CHAPEL OF LOVE
By Laura Ann
Phillips
Features Desk
Express
Section 2
February 16, 2000
Page 1
Denis
and Maria Elena de Gannes created history when they got
married.
They
are the only couple to have been wed at the Holy Name Convent chapel.
The
Catholic Church does not allow weddings in chapels; these must be performed in
a parish church.
But
Maria Elena wanted so much to marry in the chapel.
She
had grown up in Belmont, right round the corner. For her, that special day could happen nowhere else.
"I
went to school [at Holy Name]. In those
days there was no Common Entrance so you just went to one school. I [started] there at five years old and left
at 17," Maria Elena said.
They
sought permission from Archbishop Anthony Pantin and Sr. Bernadette de la
Bastide, then principal of Holy Name Convent, to have the wedding at eh
chapel. They got it and the wedding was
held on July 10, 1971.
The
Holy Name Convent chapel was built in 1904 by the Dominican Sisters.
It
lies sandwiched between Holy Name Convent and the maternity wing of the Port of
Spain General Hospital, along Queen's Park East.
Facing
west, it gazes out toward Memorial Square and the National Museum, the oldest
public building in Trinidad, according to former museum curator Claire
Broadbridge.
The
chapel was originally built for the sisters' use, said de la Bastide, but has
serviced students and the public for so long that past and present students
should consider it part of their heritage.
De
la Bastide does, for hers was one of the families served by the chapel.
De
la Bastide's grandfather lived where the NP gas station is now located at the
corner of Charlotte and Observatory Streets.
"I
made my First Communion here," she said.
A
Dominican for the past 50 years, one of de la Bastide's most vivid memories of
the old chapel was the chandelier, which used to hang between the altar and
congregation.
"The
chapel had no electricity," she said.
"On Christmas Eve night it was all lit by candlelight. There were candles in the chandelier and along
the side [aisles] against the wall."
Those
along the wall were supported by baccarat crystal brackets. The original candle holders still jut out
from the walls at intervals.
Maria
Elena also reports a few changes since her school days.
"In
those days the convent was attached to the chapel," she recalled. "The wing on the right was closed off
and only the nuns went on that side of the chapel."
"There
was a heavy grid - just heavy black squares - that went up toward the ceiling,
almost to where the pillars started.
Later on, they put up an upstairs floor and subsequently took it
down. When I got married, it was not
there."
Violet
D'Ornellas, founder and head of the Emmanuel Community, a Catholic pro-life
organisation, is also a past Holy Name student.
Now
she spends her life passing on the faith, which, she said, was nurtured in that
chapel.
"As
a child, going to that chapel was a deep and beautiful experience," she
said, "especially when the nuns were cloistered."
"To
the right [of the altar] there was a grille and behind that, curtains. The nuns would pray from there. Some of eh nuns taught us, but [others] were
cloistered, so we never saw all of them.
But it was so beautiful, hearing them sing."
A
group of past students, including Broadbridge, is trying to restore the chapel.
Broadbridge
said its architecture 'is unique among Trinidadian church buildings."
She
added that it was one of only three local buildings with vaulted ceilings, the
other two being the Red House, and the old police headquarters, which was
destroyed in the 1990 coup.
An
Italian expatriate, Julius C Barsotti, who had designed and executed the ornate
gesso (plaster) work on the ceiling and pillars of the Red House, worked on the
chapel's ceilings.
It
has survived natural disasters, well-intentioned renovations and water
damage. A series of earth tremors in
1954 left several cracks in the building's façade, including a long reminder in
the centre aisle.
Nine
of the original windows were removed following 1963 renovations and replaced by
"fancy blocks' for better ventilation and to make the building more
secure.
The
panes of these windows, purchased from Pilkington Brothers Limited in England,
were covered with a dark glaze, which looked deceptively black from the outside. They are really purple and convert sunlight
to a light pink blush, which makes the chapel glow softly inside.
The
restoration team now wants to replace the "fancy blocks" with windows
similar to the originals and to repair those that remain.
The
roof also requires the original Burlington roofing tiles. The sisters had tried to substitute another
material in the past, with poor results.
"The
last covering we put dissolved like blotting paper within nine years," she
said. "The labour is so expensive
that you have to use the best materials possible."
The
best doesn't come cheap.
"It
is not something for the sisters alone," she said. "This restoration has to come from
people who made use of it in the past.
Certainly from their families, since [all of them] may not be
alive."
For
additional information on the conservation effort you may write to
The
Secretary,
Holy
Name Past Pupils Association,
c/o
Holy Name Convent,
2
Queen's Park East, Port of Spain,
or
telephone de la Bastide at 627-4792.