The Remarkable Stained Glass Windows
of St. Augustine
At the Rear of St. Augustine are two treasured paintings. Both are copies done by local artist, Thomas Waterman Wood. One is Murillo's Madonna del Rosario and the other is Raphael's Transfiguration of Christ.
A copy of Raphael's Transfiguration
of Christ by local artist,
Thomas Waterman WoodMr. Wood once told the story about how his painstaking copy of the masterpiece by the Italian artist Raphael received the personal blessing of the spiritual leader of the world's Roman Catholics.
It was the 28th of September in the year 1898. Wood, a distinguished American artist who was born in Montpelier, had been working in the Vatican for weeks. He planned to present his copy of "The Transfiguration" to the parish of St. Augustine - and he thought it would be cherished all the more by the Catholics of Montpelier if it had the blessing of Pope Leo XIII.
However, Vatican officials told him that such a blessing was unlikely. The pope was very old, and there was no precedent for a papal blessing of a copy of a work by one of the masters.
Wood was at work on a stepladder one day that fall - "The Transfiguration" was 12 feet high - when the head guardian of the Vatican galleries pulled him down and introduced him to Monsignor O. Cogiana de Azevedo, the High Chamberlain in the Palace of the Vatican. The monsignor was taken by the work-in-progress. He complimented the artist, and said the papal blessing could probably be obtained.
"When the picture was finished," Wood wrote in his account of the incident, "my guide in the galleries grasped one end of the canvas and a guardian the other, and followed by myself, proceeded through the corridors and down grand stairways guarded by sentinels and soldiers, until at last we were ushered into the beautifully frescoed private apartments of the Holy Father, filled with officers and servants.
A copy of Murillo's Madonna del Rosario
by local artist, Thomas Waterman Wood"This copy of 'The Transfiguration was carried into an adjoining room and placed upon two chairs in a good light, against a wall, behind which at that moment sat the sovereign pontiff himself.
"... About 5 o'clock, on the 28th of last September, His Holiness came into the room to see the work. I was informed that he was greatly pleased with it and with the fact that a Protestant artist had come to Rome expressly to execute this painting for a Catholic church in his native town in America. He then and there, with great willingness and pleasure, blessed the canvas..." It was said to be the first time that Pope Leo XIII had ever blessed a painting.
Wood presented "The Transfiguration" to the people of St. Augustine on July 18, 1899. the church was filled to capacity, and five priests were on hand for the ceremony.
Wood, who had at various times in his career served as president of the American Watercolor Society and as president of the National Academy of Design, had a special affection for St. Augustine. The pastor of the parish, Father O'Sullivan, had assisted him during a long and acrimonious dispute years earlier over the execution of a will that had set aside money for the establishment of a town library. A relative contested the will, and the dispute dragged on in the courts for several years, with Wood and Dr. John Burgess - a summer resident of Montpelier who founded the School of Political Science at Columbia University - arguing exhaustively to uphold the will as written.
He ultimately prevailed, and the money was used to establish the city's library and a mortuary chapel at Greenmount Cemetery. Burgess and Wood marked their victory by donating funds for the Wood Art Gallery.
The friendship that Wood felt for St. Augustine soon became evident. In 1897 he expressed his appreciation to the parish by presenting it with a copy he had made of Murillo's "Madonna del Rosario." Two years later, he followed up with "The Transfiguration." Both works were done in oil, and were considered among the finest pieces of art in the state.
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