Photo Credit: Jeffrey Totaro

Immaculate Conception Chapel, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary

Liturgical/Interior Design
Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP

Ambler, PA

The Immaculate Conception Chapel is the spiritual center of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary’s relocated campus. Seating 220, the new chapel maintains a 155-year tradition while supporting the seminary’s future. It is a living place of formation where memory, devotion, and faith connect generations by giving salvaged sacred furnishings renewed life in a space alive with light, sound, and texture.

The chapel’s character is shaped by architecture and furnishings that support both heritage and daily liturgical life. Tiered antiphonal seating allows seminarians to chant the daily Divine Office in facing choirs, while forward-facing pews in the back of the nave accommodate larger liturgies. Light filters through the dozen stained glass windows brought from the former campus. Carved pews, Stations of the Cross, statues, and stained-glass windows were carefully salvaged, restored, and relocated from two chapels at the old campus. The sacrificial altar, formed from two reconfigured side altars, anchors the chancel, while the tabernacle, sanctuary lamp, radiant Holy Spirit laylight, ambo, and faculty stalls, all brought from the former campus, surround the high altar. In the narthex, the relocated Mary shrine, Drexel crucifix, and holy water font once again welcome worshippers.

Jury Comments

The way this new interior successfully incorporates consecrated objects from the previous campus is impressive. The chapel respects the heritage and traditional liturgy of the seminary while also seeming bright, fresh, and forward-looking. The chapel’s nave and tabernacle are stunning.

Project Partners

Aegis Property Group
Voith & Mactavish Architects
W.S. Cumby
O’Donnell & Naccarato Structural Engineers
Alderson Engineering
Acentech
St. Jude Liturgical Arts Studio
Frederick & Emily’s Church Renovation
Beyer Studio
McMahon Plaster