When St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Pennsylvania decided to sell the 73-acre property that it called home for over 150 years and move to a new, smaller campus, it faced the daunting challenge of downsizing. Which of the many items accumulated over the decades would the school bring to its new location? And how would it preserve continuity between Overbrook, the historic campus in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, and the new campus in Ambler, 25 miles away?
After the seminary celebrated its final Mass at Overbrook in November 2023, the big move began. Of course St. Charles Borromeo brought books from its old library to fill the new one. But it also selected many items from the two chapels on the former campus, St. Martin’s Chapel and the Immaculate Conception Chapel, to furnish the new Immaculate Conception Chapel.
Some of the stained glass windows, statutes, paintings, and pews made the cut, as did the holy water font from St. Martin’s Chapel used by thousands of seminarians over the decades. The font was installed just outside the new chapel for current and future seminarians. The altar and Stations of the Cross also made the journey. Finally, the bell from the old Immaculate Conception Chapel bell tower – complete with the bell-ringing rope that generations of seminarians rang upon graduation – was installed in the new Immaculate Conception Chapel bell tower.
“All of these are reminders to us of our past, of the beautiful St. Martin Chapel and of the Immaculate Conception Chapel,” said Keith Chylinski, auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, in a video tour. “This chapel was designed to synthesize and harmonize these items into one whole chapel here.”
The seminary’s efforts were recognized this spring, when Partners for Sacred Places announced that the new chapel received the 2026 Faith & Form International Award for Religious Architecture & Art in the Liturgical/Interior Design category. The award noted the project partners, including Voith & Mactavish Architects and St. Jude Liturgical Arts Studio, and called the chapel “a living place of formation where memory, devotion, and faith connect generations by giving salvaged sacred furnishings renewed life in a space alive with light, sound, and texture.” The jurors, representing the design, preservation, and faith communities, agreed.
“The way this new interior successfully incorporates consecrated objects from the previous campus is impressive,” the jurors commented. “The chapel respects the heritage and traditional liturgy of the seminary while also seeming bright, fresh, and forward-looking. The chapel’s nave and tabernacle are stunning.”
View all of the award winners at sacredplaces.org.
