By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
When it comes to appreciating church art, I’ve always been more of a paintings/sculpture kind of guy than a fan of mosaics. The imaginative cut stone and glass images decorating the Church of the Transfiguration in Orleans on Cape Cod, however, have me seeing mosaic with new eyes.
To be fair, I’ve had more exposure to paintings (the Sistine Chapel) and sculpture (the Pietà at St. Peter’s Basilica) than mosaic. Before my Cape Code trip, the last time I’d seen great mosaics was several years ago at the Monreale Cathedral near Palermo in Sicily (Monreale Cathedral).
A mosaic is an image or pattern created with many small pieces of a hard material (colored stone, glass, or ceramic) held in place on a wall or floor by plaster or mortar. Mosaics were popular in the ancient Roman world and as a result, became a part of churches too once the Romans stopped feeding Christians to the lions.
Mosaics were especially common in Byzantine churches. Byzantine refers to Byzantium—later known as Constantinople and Istanbul—as well as the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Ravenna in Italy was the westernmost pillar of the Byzantine Empire.
How did this unique art form of the old world make its way so spectacularly to the Cape Cod peninsula in new world Massachusetts?
The members of the ecumenical monastic Community of Jesus designed their Church of the Transfiguration based on the basilica architecture of the early Christians. The Community wanted the interior decor to reflect ancient religious art forms too. Thus, along with fresco paintings and rock sculptures, the Community included mosaics.
Mosaics guide you through the Church of the Transfiguration. The entry way doors depict a life-size Adam and Eve in bronze. When those main doors open, the path of the tree of life unfolds in mosaic on the main aisle, depicting all of salvation history.
At the end of this long processional aisle, the mosaic tree blossoms around the main altar into a colorful depiction of the flora and fauna of paradise. A deep blue river of life runs through that paradise, spilling over the steps leading to the altar.
This beautiful floor mosaic artwork sits before another masterpiece, a large rendition of the transfigured Christ on the sanctuary back wall.
The Community of Jesus created this remarkable display of Christian mosaics during a long process of prayer, study, and discernment. They hired a designer born in Belfast named Helen McLean to work with community artists and create paintings of the desired floor and wall images.
The Community then retained master mosaicist Alessandra Caprara from Ravenna for the mosaic work. Caprara and her studio (Mosaici Antichi e Moderni) overlaid the paintings with paper and outlined every color of natural stone or glass needed to turn the image into a mosaic.
They then hand-cut each piece, placed them (the “tesserae”) in a binding material, and shipped everything to Cape Cod. Back in Orleans, a team of Caprara and Community members laid it all out in the Church like a jigsaw puzzle.
In fact, according to the Church’s website: “More than two dozen members of the Community of Jesus worked alongside the professional artists, studying with the masters and growing in depth and breadth of their artistic understanding and expression. Guilds in the media of fresco, mosaic, stone carving, glass, and organ building were formed to assist with fabrication and collaboration. Community members also collaborated with the professional artists, creating the designs and drawings for some of the art in the church, specifically the column capitals in the church, atrium, and cloister; the exterior lintel; and the design and drawings for the sanctuary floor mosaic, to name a few.”
The mosaic artists worked for five years to complete the floor piece. The apse mosaic took three years. It was worth the wait…the effect is mosaic magic.
During our recent visit to the Cape Cod Church, just inside the entrance we encountered a seed pod (according to the Community, the “primordial roots” of the Tree of Life). Thereafter, we saw images of several Bible stories starting with Cain and Abel ( a “vivid reminder of our shortcomings and sin”).
The story of Noah’s ark surrounded the baptismal font and featured local Cape Cod birds and marine life. Jonah and the whale followed a few feet later. Local wildlife popped up elsewhere too.
We saw a barn swallow, northern cardinal, chipping sparrow, snowy egret, and hummingbird. The Community also transformed Cape Cod sea life—fish, shells, jelly fish, crabs, star fish, and sand dollars—into mosaic form.
We talked past bees and a beehive. A nearby image of manna reminded us of God’s daily bread…“The House of Israel called it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.” (Exodus 16:31)
Along the Church processional route, the Community also included mosaic medallions showing—symbolically—the vows taken by the members of the monastery.
A chrysalis explained the vow of conversion, of the transformation that comes from turning to God.
Cranes represented the vow of obedience, based on the legend that when these tall birds gather for the night to rest, one is selected to stand watch.
The large rock after which nearby Rock Harbor was named symbolized the vow of stability to the community.
Around the altar was my favorite set of mosaics—the huge “fruitful flowering” of the Tree of Life. In vibrant colors, these works of art displayed flora and fauna, real and mythical, for every letter of the alphabet.
There were stunning images of peacocks with long elaborate and elegant tails. We saw a swordfish frolicking amid blue ocean waves.
A griffin (half eagle half lion) and a unicorn—found in early Christian fables—reminded us (in the words of the Community) that the new creation will have “wonders exceeding our imagination.”
Much of the sanctuary floor mosaic recalled the peaceable kingdom from the Book of Isaiah. There was a wolf and lamb together, an ox and lion, and a cow and bear as neighbors. Some of the depicted fauna included morning glory, plum, poppy, aspen, red maple, grapes, apples, lemons, roses, iris, and day lilies.
I never imagined I’d see a peacock or swordfish or unicorn in colorful mosaic, but I did at Orleans on Cape Cod. I wanted to sit on that sanctuary floor for hours and write an alphabet book for children to be illustrated by my photos of the mosaic plants and animals.
(And I just may do that very thing someday!)
The Christian missionary Ingrid Trobisch once wrote, “Our lives are a mosaic of little things, like putting a rose in a vase on the table.” That’s exactly how I felt as I soaked in the hundreds of wonderful mosaic images at Cape Cod’s Church of the Transfiguration.
So many little things. So many vases. So many roses. So much magic.
*Mike O’Brien (author website here) is a writer and attorney living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Paraclete Press published his book Monastery Mornings, about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, in August 2021. The League of Utah Writers chose it as the best non-fiction book of 2022.
