Christmas at Washington Cathedral
Diocesan Press Service. December 7, 1973 [73261]
The completed statue of Christ in majesty will be the focal point of Christmas services at Washington Cathedral this year, particularly during the annual NBC telecast on Christmas Day. The majestus is the work of sculptor Walker Hancock and master carver Roger Morigi. It is nearly 12 feet high and eight feet wide, and dominates the center of the high altar reredos (the wall behind the high altar).
Four different models for the statue have been tried over the years, the last one having been in place from 1942 until 1972, when Hancock's model was first brought to the cathedral from his studio in Massachusetts. The angels surrounding the statue were modeled in 1942 by the late Italo Fanfani.
The Christmas Day service will be carried nationwide by NBC-TV at 10 a.m. The eucharist will be celebrated by the Rt. Rev. William F. Creighton, using the text in contemporary English as authorized for continued trial use by the recent General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Louisville.
Dean Francis B. Sayre, Jr., will speak briefly at three times during the service as offertory processions wend their way through the cathedral. His topics will be: "The Bread of Life," "The Vine and the Branches," concluding with "The Living God. "
Dr. Cynthia Wedel, former president of the National Council of Churches, will read the Epistle, the words of St. Paul from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
Christmas music will include the five-part mass by William Byrd, sung in Latin by the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, directed by Dr. Paul Callaway, cathedral organist and choirmaster. The cathedral is the only church in the area where the Byrd five-part mass is sung. Richard Dirksen, director of program at the cathedral, has written special anthems for the service and familiar carols will also be sung.
On Christmas Eve at 10 p.m. Bishop Creighton will be the preacher and Dean Sayre the celebrant in a prayer book festival eucharist with music by Sowerby, Bach, Brahms and Byrd. Cathedral carilloneur Ronald Barnes will play a program of Christmas music on the carillon preceding the service.
An unusual celebration will take place on Sunday, December 23 at 11 a.m. with a liturgy written especially for Washington Cathedral, the Celebration of the Incarnation. The service will include processions and stations around the cathedral with music of Bach, Brahms and Byrd. The Rt. Rev. John T. Walker, suffragan bishop of Washington, will be the preacher.
One of the most charming of the cathedral services is the children's Evensong at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Music is by the Chapel Choir, young boys in training for the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, with added percussion from the congregation. Children and adults are invited to bring bells, cymbals, triangles and other small percussion instruments so that they may participate.
The Christmas story will be read by the Rev. Richard Downes and the Chapel Choir will sing the medieval plainsong, "The Song of the Nuns of Chester," from Chester Cathedral, England, in addition to music of Joubert, Maxwell-Davies and Anthony Furnivall. Furnivall, who is the assistant organist and choirmaster at the cathedral, has written a special anthem for the occasion.
The Chapel Choir will be featured on "Overview" the cathedral telecast on WRC-TV at 9:30 a.m. December 23rd.
(NOTE: A photograph of the high altar of Washington Cathedral featuring the newly installed Christ in Majesty, by sculptor Walter Hancock, is available on request from the DPS.)