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St Christopher’s Cathedral has received a stunning new silk painted altar array inspired by the stars and specially-designed to reflect local culture.
The intricate pattern was a ‘labour of love’ produced by a visiting member of the clergy who worked on the assignment in her home in Spain.
The Reverend Dr Deborah Chapman said: “I was honoured and said I would be glad to design something for the cathedral.
“It has been such an exciting project for me and I hope that it blesses the people of St Christopher’s Cathedral and all Bahraini people who visit it for many years to come!”
The altar frontal is traditionally white and gold and is used for the Christian seasons of celebration and other celebratory events. It comes with matching pulpit and lectern falls, stoles used by priests and deacons, a burse holding the cloth to cover the altar space used for the chalices and bowls or plates, plus a veil that covers the whole lot and has the practical benefit of keeping everything clean and free of dust.
Brit Deborah, 61, is married to the Reverend John Brown Chapman, 62, Church of England Chaplain in the Diocese in Europe and the couple have two children, Kirstin, 29, and Matthew, 33.
When she was ordained in 2005, she made her own while/gold stole to wear at her ordination at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral. It was a depiction of Rublev’s icon of the trinity, taken from the story of Abraham and the three angels in Genesis.
When she and her husband, currently Chaplain of St George’s Church in Barcelona, were previously based in Sharjah, in the Emirates, she wore the stole when she took part with other clergy in the ordination of the Rev Jo Henderson, by Bishop Michael Lewis, at St Christopher’s Cathedral in 2013.
At the time the Manama cathedral was keen on finding a replacement for its increasingly worn altar array and its dean, The Very Reverend Christopher Butt, was keen that it should reflect something of local culture and not be an ‘off the peg set’ from a shop in the UK.
The Anglican Church Council’s former vice-chairman Angela Murray saw the stole and was struck by it. “She took a picture of it and asked me if I would be willing to work on a silk painted altar array for the cathedral, given that the one they were using was looking a bit the worse for wear,” explained Deborah.
She looked to the heavens for inspiration and after being ‘commissioned’ to do the altar array, she visited Bahrain four times to ensure that what she was working on fitted the cathedral’s expectations.
“I took a picture of a galaxy from a calendar of pictures of galaxies taken by the Hubble space craft,” she said. “I then drew the pattern - blocked out into 200 squares that had to be drawn to a much larger scale on a huge piece of paper 200cms x 110cms - the measurement of the altar frontal.
“This took approximately 50 days and was the most time consuming and intensive task. A Dutch friend then made me a board that size on which to tape the pattern, with a removable frame on which to stretch the silk tightly, in order to transfer the pattern on to the silk without the material moving.
“This was extremely important, as the design is intricate and any movement would influence the design in every other part of the final painting.
“The next stage was following the pencil lines with contour paint, so that the silk paint that would fill in the shapes would not bleed out, destroying the pattern. The contour then had to be fixed by ironing at the hottest setting.
“Finally, the decision about exactly what colours and shades will fill in the contoured areas had to be made and implemented, and ironed to fix the colours, again, at a high setting.”
The altar array was unveiled at a recent service of dedication carried out by the bishop which Deborah flew in to attend.
The Rt Rev Chris said: “It is wonderful to see the fruits of Deborah’s creative design incorporating rich biblical themes and rooting them so firmly in the history and culture of Bahrain.
“From a distance you see the swirl of a galaxy, such as you can see on a clear night, away from artificial light, in the desert areas of Bahrain, but when you look closely there is so much fascinating detail to be discovered.
“We are privileged to have such a beautiful work in St Christopher’s Cathedral - one that will inspire wonder - and I am so grateful to Deborah for offering so much time and her creative skills to the cathedral and also to Angela Murray and Julie Donnelly, who have given their sewing skills and time to back the designs onto cotton sheets for the altar, the lectern and pulpit.”
