The chapel, with its pointing spire surmounted by a simple cross, is a dominant external feature of Leeds Trinity University College. Internally, it lies to the right of the main entrance, immediately accessible yet providing a place of quiet and withdrawal. It is a visible mark of our status as independent and Catholic and is intended to function as a differentiating element which gives meaning and life to this particular community. Its prime function is to provide a location for daily Mass and especially the University College's Sunday principal act of worship. It is also the scene of corporate celebration, fellowship and sharing of both joy and sorrow. It witnesses to Feast Days, to rejoicing in music and song and to loving memory of departed staff and students as well as occasionally providing a location for weddings and baptism of members of the community. Nevertheless, it is a private chapel and not a parish church. It is a University College facility for the expression and renewal of its corporate life.
The work of building, maintaining and edifying a Christian community is a continuous activity and it is the same with the building that symbolises this communal enterprise. The Leeds Trinity chapel has been enriched and adorned over the past forty years with dedication, care and affection.
The Building
The architects deliberately handed over the chapel in such a state as to allow it to be adorned and enriched at a later stage in accordance with the wishes of the Colleges. The two Principals were hugely important in the design of the new chapel. Items of the chapel furniture and fittings were to be designed and made by members of the Colleges. The artistic process was seen as a service aimed at celebrating the glory of God, a service in which the purpose of the artist is dedicated to the revelation of the Divine Mysteries in building up the community of the Colleges as part of the universal Church of Christ.
The chapel was opened and dedicated on 13 July 1968 when Archbishop Dwyer of Birmingham was Principal Celebrant at the concelebrated Solemn Votive Mass of the Most Holy Trinity.
Internally, the chapel is hexagonal, though some have recognised a heart-like shape in the overall plan. Around the chapel are sacristies, meeting rooms, chapels, vestries and other amenities. The hexagon is one of the many geometrical shapes to which the Church has given symbolic significance as indicating creation and completion. The six sides represent the six days of creation. We are the final act of God’s creation and occupy the middle ground between God and His earlier work.
The insulating roof panels, like the floor, are tessellations – coherent shapes – in this case, triangles. The triangle is, of course, an ancient symbol of the Holy Trinity and the roof tiles serve to emphasize the Trinitarian motif within the chapel.
The Altar
There is only one altar, in accordance with the insights of the Second Vatican Council. The altar symbolizes Christ, Mediator, the New Adam. It reminds us of sacrifice, atonement and communion. It stands separate and as a centre, four-square and focal point. The cube is a symbol of perfection and has reminiscences of the New Jerusalem (Revelation, xxi, 16) and associations with all the saints. Its base is made of York stone and rests on a number of old stones. These come from Yorkshire abbeys and remind us that we have earthly loyalties, geography, history and culture as well as heavenly aspirations.
The Artwork
The great rood or cross behind the main altar is a modern, realistic representation in bronze and fibre glass of the moment of Christ’s death – the end of the great work of Redemption wrought by the Master Carpenter of Nazareth: the act which potentially unified God and man, man with man, and sanctified all our work. The figure of Christ was made by and modelled on Charles I’Anson, who was Senior Lecturer in Sculpture at Leeds Trinity. The crucifix, which weighs 2 cwt, took I’Anson eighteen months to complete and was placed in the Chapel in October 1971.
The Side Chapels
There are no side chapels in the strict sense since none of the peripheral enclosures possesses an altar but we will use this term for convenience. To the left of the altar (as you face it) is the Blessed Sacrament Chapel where Christ is sacramentally present in the tabernacle (a domed safe containing consecrated Hosts), a reminder of His living bodily presence in His Church. The Lady Chapel is furnished in traditional blue and contains a statue of the Madonna (Our Lady of Hope) sculpted by the Spanish artist (Dr José Garcia-Maria) Moro whose wife was the model for the statue. In 1969 Moro had visited Leeds Trinity as a member of a group of lecturers from Spain. Andrew Kean asked him to undertake the work on the Lady Chapel.
The stained glass window depicting The Most Holy Trinity was installed as a tribute to Andrew Kean and Sr Augusta Maria, the founding Principals of Trinity and All Saints Colleges. It was dedicated on Trinity Sunday 1980 on the occasion of their joint retirement. It was designed by George Faczynski and made by J.O’Neill, Son and Partners of Liverpool. The window contains not only depictions of the Trinity but also a shamrock and three fishes, enduring Christian symbols.
The Stations of the Cross
The original stations placed on the outside of the column are made of aluminium, following a material theme and reminding us that all materials are sacred. The pottery stations on the inside of the columns are of pottery and contain the canonical minimum – a cross and a number. The numbers are Roman and the Cross is Chad’s, the apostle of this area of England (hence Shadwell, St Chad’s well).