Jasmine Liu ‘25
Photo taken by St. Mark’s of the evening chapel service on Tuesday, November 14th, 2023.
Since its founding in 1865 as an Episcopal school, St. Mark’s has maintained its community’s spiritual life and diverse traditions through its weekly chapel services. Chapel is a required twice-weekly service designed to address the varying spiritual needs of our close-knit community. This service takes place every Tuesday and Friday morning from 8:00 to 8:30 where the typical ritual commences: students get settled, the community sings a hymn or two, some prayers are read, a student gives a chapel talk, three minutes of silence, birthdays are announced, and finally, the school prayer.
Yet, once a month on Tuesday, the service is moved to the evening time following an evening seated meal. Thus, students would get the opportunity to sleep in until 8:30 am, or the time their first class starts. However, at 6:00 pm, students would be expected to show up to the dining hall in chapel dress (typically suit for men and dress for women) and sit with their designated advisory group. Following the seated meal, students are prompted into the Belmont Chapel to begin the evening chapel service.
Generally, evening chapel services are formatted slightly differently from the typical chapel services. The event starts when the choir, dressed in white and blue robes, enters the chapel while singing the school’s signature hymn, “Age Quod Agis.” Once the choir settles at the front of the shrine, the service commences and follows a more traditional ceremony, including a special speaker (typically a faculty member) giving a chapel talk. More prayers are read, led by one of the chaplains or acolytes. Somewhere near the middle of the service, the choir sings a hymn they have prepared. However, with respect to traditional chapel norms, students are expected to withhold applause after the performance. At the end of the service, the organ music emanates through the chapel; the choir, with candles in hand, files out of the room with faculty and 6th Form students following suit.
However, there have been many occasions when these evening chapels have veered from their standard format. For instance, last year, during the winter, St. Mark’s held a music chapel where selected students performed music of different genres during the service. Additionally, the community held a poetry chapel in contingency with the school’s poetry week during the spring; acolytes and chosen students read poetry from well-known poets or students at St. Mark’s! More recently, the evening chapel this past Tuesday, November 14th “focused on balance and beauty, loss and gratitude.” After hearing an organ meditation, students created luminaries with one side for reflections on loss and one side with reflections on gratitude, then set all of the luminaries outside on the VI Form Quad.
All in all, whether in the morning or evening, chapel is a service that is meant to celebrate many aspects of the St. Mark’s community that people may overlook in their everyday lives. Thus, this tradition is, no doubt, an integral part of the St. Mark’s experience.