While driving along Highway 150, north of LA, a gracious white bell tower peeking above some trees caught Anthony Hopkins attention. Curious, he decided to pull over. He wandered around for sometime, lost, not knowing what the place was.
The place was Thomas Aquinas College in Sta. Paula, California and the 135 foot bell tower Hopkins saw belongs to the college’s Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, a Spanish mission style church that was dedicated three years ago. He was then invited to talk to the schools arts student which he obligingly accepted (watch it here).
The man’s not a Catholic but he was obviously drawn to experience Catholic culture seeing the Thomas Aquinas College. The story goes that when the actor pulled over he was scratching his head not knowing where he was until a freshman came to him and told him.
A Catholic magazine called the college’s chapel a “triumph of Sacred Architecture”. And I couldn;t agree more. Sir Anthony Hopkins spur of the moment visit is proof that some church possess some natural and spiritual beauty that captures us in ways we could never fully explain.
i think architecture and the profession itself owed it success to these sacred buildings and her triumph will never waiver.
It would be hard to go against the Pyramids, Angkor Wat etc. fact remains, greatest architectural creations were made by people inspired by their spiritual belief.
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