Letters for particular objects on this page refer to a floorplan of our sanctuary.
C. Oak angels over the organ console, carved by Domingo Mora, were given in 1903 by Howard Payson Arnold (1831-1910).
D. The rector’s stall was given in 1899 memory of Henry Parker Quincy (1838-99) by his widow Mary Adams Quincy (1826-1928), granddaughter of John Quincy Adams.
D1. Bishop’s chair (left) and rector’s chair, given in 1899, were designed by F.R. Allen.
D2. Prayer desk for Bishop’s chair was given in 1915 by Martha Lisbeth Davis (Mrs. Hugh Walker) Ogden (1880-).
E. A lectern cast in brass in London from a design by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, was given in 1899 by Howard Payson Arnold in memory of his wife Caroline Marie Welch Crowninshield Arnold. It was copied from one destroyed in the Blitz, which stood in the Church of St. Stephen, Westminster. This Eagle of St. John stands on an hexagonal, marble base 22-inches high, which supports four, reclining, brass lions and a brass column with a girdle of 16 agates (see banner image).
E1. Choir plaques were given in memory of Lynnwood Farnum (1885-1930; organist, 1912-18) and Albert Snow (organist, 1918-38). The latter has been removed for repair. Our organist Kevin Neel plays Farnum’s Toccata on O filii et filliae at Eastertide.
Anne Bigelow Lawrence Rotch. Portrait by Chester Harding in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
F. Our reredos and communion table were given in 1899 by Aimee Rotch (Mrs. Winthrop Henry) Sargent (1852-1918) in memory of her parents, Benjamin Smith Rotch (1817-82), Anne Bigelow Lawrence Rotch (1820-93), and their other children Edith (1847-97) and Arthur Rotch (1850-94). The Boston Museum of Fine Arts owns a painting by him and several depictions of family members including a miniature, a bust, and this portrait of Anne.
Peter & Mary Magdalene
Designed by F.R. Allen and sculpted in Caen stone by John Evans and Domingo Mora, the reredos depicts Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper (see also banner image above) with St. Peter and Mary Magdalene standing on the left and the Virgin Mary and St. John on the right.
F1. The brass cross on our altar was given in 1891 by Mary Crowninshield Peabody Sears (1836-1929) in memory of her husband Knyvet Winthrop Sears (1832-91) and their daughter Mary Peabody Sears (Mrs. Francis) Shaw (1859-90), whose portrait (on the left) by Léon Bonnat hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Their daughter Clara Endicott Sears (1863-1960) founded the Fruitlands Museum.
F3. Our marble communion rail was given in 1903 by “those who desire to share in the new church and can give but small sums” in memory of “all who have been communicants in this parish from its foundation” (Emmanuel Yearbook, 1903).
G. A circular, stone credence table (seen beyond the table) was given in 1898 in memory of Thomas Lambard Robinson (1875-93). The tile of the Madonna and Child in the style of Della Robbia was hung above it later.
G3. This plaque in the choir stall was installed in 1956 in memory of Robert Osmond Gott (1924-1941), who was a chorister and acolyte (1936-41). It notes that funds were raised to install a cor anglais stop, which sounds like an English horn, on the Solo division of the Casavant organ (since sold).
G4. Honoring Albert Williams Snow, Organist and Choirmaster (1918-1938), this plaque behind the organ was damaged by fire in 2000 and reconstructed in 2021 by Ted Southwick. During his tenure Snow also taught at New England Conservatory and served as organist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
H. 
Our oak pulpit, designed by Henry Vaughan, was given in 1898 in memory of Alexander Hamilton Rice (1818-95), Mayor of Boston (1856-7), Congressman (1859-67), and Governor (1876-8). Its stone base is carved with the emblems of the City, the Commonweath, and the U.S.A. Its niches once contained oak statutes illustrating the life of St. Paul. Its memorial verses are from Ephesians 6:6-7: “As the servant of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord.”
H1. A statue of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray (1910-1985) sculpted in white oak by our Artist-in-Residence Ted Southwick, was installed in the front-left niche of the pulpit on her feast day in 2023. His statue of the Late Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris (1930-2020) on the right was dedicated in 2024.
H2. A carved stone tablet beside the St. John lectern was given in memory of Captain Randolph Marshall Clark (1835-1873), husband of Mary Vinton Clark,daughter of our second rector, The Rt. Rev. Alexander H. Vinton. This tablet was once on the east wall of our old nave, below chancel.
Photo credits: thanks to The Rev. Robert Greiner for the banner image & #C (above); Danguole Budris for #E; the late Don Kreider for #F3; MFA, Boston for #F & F1 portraits; Matthew Griffing for #H; and Julian Bullitt for all other images on this page. Alphanumerics refer to this floor plan.