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Quigley Windows Being Restored

Even though I am not directly involved in any way, this project is very close to my heart.  (I'll  try to get more information about this project for a subsequent Newsletter - stay tuned.)

A Personal Story

I attended Quigley Seminary (then Quigley North) High School, back in the 1970s (class of '75).  Not the most distinguished alumnus, and hardly priest material, I still may have ended up the victim of some of the best things that a Catholic school education could offer. 

I was always easily bored with school (hated it!), with a tendency to let my mind wander erratically (it still does today), and possessed an instinct for finding trouble wherever it might be lurking.  My parents sending me to Quigley was probably the only thing that kept me in high school at all, to graduate on to college.  For the last two years, my parents even made me pay my own tuition - $500 dollars per year!  The deal was:  B-average or better they pay, otherwise I pay.  I don't know why it worked, but it did!  Try as I might to flunk out of high school, Quigley was a place where students were just not allowed to "fall through the cracks". 

Four years of Latin and college credit courses (that left more time for dating later in college), and a moderate but strict level of discipline, forced me to find "legal" places in the school building to hide out during my free periods away from classes and after school.  The Chapel (Saint James) turned out to be the best place to bury myself and to meditate or read.  I spent almost all my free time in that place.

During my junior and senior years, in late afternoons after school, I had to go to rehearsals almost every weekday (with the Civic Orchestra) at Orchestra Hall.  Since I was already near Downtown, I often stayed and practiced at school until time to go to rehearsal.  The choir loft and St. James Chapel was virtually mine - and maybe one or two occasional worshippers (not of my sorry music! - in fact, it may have been my violin playing that kept the place empty) many days after school.  Not the best acoustics, but the most flattering reverberation for a not-so-good young violinist, I think I had the best "practice room" in the whole city! 

When un-peopled, there was no quieter, or more beautiful place in the school building to find peace than in the Chapel.  To sit and watch the colors change, as the Sun moved and its changing light shone through the chapel windows - this served to create exactly the spiritual mood that the windows were created for.  The rose window over the choir loft was - and is - to die for.  It actually changes colors throughout the day!

While in the Chapel, my own spirituality may not have been directed toward heaven, but my thoughts and emotions were still otherworldly.  This (I think) is what I've learned over the years about what good architecture can always do.  Well designed "spaces" can create places in ones imagination which, in turn, can actually change and help shape a person's life and spirit.  Good architecture, if it is not ignored, has the ability to help move people emotionally and spiritually.  I think Saint James Chapel is one important place that taught me how architecture can effect a person's life.

In the years I attended Quigley, the school building was mostly abandoned (except for sports teams) after 2:45, but was left open and available to anyone who cared to remain after school hours. Enrollment in my time was, I think, less than 300 students.  (There were about 30 in my graduating class).  At the time, closing the school for good was already being discussed.  Major maintenance, let alone restoration of any parts of the building, including the wonderful chapel was given no real consideration at the time.  Though the windows were showing serious sings of deterioration, there were no thoughts then about any kind of preservation.  I really thought they would eventually tear the place down.  It's nice to be wrong!

It's good to see that things have turned around.  I look forward to my next visit.

An addendum to this story:  From what I see, most churches, temples and other large public spaces such as auditoriums stand vacant most of the time.  Though most churches lock their doors now during the day - except for services and functions -  quite often, if you ask in the right way (or through the right channels), it is often possible to get access to these spaces (as long as you don't ask them to heat the place for you!).  I've done this several times, and found that if I use a space respectfully, I am always welcomed back.

Buildings need to be well used.  If we don't use them, we'll lose them.

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Copyright © 2003 Martin Hackl