set of traditional gothic stained glass windows filling the nave and transepts. At 9 AM the luminosity of the windows is uplifting, even inspiring.
A couple hours given to wandering the compact campus proved an excellent investment in our experience. A most gracious receptionist in the imposing terra cotta administration building told us of a newly built chapel on the other side of campus. Taking an hour to make a five-minute walk to the chapel, we found plenty of fine things worthy of photography. Beyond the province of our cameras was the gracious hospitality and friendliness we found in staff and students alike. It’s hard to conceive of the good fortune of those able to study and live in such a benevolent cozy community.
What we thought to be the chapel proved to be a student commons, interesting but certainly not sacred ecclesiastical space by any stretch. With helpful redirection, we did find the chapel behind a dormitory quad. This proved to be one of the most stunning buildings I’ve encountered in fifty countries.
Little more than twenty-five by thirty feet this cedar and glass structure is essentially perfect. Its natural materials are their own ornamentation. Its citing in deciduous forest allows bright sunlight in winter and cool shade in summer. The forest provides most of the interior decoration of the chapel. The quiet dignity of the building and its citing allow the edifice to fulfill its mission superbly, functioning as a 24/7 adoration chapel. Students and faculty are committed to offering intercessory prayers therein at all times.
I’ve seen several larger chapels of this type on university campuses, magnificent structures, yet feeling quite secular in nature, devoid of altars or Christian symbology; used primary as wedding chapels or music venues. The St Joseph Adoration Chapel nears architectural perfection in integration of design and function.
Walking in, intent on photographic its interior I was wrested from my role as a photographer to a compelling one as supplicant. The holy sensibility arrested my touristic ambitions and soon a reverent, nearly numinous affect came over me. Discretely, I did get a few interior images from the back of this wondrous space. I simply could not leave the place to the vicissitudes of memory alone. Leaving, I couldn’t but feel good about Generation X. With these young students and staff in faithful devotion to something larger and more benevolent than themselves, this generation will do just fine.
We made time to stop for a pleasing lunch in The Daily Grind. This student venue was surprisingly gentle in its energy and suffused with courtesy, even to us older tourists wandering through this intimate little world. The universe felt decidedly friendly to us today.
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