Thanks to a former St. Francis parishioner who is an architect and architectural historian I learned who the architect of our unique building was. His name was Fr. Michael McInerney, and he was a monk out of Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. This noted architect significant designed churches, schools, and hospitals, and is considered the main architect of the "American Benedictine" school of architecture. He also designed various church appointments, such as sanctuary lamps and chalices. He lived from 1877-1963, and his work is divided into three major periods: a neo-gothic period where he used lots of brick; a romanesque period where he used lots of stone; and a late, more modern period that used very minimal artistic ornamentation and had flat roofs. Our building is from the last period and is pictured in the back of a little booklet on him as the "classic example" from his late period. Like all artists there are common themes running through his work from all periods, such as long-stemmed stone crosses set into the facade of the building (we have two such crosses on the exterior of our building). All of his work is very simple and minimal. He was so successful as an architect that he kept the Belmont Abbey and college financially solvent during the Great Depression.This building makes more sense to me now that I have this booklet about the architect. It is very Benedictine, which is actually perfect for an Anglican parish since Anglicanism is very Benedictine in its spirituality. (NB: this was originally St. Mary's Catholic Church, for readers who did not know that from earlier posts.) I will be putting up pictures from the book and more commentary about the architect on the St. Francis website when I have time at www.stfrancisblacksburg.org
