Thomas Aquinas College Chapel
Santa Paula, California
The three story belltower and dome can be seen from within the valley, and in particular from Ojai Road. After entering the campus, visitors will see the chapel’s curvilinear apse rising in front of them and will mount stairs up to a side terrace garden. Two octagonal corner pavilions, inspired by the posas built for catechesis by Spanish missionaries, provide a transition to the arcades of existing academic buildings.
The front of the chapel is on the college’s main quadrangle with arcades providing covered access from the chapel to the academic buildings. The front façade is articulated by a limestone triumphal arch with fluted and spiral fluted ionic columns. These frame the marble statues of St. Augustine, Doctor Gratiae, and St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor Communis the spiritual fathers of the college. Positioned above are four Corinthian pilasters which form a temple in muris punctuated by a central window. Within the triangular pediment two angels hold the college’s coat of arms while a marble statue of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity surmounts the pediment. The lower frieze inscription, Domina Nostra Sanctissimae Trinitatatis, indicates the dedication of the chapel while the upper frieze quotes Rev. 12:1, Et Signum magnum apparuit in caelo mulier amicta sole et luna sub pedibus eius et in capite eius corona stellarum duodecim. The exterior has thick walls with a stucco finish, stone detailing, red tile roofs, and arched and circular windows.
Generous stairs and a broad terrace provide a gathering place and a location for outdoor ceremonies. The triumphal arch leads to a large porch or exonarthex with doric pilasters which support a heavy coffered vault. The main bronze doors have been designed to receive six bas-reliefs from the life of the Virgin with the “coronation” in the lunette above. The chapel has a nave, transept and sanctuary in the shape of a cross holding up to four hundred people. corinthian arcades made out of monolithic marble columns give it the character of an Early Christian basilica. The corinthian capitals have an image of the Holy Spirit on their face. A giant order of composite pilasters support a full entablature from which springs the vault of the ceiling with its ribbed supports and arched windows. The windows are high up in the nave and the aisles, symbolizing spiritual light. At the crossing, a segmental dome symbolizes the dome of heaven with twelve circular windows in honor of the apostles. Large double pilasters give support to the dome with pendentives marked by symbols of the four evangelists. The side aisles provide places for procession and additional seating, while mahogany confessionals are placed at the center point of the nave.
The curved sanctuary is defined by a raised marble floor, an altarrail and giant composite pilasters and arches. The main focus of the interior is on the pure white marble altar covered by a bronze baldacchino. Four solomonic columns on marble pedestals support a canopy, while angels holding wheat and grapes flank an image of Christ crucified. An octagonal marble and gold bronze tabernacle with an image of the redeemer is centrally located at the head of the chapel while a raised mahogany ambo with a sounding board is placed off to one side. To either side of the sanctuary are marble shrines with paintings of the Annunciation and the Baptism of Christ while shrines in honor of the temptation of St. Thomas and the communion of St. Theresa of Avila are located at the end of the transepts. A sacristy and a work sacristy with mahogany cabinetry are located to either side of the sanctuary and connected by a small ambulatory.
