THE CHAPEL OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN

“Formation” is the byword at Nashotah House. Rather than educating her students for ministry, or training her students for ministry, Nashotah House forms her students for ministry. This is why, though we prize scholarship, the center of our common life is found, not in our classrooms, but in our chapel.

Built in 1882, the Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin serves as our principal place of worship during the academic year and is our “school of the Lord’s service.” Worshipping in its choir every morning and evening, our community is formed by the discipline of the Daily Office and the Holy Eucharist, and our students share the honor of serving as our lectors, cantors, chalice bearers, preachers and officiants.

All the riches of catholic worship are enjoyed at Nashotah House, fully exploiting the Anglican wealth of hymnody, choral music and chant. Over the course of each academic year, our choirmaster exposes our students to most of the contents of the 1982 Hymnal while our chapel vicar arranges for the use of most of the liturgies offered in the Book of Common Prayer in both modern and traditional language. Said, sung and solemn services are observed in St. Mary’s Chapel, culminating each Thursday night in a sung or solemn celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Occasional services, including contemporary, contemplative and healing services, supplement our regular diet of worship.

This is why the students of Nashotah House are better prepared than the alumni of any other seminary to exercise liturgical leadership in the Church, to faithfully administer the sacraments, and to use the Anglican fusion of music, ceremony, text to communicate the gospel to the world today.