Evening star., 1922-04-30
IGH up on top of scaffolding
. that honeycombs the interior
of Holy Trinity Church.
Georgetown, may be foun'

of Holy Trinity Church.
| Georgetown, may be found
J a quiet, unobtrusive, middle-aged
! man, dressed in overalls, who. ac-
cording to art critics, is one OF the
most noted church decorators and
painters in the United States.
| Brother Franci c. Schroen of the
Society of Jesus, for more than twen-
ty-five years. purely from love and
devotion, has given his life to deco
| rating, painting and rearranging
Catholic churches and halls. He is
| the sole worker Of his class in the
Jesuit province of New York and
Maryland, which comprises the east
| ern section of the United States.
| While much of his work has been
confined to buildings in that territory,
he has frequently been called to
other lands to supervise church dec
Grating. One of his most notable
works is the Catholic cathedral at
Kingston, Jamaica.
When the congregation of Holy
Trinity Church decided recently that
! the church was badly in need of a
| thorough overhauling. and after a
most successful drive sufficient funds
were raised by popular subscription
| to defray the cost, it was. Brother
Schroen who was called upon TO over
see the work.
nETlCENT as he is almost to
IN point of bashfulness. concerning
his labors.. it was only by persistent
| questioning relative to improvements
on the church that a representative
of The Star was able to persuade the
| artist to talk of his work at all.
| "Yes. Trinity was badly in need of
redecorating," said Brother Schroen
at last and now that the work is
started we will make it beautiful
| edifice.
| .While | do not care to criticize the
old scheme of decorations, 1 will say
there was too much display of orna-
| mentation. consider one of the
fundamental principles of art is that
decoration should not be applied prin-
cipally to display ornamentation' ou.
! 1t must follow and beautify the arch-
itectural lines. especially when the
architecture is pure and symmetrical,
as is the case of Holy Trinity Church,
| which is of the Roman basilica style
| "Ayoid too much gold, for instance
icontinued the decorator. Gold shouid
be used only to put life into orna-
mentation. and according to our plans
II will be used only in the background
to offset the mosaics.
| "Under the new scheme there Will
be separate inches for all statues IN
the church. Following Roman archl-
lecture, each will have special place
of it's own. so as not to detract from
tho main feature of devotion, the CEN
! trail altar
inRoPPING his reserve as he became
l. enthused over the proposed i'm
nrovements, Brother Schroen pointed
to specifications on his work table
and, tracing details with his pencil
added:
"The great painting, The Apparition
| or ,be sacred Heart to st. Margaret
Mary, will be retouched and incorpo-
rated solidly into one of the sioe
walls. I have finished another paint
ing. st. Ignatius in Glory, which VIII
con,nare with it on the opposite wall
of the church.
| "On the main wall of the sanctuary
above the high altar a reredos VIII
be erected, built around an open
niche in the background. in which
| will be placed a Calvary group IN
! sculptured figures. This reredos VIII
1e Aanked on either side by two cor
resnonding inches. in which Will be
Installed two statues. one of CHRIST
,,,der the title. The Sacred Heart,
,n5 the other, st. Francis Navler'
the great apostle of the Indies, the
whole structure to be richly orna-
mented with gold mosaics. TINS
sanctuary will be the, feature OF the
whole decorative scheme and the
foc,,s ND to which all surrounding
decorations lead.
| Questioned further as to what he
| considered his greatest work, Brother
| schroen again went back in his
"shell." He admitted, nevertheless.
that he took most pride in the mural
no;ntinrs he did for Boston College
about ten years ago.
| Tt was learned later, however, from
Rev. CharlestaA. Hennessy. assistant
| rrk T. Trinity Church that