The blaze, which raged through the 19th-century Immanuel Chapel, was described by the Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, dean and president of the Episcopal seminary, as a catastrophe.
The blaze was reported about 3:55 p.m., and “the moment the fire took hold, it went down rapidly,” Markham said of large sections of the 129-year-old building. No injuries or damage to other buildings was reported at the facility, on the western side of the city, at Seminary Road and Quaker Lane. The cause was not yet known.
“I watched it,” Markham said. “Within 40 minutes, the heart of the chapel was destroyed. It was a trauma that will stay with me.”
Many members of the Episcopal clergy were ordained in the chapel. It had also been the site of marriages and funerals.
This is a tragic loss. One wonders how the fire started. I suppose I am one of many VTS graduates that mourns this loss but also has mourned the loss of a former VTS vision, and has not seen the school as frequently as one might have imagined. I am sorry to learn that the chapel’s ‘iconic’ exhortation is now gone. One can pray for its return.
“There are literally thousands of alumni who are devastated,” Markham said.
I agree with Dr. Seitz, and also pray for the true return of its exhortation. I sang in that chapel, and watched my spouse preach a sermon that moved everyone to tears. God’s peace…