Narthex
The narthex of the chapel serves as our starting point, and the main entrance to the chapel. All Saints' is situated on an east-west plan as are the "traditional" gothic churches of Europe.
The narthex is located at the western most end of the chapel and serves as a foyer before entering the nave. The pews located here are the original pews from St. Augustine's Chapel. The four stained glass windows, fabricated in England by the Wippell Company, celebrate the first 100 years of the university. All fourteen chancellors and eleven vice-chancellors of Sewanee's first century appear in these windows.
To the left is the first of the narthex windows, which depicts the founding of the university. At the top left, Bishop Polk is shown seated at his writing desk in New Orleans composing his proposal to the southern bishops for building the University. Below this we find the bishops issuing a manifesto at the General Convention of 1856 when the southern bishops gathered for a special meeting in response to Polk's letter. Independence Hall can be seen in the background. In the middle of the window, on top, is the first meeting of the Board of Trustees on July 4, 1857.
A moment of high drama followed when the American flag, which had been hanging idly on its pole, wrapped itself around Chancellor Otey just as he proclaimed that the new university would be national, not sectional, in character. Colonel Albert Lea of Knoxville is shown removing the flag. On the top to the right is the planning of the campus and below, the laying of the cornerstone.
The University seal, designed by Dr. Waring McCrady, former French professor and son of former Vice-Chancellor Edward McCrady, is found on the floor as you enter the narthex. The seal contains the cross of Christ in the center, with 10 chain of links representing the 10 original owning dioceses; the Greek letters of Christ's name (IH and XR) and the Alpha and Omega; the University's motto from Psalm 133, "Ecce Quam Bonum," with clasped hands used from the founding of the university; the dove of the Holy Spirit and the chartering date of the University, 1858. The shape of the seal is that of two congruent circles overlapped, signifying the union of God and humanity in Jesus Christ.
