The Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ on the Mount is a modest, single-room, hand-built wooden church near the summit of Meads Mountain in Woodstock, New York, originally constructed c. 1891 by William Mead and his wife, Anna Della Mead. Services in the Sarum Rite of the Western Orthodox (Catholic) tradition are held each Sunday morning.
Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ-on-the-Mount | |
 | |
| Location | 325 Mead Mountain Road, Woodstock, New York |
|---|---|
| Built | 1891[2] |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival[2] |
| NRHP reference No. | 05001385[1] |
| Added to NRHP | December 9, 2005 |
The church is purported to be the repository of a Marian weeping icon. In the 1960s, Father Francis, the much-beloved "hippie priest", here welcomed hippies who had congregated in town during those years that culminated in the famous art and music festival. Fr. Francis began the practice of this lesser known branch of Catholicism, which acknowledges the Pope as an earthly spiritual leader but, unlike classical Roman Catholicism, does not consider the Pope to be supreme or infallible.
The church has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places,[3][4] due in meaningful part to the devoted efforts of Father Deacon John Nelson, an understudy of Fr. Francis and peer of contemporary spiritual leaders[5] who reverently maintained the Church until his death on August 1, 2017.[6]
Fr. John's remains were committed to the earth alongside the structure[7] following a traditional requiem Mass.[8]
References edit
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ a b "Archiplanet.org entry". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
- ^ "Description of Father Francis including interview". Archived from the original on 2007-10-07. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
- ^ Shouting Thomas Blog article
- ^ "Karmapa Visits Woodstock's Western Orthodox Church". Archived from the original on 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
- ^ "Father John Nelson, of Church of the Holy Transfiguration in Woodstock, dies at 66". 2 August 2017.
- ^ "Funeral Services for Fr. Deacon John Nelson". August 2017.
- ^ "Short Overview on the Funeral Rites for Father Deacon John this Past Friday and Saturday". 7 August 2017.
External links edit
- "Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ-on-the-Mount" at Transfiguration of Woodstock