When we published the most famous photo ever to appear in our magazine on the back page of our June 11 issue, we had no idea of the monster we were creating. That photograph, which was included in a promotional ad in our Parish Administration Issue, has led to letters, telephone calls and FAXes from persons wanting to know more. Who are the bishops in the picture? What was controversial about it? How can we get copies of the photo? Will we print it again?

Betty Parker, secretary of the Diocesan Altar Guild of the Diocese of Los Angeles, wrote of plans for the guild to produce three matching copes and mitres for wear by bishops there during the diocesan centennial celebration and found it hard to believe that "we're almost celebrating the centennial of the vestments, also. We wonder what we might be producing had the debate gone another way."

Our photo was taken Nov. 8, 1900, at St. Paul's Cathedral, Fond du Lac, Wis., at the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Reginald H. Weller as Bishop Coadjutor of Fond du Lac. He served as coadjutor for 12 years, then became diocesan bishop for 21 years. Publication of the photo in TLC caused an outrage among the low-church members of the Episcopal Church, for it was believed to have been the first time a group of Episcopal bishops appeared in a photo wearing copes and mitres. While it is a familiar sight today, cries of "Popery!" were heard in many places following publication of the photo.

Since it first appeared, the photograph became known as the "Fond du Lac Circus," and copies of it have been seen on office walls, including mine, in many parts of the church.

The identification of those in the photo are, back row from left: The Rt. Rev. Anthony Kozlowski of the Polish National Catholic Church; the Rt. Rev. G. M. Williams, Bishop of Marquette (now Northern Michigan); Bishop Weller, the Rt. Rev. Joseph M. Francis, Bishop of Indianapolis, the Rt. Rev. William E. McLaren, Bishop of Chicago; the Rt. Rev. Arthur L. Williams, Bishop Coadjutor of Nebraska; the Rev. John Kochuroff and the Rev. Fr. Sebastian, chaplains to the Russian Bishop; and the Rt. Rev. Tikhon, Bishop of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Front row, left to right: The Rt. Rev. Isaac Lea Nicholson, Bishop of Milwaukee; the Rt. Rev. Charles Chapman Grafton, Bishop of Fond du Lac; and the Rt. Rev. Charles P. Anderson, Bishop Coadjutor of Chicago.

The presence of Bishop Tikhon at that consecration was a particularly noteworthy occurrence. He was invited by Bishop Grafton, even though the two had never met, and a friendship eventually developed between the two. Bishop Tikhon later became Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, serving through the Russian Revolution. An Orthodox Church in America seminary in Pennsylvania is named St. Tikhon, and an icon of St. Tikhon hangs in the chapel of St. Mary the Virgin at Nashotah House.

At present there are no plans to print the photo again, and we have neither the equipment nor the personnel needed to handle requests for reprints of the photo.

DAVID KALVELAGE, editor