Washington, DC, March 9, 2009
Special Choral Evensong with Dedication of Statues and Shields at Washington National Cathedral
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WASHINGTON, D.C.—New works of art will be dedicated during a special service Wednesday, March 11, beginning at 5:30 pm at Washington National Cathedral. The public is welcome to attend.
The Evensong—a service that is sung by the Cathedral Boy Choristers—celebrates new statues of poets, philosophers, and theologians by artist Chas Fagan, a resident of North Carolina. Cathedral carvers participating in the project will also take part in the service.
Three statues with corresponding shields comprise the new artworks including:
Howard Thurman (1900-1981), an American poet, mystic, philosopher, and theologian. He was an early leader in the civil rights movement and founded the Church of Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco—the first interracial, interdenominational church in the United States.
John Donne (1572-1631), a brilliant Anglican preacher, poet and mystic who wrote Divine Poems and Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. His fame as a poet was matched by his great popularity as a preacher while he was dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
George Herbert (1593-1633), an English clergyman and writer of Christ-centered spiritual poetry and prose. He wrote The Temple, a collection of poems, and A Priest in the Temple: or the Country Parson, which offers a well-balanced ideal of the English clergyman.
Special guests include relatives of Howard Thurman, the Very Rev. Bernard Richardson, dean of Howard University, and Dr. Walter Earl Fluker, renowned Thurman scholar.
SOURCE: Washington National Cathedral