age Chapel History

Much of Cornell's religious tradition dates from 1872, when Henry W. and Susan Linn Sage gave the University its chapel, and Dean Sage, their oldest son, established the endowment which brings notable religious leaders to speak at the Sunday services.

President A.D. White and founder Ezra Cornell conceived the chapel as a place of Christian worship. This conception is reflected in its architecture and much of its interior symbolism, described below. However, White and Cornell insisted, "that the chapel would never be delivered over to any one sect" and "that students should be attracted but never coerced into it." This philosophy encouraged the invitation of preachers not only from various Christian denominations but also diverse faiths, as remains the case today. Thus, while its architecture and aesthetic reflects dominant Protestant influences, Sage Chapel in its function has been open to all faiths. This functional philosophy also established Sage as the first voluntary university chapel in the United States.

Cornell trustees and faculty members marched in a body from President White's house to the first Sage Chapel service on June 13, 1875. According to the Ithaca Journal they "thus discomforted those carping individuals whose daily nourishment seems to come from finding atheistic evidence in the university."

The Reverend Charles Babcock, Cornell's first professor of architecture and an Episcopal priest, designed Sage Chapel and guided two of the three major additions to it since 1875. Originally the building consisted of a large nave, a south transept intended for daily services, and a tower topped by belfry and spire.

The memorial mausoleum at the northwest corner was added by the University and the estate of Jennie McGraw Fiske, who is buried in a crypt beneath. Also interred here are her husband, Willard Fiske, and her father John McGraw, an early benefactor of the University; Ezra Cornell and President White and their families, Edmund Ezra Day and Deane W. Malott , the University's fifth and sixth presidents. The tablet on the north wall outside was unveiled on Commencement Day, 1883, by Grover Cleveland, then governor of New York.

Educators, scholars and benefactors of colleges are portrayed in the stained glass windows of the memorial antechapel. Among them are Elihu Yale, John Harvard, Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Library of Oxford; William of Wykeham, founder of New College, Oxford; and Queen Jeanne of Navarre, who founded the College Of Navarre.

Many of the original stained glass windows in the nave and transept have been replaced over the years by those given in memory of significant figures in Cornell history, such as noted professors and students fallen in war. A new window was installed in 1991, honoring Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, killed in Mississippi in 1964 (Schwerner was Class of 1961; Goodman was the son of two Cornellians). Among the loveliest of the windows is the one fashioned in the Tiffany Studios and located near the north entrance.

The Sage Memorial Apse at the east end of the chapel was erected by the University to receive the remains of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Williams Sage and to stand as a memorial "to the second founder of the university," donor not only of the chapel but of the University Library, Sage College for Women, and Sage School of Philosophy.

The pulpit of Caen stone and early Gothic in design, is a gift from the family of Dean Sage. Around its base is inscribed: "In memory of Dean Sage, Founder of the Preachership in this Chapel."

Ecclesiastical symbolism pervades the decoration of the central chapel. The mosaic floor in front of the apse shows the vine, representing the growth of truth. The ceiling paintings include the temple, the ark and the rainbow; the anchor, representing hope and patience; the lamp, for piety and wisdom; and the lamb and pennant, for Christ. The colors are also symbolic-white for innocence and life, red for creative power and divine love, blue for truth, green for immortality.

The mosaic panel on the wall suggests the dynamic interaction between the realm of learning (represented by the figures of science, art, rhetoric, and philosophy); the realm of revelation (represented in the windows of Biblical parables and Christian virtues); and the realm of adoration represented in the angels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael, and four other angels who kneel before the cross).

Because it depicts the twelve apostles, the great rose window at the west end of the building is known as the Apostle's Window. This window was in the original chapel.

Memorial plaques throughout the chapel honor outstanding Cornellians. The most recent is installed in the choir loft honoring E.B. White '21 with a quotation from Charlotte's Web.

The last major renovation of the chapel was made in 1940, expanding the nave westward to accommodate a new choir loft and the organ now in use, a 3-manual Aeolian Skinner with 69 stops and an estimated 3858 speaking pipes. A new solid-state electrical mechanism was added in 1989-90 by Solid State Logic of Oxford, England.

Services of worship are held in Sage Chapel every Sunday at 4 p.m. when the University is in session. Distinguished preachers have included: Phillips Brooks of Boston's Trinity Church (Sage's first preacher), Lyman Beecher, John R. Mott '88 (Nobel Laureate), Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Stephen Wise, Martin Luther King, Sr. and Jr., Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, Elie Wiesel, Abraham Heschel, Hans Kung, Harold Kushner, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, Carl Sagan, Jane Goodall, Arianna Huffington and Peter Gomes.

The chapel is often the site of weddings and memorial services. Organ recitals and choral concerts are presented during the year. Space is provided in the basement area for the Cornell Glee Club and the Cornell Chorus.

In 1996, the lighting in the chapel was renovated and the seven brass chandeliers cleaned and refurbished by the Rambusch firm in New York. In 1997, the sound system was replaced, providing a more balanced distribution of sound.

The services at Sage Chapel are under the administration of The Reverend Kenneth I. Clarke, Sr., Director of Cornell United Religious Work (122 Anabel Taylor Hall, telephone 255-6002), and the Associate Director, Reverend Janet Shortall.

Sage Chapel Services are broadcast locally over radio station WHCU-AM (870 kc) every Sunday at 6:00 a.m. (one week delayed). Tapes and manuscripts are available through the receptionist at Anabel Taylor Hall, who can be contacted at (607) 255-4214.