All Saints' Chapel stands in the very heart of the University of the South, a.k.a. "Sewanee." Located high atop the Cumberland Plateau in Sewanee, Tennessee, the University of the South is home to The School of Theology, a seminary of The Episcopal Church. It's also been home to me for the past two years. The University claims ownership by the Episcopal Church, and its board is comprised of twenty-eight southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, with each bishop serving along with clergy and laity.
All Saints' is the University Chapel, where all our major festivities take place, complete with all the pomp and circumstance. It's a great place to attend a well executed Rite II service.
All Saints' is something of a "royal peculiar" of sorts, an ecclesiological phenomenon. The University sits in the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee and in the bounds of Otey Parish--the local Episcopal parish in Sewanee. Yet, the Chancellor of the University is a bishop of one of the owning dioceses. The newly elected Chancellor is the Bishop of Atlanta (formerly the liturgy professor at The School of Theology). The Chaplain of All Saints' is thus canonically resident in the Diocese of Tennessee and is answerable to the bishop of said diocese, but also has the Chancellor of the University as a boss! Moreover, all sacramental acts of baptism and confirmation are recorded at Otey Parish because the University Chapel is not a regular worshipping parish. To add more confusion, the Dean of the School of Theology acts as the Ordinary of the seminary chapel, but is somewhat under the Chaplain of the University. Sadly, there are too many restrictions in order to have a child baptized in the seminary chapel and weddings in either chapel are even more complicated.
The University Choir hosts monthly services of Evensong and sing at the main 11:00 a.m. Sunday liturgy. During the first weekend in December, the Chapel celebrates a locally famous Advent service of Lessons and Carols which can sometimes be standing room only (an Advent service because all the students have gone home during the Christmas break).
The font in the Chapel is amazing. Complete with eight sides, carved statues of saints, and "living" water flowing, it harkens any liturgist back to the early days of Hippolytus. My son was baptized here during the Easter Vigil in 2008 by the retired Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi. Around the ambulatories, banners with the seals of the twenty-eight owning dioceses hang.
The High Altar is equally stunning. Only used for Rite I services, sadly, the altar boasts statues of both historically Anglican saints as well as some peculiar to Sewanee, such as William Porcher DuBose. The windows surrounding the Chapel can keep your eyes busy for hours. I plan to take some photos of those windows soon. The window above the High Altar depicts Christ the King, in all his kingly and imperial splendor. Flanking the altar in this space are carved stalls for each owning bishop of the University, with carved seals of those dioceses atop each chair.
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