Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania)

Above the main (north) entrance to the church is a polychrome statue depicting the boy Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The crenellated tower contains bells playing the Cambridge Quarters each quarter of the hour, as well as ringing the Angelus and chiming during the eucharistic consecration. The chime of 11 bells, donated in 1913, are playable from a console in the Lady Chapel. Ten of the bells are stationary; the largest (the 11th bell) can be swung.[2]

Church building ca. 1910

The nave comprises five bays and a clerestory with stained glass. In all, the building's stained glass includes 50 figurative windows and six ornamental windows.[3]

Rood Screen and Chancel Ceiling

A large carved wooden rood screen surmounted with a crucifixion separates the chancel from the nave. The screen was added to the church in 1912. Its gates are by celebrated blacksmith Samuel Yellin (1884-1940).[4]

The chancel enjoys a richly-decorated coffered ceiling.

The high altar is made of Caen stone, and was installed in 1905. In 1929 artist and parishioner George Fort Gibbs created seven paintings for the church's high altar reredos as a memorial to his parents. The center panel is a Virgin and Child, flanked by panels depicting other figures from the Christian era (left of the tabernacle) and Old Testament (right of the tabernacle): Saint Francis of Assisi; Saint Peter; King Saint Edward the Confessor (last king of the English House of Wessex); Moses; Aaron; and King David.[4]

There is a separate Lady Chapel entered at the top of the south aisle, dedicated in 1918. The space was originally a sacristy and choir room. The current limestone altar was installed in 1954. The tabernacle and triptych, as well as the carved double-desk, are by parishioner Davis d'Ambly, and date from the 1980s.[4]

Lady Chapel

An octagonal baptistry with carved font and stained glass was added off the south side of the church in 1932. The chandelier is by Samuel Yellin, and the glazing and polychrome are by Valentine d'Ogries (1889-1959).[4]

The Memorial, created in 1942, honors parishioners who have served in the armed forces in and since World War II. It was installed at the urging of parishioner Lt. Gen. Milton Baker, who also established the nearby Valley Forge Military Academy and College.[4]

There is a columbarium and small funerary chapel in the crypt of the church, along with a vault containing the coffins of benefactor Harry Banks French and members of his family.

Good Shepherd is the publisher of the Anglican Service Book, which it uses in its worship services. The book is an Anglo-Catholic version of the Book of Common Prayer used in the Episcopal Church.

The organist and choirmaster is Matthew Glandorf, a graduate of and faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music.[5]

The choir comprises a professional core with auditioned volunteer singers. The choir sings weekly at the 10:30 High Mass on Sunday, and at special liturgies throughout the year, including Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, the solemn liturgies of Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. The choir offers a sung setting of the Mass on most Sundays and feast days ranging from Palestrina and Victoria to Stanford and Parry and the great English cathedral repertoire, as well as sacred music being written for the church today such as James MacMillan, Eriks Esenvalds and local Philadelphia composers. The music program has a Choral Scholar Program for talented students from nearby colleges, including male and female choral scholars from, e.g., Bryn Mawr College, Villanova University, and Haverford College, to support them in their studies.[6]

The organ at Good Shepherd is an Austin, Op. 2613 (1977), with three manuals and 57 ranks of pipes.

The parish set up Good Shepherd Hospital in the 1870s, originally to care for children whose parents could not afford to give them medical services. In 1903 the name was changed to the Home and Hospital of the Good Shepherd, and in 1915 admissions were restricted to boys between 7 and 14. The Hospital was conducted as a parochial institution until June 1922 when it merged with the Church Farm School, an Episcopal Church institution farther west in the Philadelphia suburbs.[11]

The original church building near Villanova was in use for about 20 years. It had been informally intended to be, in part, a memorial to two distinguished Episcopal bishops (Jackson Kemper and Samuel Bowman). A window honoring the bishops was installed in the church. In the 1890s, the vestry decided to move to a more spacious location in neighboring Rosemont, Pennsylvania, and received the donation from Harry Banks French to erect what is today the church building.[lower-alpha 1]