Featured Work: Saints Peter and Paul Chapel by Thomas Gordon Smith

On March 3, 2010, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter dedicated its new chapel at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska. The chapel was consecrated by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, local ordinary of the Diocese of Lincoln. Five other bishops and abbots, and Fr. John Berg, Superior General of the Fraternity, were present at the dedication and at the Solemn Pontifical Mass following at which William Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, preached.

The chapel was designed in a simplified yet dignified Romanesque style by architect Thomas Gordon Smith, current professor (and former director of) the Notre Dame Architecture School. At 10,000 square feet, the chapel has stalls for 92 priests and seminarians in the nave, with separated seating for laity and visitors. The Fraternity is dedicated to the renewal of the Traditional Latin Mass, also known as the Tridentine Rite, and the chapel is designed for the exclusive celebration of this Rite. Featuring a 31 foot tall marble baldachino over the altar and classical columns and detailing, the chapel represents a growing rebirth of classical architecture in the Church.

Erik Bootsma
Curator of Architecture