Ade Bethune Collection:
Mosaic Designed for the Cathedral of St. Paul
The following is from the bulletin
of the Cathedral of St. Paul, written in 1990 by Father Ambrose Hayden,
now retired, who was then Pastor at the Cathedral. In it, he recalls first
meeting Ade in 1939. Fifty years later, he faced the decision to commission
an artist to design the mosaic in the Baptistry, to be dedicated on the
occasion of the 75th Jubilee celebration of the Cathedral. He wanted a work
by a woman artist, and was thrilled to learn that Ade was not only alive
and well, but a renowned practicing artist. The commission for the work
went to Ade.
MOSAIC FOR BAPTISTRY
In 1939, when we were seminarians at the St. Paul Seminary, the regular
routine of prayer and study was rarely broken. On occasion, however, a guest
lecturer was invited to address the student body, not as much for entertainment,
as for cultural enrichment. On one of those occasions a young woman artist,
Ade Bethune, was invited to address us -- and that was remarkable in those
days because she was a woman speaker on a seminary campus! Only two others
attained that distinction in my time: Dorothy Day and the Baroness VonTrapp.
Ade Bethune's address was so interesting to us - and to her - that she lost
her sense of time and extended into the schedule for night prayers at 9:30
pm. The auditorium became electric by 10 pm and the rector, Monsignor Lawrence
Wolf, who was the quintessence of the Christian gentleman, didn't think
it proper to flag her down! When I discovered recently that she was still
active as an artist, I was delighted to commission her to do the mosaic
of Christ's Baptism which we shall install into our baptistry this year.
A Belgian immigrant, born in 1914, she was not only deeply committed to
her work as a professional artist but also very active in the works of mercy,
particularly at Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker in New York. Fortunately
the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul has become the depository for her
rich library of books and art drawings. Sr. Judith Stoughton, CSJ has just
completed a highly interesting biography of her entitled: Proud Donkey
of Sahaerebeek [sic], Ade Bethune, Catholic Worker Artist.
Her first Minnesota contact strangely enough was when she was still a
young woman in Belgium in 1927. After Charles Lindbergh had landed in
Paris, he came to Belgium. "The parade for him passed right in front of
our window! Lindbergh was the most exciting thing in the world" she later
reported. In the 1960's she was invited to serve as liturgical consultant
to the Church of St. Leo in St. Paul where Msgr. Bernard Murray was pastor.
She had also done work for Father Paul Bussard and Father Louis Gales
at the Cathechetical Guild of St. Paul.
She also has artistic forbears in the Cathedral because she studied under
Charles Connick who designed our three large rose windows along with those
in the sanctuary. She was elected to win a prize in one of his classes
in Boston for a stained glass medallion.
In next week's bulletin we shall reproduce the line drawing for the proposed
mosaic along with an explanation of its symbolism. Rudolph Rohn of Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, who will execute and install the mosaic, visited us last
week and it all goes on schedule, he hopes to have it installed in time
for our Jubilee on April 29.
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