The rich gold of the late afternoon sun pours through the stained-glass windows of the All Saints Chapel on Orr’s Island. The soft chatter of neighbors greeting neighbors settles as Suzanne Baker strikes a chord on the chapel organ, her fingers lingering on the keys.
A bell rings out across the island, inviting all to the small church with its striking red doors and heart-shaped lock.
All Saints celebrated 125 years of faith on Aug. 3 with a special service known as an evensong.
An evensong is an Anglican tradition, more common in churches with choirs than a summer chapel like All Saints. It’s an immersive experience, one in which music surrounds and informs the service.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had an evensong here,” said Baker, who co-chairs the chapel committee in addition to serving as the evening’s organist.
The program included psalms and prayers put to music. It featured the soaring sounds of a quartet from Portland-based Palaver Strings and the a capella mastery of Brunswick’s Una Voce Chamber Choir.
Members of the chapel’s 125th Anniversary planning committee spent months designing a program that would make the most of the building’s exquisite acoustics.
The musicians of Palaver Strings opened the service with Franz Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden,” showcasing the emotional range and depth of their instruments to a rapt audience. Six singers from Una Voce, ranging from bass to soprano, wove song throughout the service.
All Saints Chapel was consecrated on Aug. 6, 1900. According to its website, the first five Episcopal services on Orr’s Island had been held at a boardinghouse called Bellevue Cottage. The offering from the fifth service started the fund to build a summer chapel.
The Rt. Rev. Henry Neely, then bishop of Maine, “heartily and gratefully” approved the erection of a simple church. The consecration date was chosen to align with the Feast of Transfiguration.
That Christian holy day marks the revelation of Christ’s divinity, an event described in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and the Gospel of Matthew. Scripture says three apostles traveled with Jesus to a mountaintop, where they witnessed him “wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening,” and heard the voice of God claim him as his son.
Transfiguration was a theme in the evensong’s homily, or sermon, by the Rt. Rev. Thomas Brown, the current bishop of Maine.
He encouraged the congregation to pay attention to the important issues confronting them, “especially ones that threaten to divide us.”
“Say, ‘Tell me more,’ rather than, ‘That is where you’re wrong,'” he advised. “This simple switch can transform a conversation. Transfiguration changes everything.”
The service ended with the rededication of the chapel’s stained-glass altar windows. Donated in 1905 by Mary Floyd Delaney, Bishop Neely’s widow, the windows portray scenes that align with the spirit of an island community.
The left inset shows a cross standing on a rock amid tumultuous waves. The right shows a crowned anchor. In the center, a pelican pierces her breast to feed her young, a reference to Christ’s sacrifice.
In a post-service interview, Brown said the congregation’s openness to visitors of all backgrounds and life experiences, whether spiritual or secular, is “exactly what I think churches should be doing always.”
All Saints’ mission extends beyond the church grounds. It supports many local organizations, including Harpswell Aging at Home, the Orr’s and Bailey Islands Fire Department, and the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program.
This summer, the chapel hosted musical events, welcoming a packed house to one concert by students from the Bowdoin International Music Festival.
Last year, the chapel began to open to the public during the week, welcoming passersby to pray or meditate, to soak in the history of the place or admire the striking architecture.
All Saints is one of 17 summer chapels in Maine that trace their origins back to the turn of the 20th century, a time when the state was becoming a popular destination for beating the oppressive heat in larger towns and cities like Boston, Philadelphia or New York, according to the Episcopal Diocese of Maine.
The chapels allowed Episcopalians to gather and practice their faith when away from their home parishes. Their congregations were, and still are, made up of people from all along the East Coast, along with local residents.
Summer chapels are small, built within walking distance of their communities. They also are beloved, their structures maintained and unique details preserved through generous donations from those they serve.
The early records of All Saints have been lost, so its architect and builders are unknown. But its fish-scale shingles and modest white steeple peeking out from the surrounding greenery have inspired locals and tourists alike to stop and explore its gardens and lovely interior.
Memorial gardens were added to the grounds on the chapel’s 100th anniversary. Native limestone is carved with the names of parishioners whose cremated remains are interred there. Volunteer gardeners, known affectionately as the Holy Weeders, maintain the plants and clear weeds from the commemorative stones.
The intimate all-wood nave brings to mind the hull of a ship, the poetry of its exposed beams and soaring rafters arcing across the ceiling.
Rows of wooden chairs fill the space, with two center rows original to the building. The side rows were added in 1905, when the chapel was widened to serve a growing congregation and to install windows that would admit more light.
That light has a reverent quality. The skylights carved into the ceiling are small and the stained-glass windows glow like gems. The motion of the trees outside casts shadows across the panes. On the weekdays when the chapel opens its doors to the public, a single candle stands before the altar.
“That glitter up front in a darkened church moves a lot of people,” said Katharine “Kitty” Babson, who serves as the chapel’s community engagement coordinator.
During his homily, Brown made a point of recognizing all the visiting clergy in attendance, many of whom had preached at All Saints.
But he emphasized that “the laymen, women, children and teens are the ones who’ve been keeping this community together for 125 years — summer in, summer out,” and he urged the congregation “to claim this as a blessing and a legacy.”
All Saints Chapel, 9 Cooper Lane, Orr’s Island, holds services at 9 a.m. each Sunday from June through September. It is open for quiet reflection from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. For more information, go to allsaintsorrsis.org.
