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• 1 media/Alexander Seabrease.jpg 2019-11-27T19:18:19-08:00 Rev. Alexander Washington Seabrease, Ninth Rector of Trinity, 1888-1903 8 Rev. Alexander Washington Seabrease, Ninth Rector of Trinity, 1888-1903 plain 2020-09-14T13:31:36-07:00 Alexander Washington Seabrease, Trinity's ninth rector, was born on 30 April 1842 in Salisbury, Maryland, the son of Shilas and Mary L. (Rock) Seabrease. He married Eliza Huison Thompson, daughter of Philip Rootes Thompson and Elizabeth Marshall (Tompkins), on 11 January 1870 in Louisville, Kentucky. They would have three children: sons Alec and McLean and daughter Agnes. Seabrease had attended Seabury Divinity School in Faribault, Minnesota, and afterward had moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he married, but later returned to Minnesota, becoming rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Wabasha. From there he moved to Rochester, Minnesota, and Mineral Point, Wisconsin, before becoming rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Flint, Michigan. He then moved briefly to Clarksville, Tennessee, where he spent only a few months before coming to Fort Wayne in 1888.
  
  Seabrease was a highly experienced priest, formal and somewhat aristocratic in his bearing. He had a strong baritone voice and preached impressively. However, he seems to have sought a lower profile for the church in the local press than that of his more outspoken predecessor, William Webbe. He believed strongly in committees to help administer the parish, and while staffed only by men, these committees took charge of various aspects of the parish, including finance, building and grounds, pews (which were still rented), and music.
  
  Upon his arrival Seabrease found the vestry actively preparing plans to construct a new classroom building and rectory. He and his family had to rent a house initially while construction was underway, Prior to this time, the church had no classrooms for Sunday school and no place to hold church socials, requiring the renting of local halls for that purpose. The new buildings, designed by architects John F. Wing and Marshall S. Mahurin, included a Romanesque style house connected to the church by a classroom building, called the Parish House, all built in matching sandstone to the church. The Hall would contain three classrooms, an assembly hall, and a dining room. The rector and his family moved into the rectory in February 1890, but the women of the parish were immediately displeased with the design of the Parish House, which contained no kitchen facilities for the preparation of meals. Representing the Ladies Association, Georgiana (Wright) Bond, wife of vestryman Charles Ewing Bond, met with the vestry and demanded that a kitchen be provided or the women would "decline to work in the old way." She suggested that the parish borrow $1,000 to build an extension that would include a larger dining room and kitchen. The kitchen, which was constructed ultimately in the basement, provided some space for cooking but was considered by generations of parish women to be inferior.
  
  Between 1891 and 1893, the vestry under Seabrease's leadership hired the firm of J. and R. Lamb of New York to redecorate the nave. A reredos with a painting of Jesus as the Good Shepherd arrived in 1891 as a memorial to the late Rev. Joseph large, and a new, highly-elaborate pulpit had arrived two years later, a gift from famed Kansas City Star editor William Rockhill Nelson as a memorial to his parents. Under the Lamb Company, the walls of the nave were painted with extensive gilding and stenciling, and an Alpha-Omega symbol in gilded letters was painted at the top of the chancel arch. Many members of the old lay leadership that had dominated the vestry for its first 50 years - Bailey, Nelson, Randall - passed away in the 1890s, bringing a new generation of leadership that would continue into the next century.
  
  One of Seabrease's great accomplishments was the continued professionalization of Trinity's music program. A series of organists were hired, and a full-sized vested choir of men and boys made its appearance in 1892, dominating the parish's musical offering for the next generation. While many organists came and went, the English musical tradition set by the choir won notice in the city. Many boys who sang in its ranks did so for small pay and were not members of the parish.
  
  Bishop Knickerbacker died unexpectedly at the end of 1894, and his successor, Bishop John Hazen White, was a less effective leader. White nonetheless successfully led an effort to divide the Diocese of Indiana, and a new diocese was created in its upper third that included Fort Wayne. It would be called the Diocese of Michigan City, and it was created at the end of 1898. Seabrease assumed a leadership role in the new diocese and filled several diocesan offices.
  
  Mrs. Seabrease died in 1901, and through the efforts of an irascible new senior warden, William Ewing Hood, Seabrease was himself forced to resign three years later. His departure brought division within the parish, which Bishop White hoped to heal by promoting the skills of a new, younger rector, who would successfully take the reins of the parish. Seabrease moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, to live with his daughter, and he died there on 30 July 1921. His body was returned to Fort Wayne for burial in Lindenwood Cemetery. His children presented the parish with a handsome silver chalice and ciborium as memorials that are still used every Sunday.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 1 media/Communion chalice 1950s467.jpg 2019-12-06T13:13:05-08:00 Vessels and Altar Appointments 6 image_header 2020-01-03T19:19:33-08:00 The Altar and Sanctuary Appointments
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
       A variety of different candlesticks, vases, and missal stands can be seen at the high altar at various services throughout the year. Each one has an interesting history. Always standing upon the gradine of the altar are six brass office lights, which were given to God’s glory and as memorials to Minnie Bell Hanna, David M. Hensley, Ophelia Ephigenia Kemp, Robert O. Orff, Susan Tayman, and Hannah Greenwood Wheatley. They were all given in 1933 during the rectorate of the Rev. J. McNeal Wheatley. Both the credence table and an earlier missal (altar service book) were given in 1948 in memory of Lillian F. Lowe, long-time member and devoted directress of Trinity’s Altar Guild. The parish has two brass missal-stands from which the service is read during the Mass. The larger stand, seldom seen at worship, memorializes Caroline (Cuming) Large (1823-1869), wife of the Rev. Joseph S. Large, and features a dramatic engraved image of the Lamb of God, supported by a substantial octagonal base. The Large children, Herbert, Josephine, and Daisy, presented the stand together with two large brass vases and a pair of brass candlesticks in 1891. They can be seen in early photographs of the nave, beginning in 1893. The candlesticks are used weekly, but the vases are seen only on special occasions. A second missal stand, the one usually seen on the altar, was presented in the 1990s by the by Jane (Anspaugh) Jorgenson and other members of her family in memory of her mother, Marie Anspaugh.
  
  
  
  
     The flower vases seen at most Sunday services (both of large and small size) memorialize Hannad Freigy and were donated in 1957. The larger vases are usually seen on either side of the marble altar, while the smaller vases may be filled with flowers or palm leaves during the Easter season, where they are typically positioned on the gradine. Another set of smaller brass candlesticks were given in memory of George Seibold in 1965, but these are seldom used. Two larger altar lights of decorated brass, the largest in the church, were given before 1900 (at the same time as the original sanctuary lamp) and reportedly memorialize Miss Sue Barnett, about whom nothing is known. In modern times they appear on the free standing altar at Christmas and can be seen in photographs as early as 1910. A pair of other candelabra, each with five tiered candles and jeweled insets, were donated by Margaret Hahn in memory of her mother, Margaret (Withers) Hahn, who died in 1910. These are seldom used, but were originally placed on the gradine before 1933.
  
  
  
  
  
      On the Feast of the Epiphany, 1891, the parish accepted the gift of two tall pavement lights of brass. These candlesticks stand on the white-tiled floor of the sanctuary on either side of the altar. Members of St. Margaret’s Guild presented one of the lights, while the other memorializes Ada Lavina Bond (1881-1889), daughter of Stephen and Grace (Gorham) Bond. Originally designed as large candelabra, they were subsequently adapted to hold a single candle in each. The white marble floor near the high altar in the sanctuary memorializes Dr. John S. Irwin (1825-1901), a long-time vestryman, and his wife, Martha Callendar (Mahon) (1828-1908), and was installed in 1910. A ruby-colored Sanctuary Lamp was donated at an unknown date, which, when lighted, denotes the presence of Our Blessed Lord in the Sacrament. It replaced an older, much larger sanctuary light of brass, which hung directly over the altar from the 1890s to 1962. (It is still extant but not currently displayed). The oriental prayer rugs used at the altar and pulpit were given as a memorial by the Abousamra family and by Joseph David and Phillip David in 1969.
     Visitors will note six chairs along the back wall of the sanctuary, all donated in the early 1960s. Two of them are extensively carved with individual canopies. The chair on the left is reserved perpetually for the bishop for use on his visitations. The one of the right is reserved for the use of the rector. The smaller chairs may be used by other clergy or acolytes. Both of the larger chairs contain bishop and rector emblems designed by Fort Wayne artist, Les Motz, and given as a memorial to Thomas Moorhead.
  
  The Communion Plate
  
      Anglicans believe in the doctrine of “real presence” which holds that the body and blood of our Lord are actually or substantially present, not just metaphorically or symbolically, in the bread and wine, and that they are transformed during the Holy Eucharist. The communion chalice is a shared cup of sterling silver with wine, over which the priest celebrates and from which, after consecration, he or she administers to parishioners as the Blood of Christ. A ciborium is a vessel shaped like a chalice, but with a dome-shaped cover, and contains the Eucharistic bread before and during consecration in the Mass. Priests will often administer the bread to parishioners from the ciborium. Older communion sets will sometimes contain small bread boxes: square containers with lids for storing the communion wafers. A paten is a small, shallow plate, often engraved and used to hold the consecrated bread during the Mass. The priest may hold either the paten or ciborium when the bread is distributed at the altar rail. When the Mass begins, the communion wine may be held either in cruets, small vessels with handles and spouts, or in a larger tankard. A separate cruet contains water that is mixed with wine during the Mass. Also used at communion is the lavabo bowl, which holds water allowing the priest to ritually wash hands before celebrating the Eucharist. Some communion vessels come in sets, created in matching designs, created by a single silversmith. Other vessels are stand-alone objects, not tied stylistically to others even though they may be used together in the communion service.
      The earliest communion set on record at Trinity dates to 1848, when the Rev. Joseph Large, donated what apparently consisted of a chalice, a paten, and possibly a bread box, all of sterling silver. While the set is no longer extant, the donation reflected the increasing attention that the parish devoted to the celebration of the Eucharist. Large was a strong proponent of innovations brought about by the Oxford Movement.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
     In 1876, during rectorate of the Rev. Colin C. Tate, Frances C. (Edgerton) Alvord presented to the church an exquisite sterling silver communion set in memory of her late husband, Alwyn Alvord, who had died the previous year. Charles F. Hogeman of New York City, a designer and supplier of church furnishings and communion plate, created the set. Its most elegant piece is the tankard, a large vessel intricately carved and bearing an inscription in memory of Alvord. Across its side is the inscription, “This Is My Body of the New Testament.” The set also included two chalices, each of them inscribed with the words from the Eucharistic liturgy, “Do this for the Remembrance of Me” on one, and “Lord of the Living and Dead” on the other. On the stems of both are the letters: C-H-R-I-S-T. The “C” is always placed in front of the priest before the Eucharist begins. A single paten, also inscribed, bears the inscription, “Give Us This Bread Lord Evermore.” Undoubtedly, this set made a dramatic appearance in the church when it was first used.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
      As time passed, additional communion plate was needed. In 1921, St. Margaret’s Guild presented a large sterling ciborium, the first of the church, in honor of Eliza (Thompson) Seabrease, the wife of the Rev. Alexander W. Seabrease who had died on April 17, 1901. A chalice in the same style, given at the same time, memorializes Seabrease himself, who had died earlier that year. Both have jeweled stems and intricately-engraved bases that feature six inset medallions: images of the four evangelists, St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John, as well as a decorated cross and a pelican feeding its young with its own flesh, a symbol of self-sacrifice. Both vessels are used every Sunday. A paten with a plain surface without engraving also honors Seabrease, also dating apparently from 1921. On the reverse side is the inscription, “In Memoriam, Alexander W. Seabrease.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
        In 1945, Helen Quimby donated a second ciborium in memory of Lillie Mae Kinkade. A simple vessel without engraving, it is used by the deacon every Sunday at the start of the Mass, when it is removed from the tabernacle with the Host and covered with a chalice veil and burse. Element bearers from the congregation deliver cruets filled with wine and water and another ciborium with the Host to begin the Mass. In 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Byron Thompson donated two small sterling cruets in memory of Michael and Jonathan Thompson, used now in the Christ the King Chapel but not in the main church. Two years later Hazel Miller donated another communion set consisting of three large silver cruets, a paten, bread box, and lavabo bowl, all made by Gorham Silver and all in memory of George A. and Marie Miller. These cruets and paten are the ones used presently at each Sunday Mass.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
       With the opening of the Christ the King Chapel, a silver paten and a chalice with an enamel stem were donated by Mrs. George Butzow in memory of Bruce Richard Butzow, while Mrs. Clyde Reed donated two smaller silver cruets in memory of Mary Magley at Christmas, 1957. She also gave a silver bread box and lavabo bowl in 1959. A second, older lavabo and bread box, kept in the main sacristy, memorialize Mary E. Kress, who died in 1919. Their donor is unknown, and they are seldom used.