University of Virginia Library

XXXVI. Religion

What was the religious condition of the University
during this period of reconstruction and reexpansion?
The predominant question in that connection which most
interested the minds of the authorities during this interval
was the acquisition of a new place of worship. Through
many years, the services continued to be conducted in
one of the former gymnasia; and occasionally the doors
of the public hall were thrown open to the worshippers.
Of the fund for the erection of a chapel which had been
collected before the war, only five hundred dollars survived
the general destruction of bank securities; this
was invested in the form of a single bond; and Dr. Cabell
was asked to take possession of it and to act as its custodian.
It was apparently not until 1872 that a canvass
began for new subscriptions, under the leadership of Rev

T. D. Witherspoon, the very energetic and devoted chaplain;
but it was not until June, 1884, that the amount
which had been received was sufficient to justify the Faculty
in recommending a site for the building. With the
approval of the Board of Visitors, a spot was chosen near
a water-hole that had long stagnated not far from the
northern end of West Range.

Rev. Otis A. Glazebrook was now the chaplain; and
in the course of the ensuing November, he delivered an
earnest address before the Young Men's Christian Association,
in which he urged that body to appoint a committee
to cooperate with the committee of the Faculty and
the committee of the ladies of the University community
in soliciting additional funds. A mass-meeting followed
in December, at which it was announced that the sum of
fifteen thousand dollars would have to be collected by
private subscription before the project of the chapel could
be converted into a reality. Neither the Board of Visitors,
except as private citizens, nor the State in any capacity,
could legally contribute to such a purpose, although
all were aware that the chapel was to be for the
use of the different Protestant sects, through the alternate
nominations of their respective representatives.

By May, 1884,—principally through the unremitting
energy of Mr. Glazebrook,—the sum of twelve thousand
dollars had been obtained, and the three thousand
additional, which was supposed to be all that was
wanted, was generously presented by Mrs. Charles S.
Venable. The chapel not only had not been completed
by November, 1885, but, by that time, it had been demonstrated
that more than the original estimated amount
would be required to erect it. An appeal to the Young
Men's Christian Association for more active assistance
was now made by the Faculty. By the ensuing June, the

roof had been put on, but the interior parts were still to
be finished. A debt had been incurred by the committee
of professors, and until this had been taken up, they considered
it to be unwise to go on with the construction.
Small progress was recorded before March, 1888, when
the ladies of the community gave a concert in the public
hall in the hope of securing the money still needed. By
June, the building was rapidly advancing to completion,
after entailing an expense of twenty-three thousand dollars.
At one time, there was a lien of eight thousand
dollars on it; but this was finally liquidated by the gifts of
individuals and the collections of the Ladies Chapel Aid
Society. Five thousand dollars was still required,—
which was ultimately obtained by a contribution of twenty-three
hundred dollars from certain citizens, who subscribed
that sum on condition that it should be duplicated
by others, which was quickly done. In June, 1889,
the Faculty decided that it would be safe to go on with
the construction again, as there was now money enough
on hand to finish the uncompleted part of the structure,
and also to buy a suitable organ.

But it was not until June, 1890,—eighteen years after
the first contributions towards its erection had been received
by Dr. Witherspoon,—that the edifice, fully completed,
was formally turned over to the committee of the
Visitors by the president of the Ladies Chapel Aid Society.[36]
It had cost the total sum of thirty thousand dollars,
exactly double the figure of the original estimate.
Not one cent of this large amount had been drawn from
the treasury of the State or of the University, although
the building from the moment that the foundation-stone
was laid became the property of that institution and the
Commonwealth. There seems to have been a legislative

and visitorial sentiment, backed by law, adverse to spending
money on the building, but none whatever to taking
possession of it after it was constructed, an inconsistency
slightly Gilbertian in character. It was acknowledged by
all that this chapel was imperatively needed by the University
community, and it was also clearly comprehended
that its pulpit was to be occupied by a succession of clergymen
representing, not one, but practically all the Protestant
denominations. There was to be no leaning whatever
towards any one branch of sectarianism in its
use. It was the welfare of religion in its broadest aspect
that this building was to subserve; and yet during the
time that the members of the Ladies Chapel Aid Society
and the Young Men's Christian Association were, with
extraordinary devotion and energy, collecting the necessary
funds, the Board of Visitors were empowered to
assist only to the extent of designating a site on the
grounds,—an act that only called for a resolution of a
few words at an annual meeting.

Some criticism was levelled at the architectural design
of the new chapel on the ground, that like the design
of the Brooks Museum, it was not in harmony with the
style of the remaining buildings. John K. Peebles, an
architect of distinction, and an alumnus of the University
also, expressed the opinion, that, following the example
of the Fayerweather Gymnasium, it should have been
constructed of brick upon a strictly classical model; but
the Faculty, on the other hand, were so well satisfied
with the whole character of the edifice that they publicly
pronounced it to be an "ornament" to the precincts.

When the session of 1865–66 opened, the old system
of appointing in turn clergymen from the different Protestant
denominations to serve as chaplains was readopted.
The term of incumbency was still to extend over a period

of two sessions. The advantages expected to follow
from an alternating chaplainship were still the same:
it would ensure religious worship within the precincts
continuously without encouraging the spirit of sectarianism;
would limit the flock of each pastor to the mass of
the students alone; would increase the sympathy and
confidence of that flock in this pastor by placing him
on the level of the average collegian in the length of his
connection with the institution; and, finally, it would tend,
through the brevity of his term, to stimulate him to extraordinary
zeal in the prosecution of his pastoral labors.
Of the chaplains who occupied the University pulpit in
the interval between 1865 and 1895, George B. Taylor,
a Baptist, alone had formerly filled the same position.
Among the incumbents in the course of this memorable
period were John S. Lindsay, Peter Tinsley, T. D. Witherspoon,
S. A. Steele, R. J. McBryde, A. B. Woodfin,
C. R. Vaughan, J. T. Whitley, Otis A. Glazebrook,
James M. Rawlings, Collins Denny, J. L. Lancaster, J.
William Jones, A. R. Cocke, and L. C. Vass. Rev. Mr.
Vass died while in the act of delivering his first sermon
as chaplain, and with his decease, the office came to an
end.

In November, 1865,—a few weeks after the first
session to follow the war opened,—the Young Men's
Christian Association, now without any permanent lodging,
gratefully accepted the generous invitation of the
Washington Society to occupy their hall on the occasion
of its meetings. The Faculty, in 1868, permitted the
members to use a dormitory on East Lawn as their library
and reading room; but it was not until 1878 that
the association was assigned by the Board to permanent
quarters in the large apartment which had previously
been periodically occupied by the classes in modern languages.

But this settlement was merely a temporary
make-shift. The association was in need of far more
space for the full performance of its beneficent purposes.
The earliest ground which its members had for hoping
that they would ultimately obtain a separate building of
their own is found in a statement made by L. D. Wishard,
of the International Committee of the Young Men's
Christian Association of New York City. "I am confident,"
he wrote, "that at least twenty-five thousand dollars
can be secured for the building at the University of
Virginia, provided that certain conditions be complied
with in the way of guarantee that it will always be used
for the object contemplated in the constitution of the
College Young Men's Christian Association."

Mr. Wishard, accompanied by Douglas Moody, had
already visited the University, and during his sojourn
there (1886), had expressed himself as being very much
impressed with the need of an edifice of that character
within the precincts. The Board of Visitors promptly
offered the guarantee desired. Very luckily, Professor
Noah K. Davis, as we have mentioned, had been successful
in acquiring the title to the conveniently situated
ground on which the modern Madison Hall stands.
The spot was still a boggy ravine, which had come to
be known in derision as "Davis's swamp." In vain a
vigorous effort was now made to influence him to have
the land sold to the General Athletic Association, and
the money to result used in adding to the Temperance
Hall, for the benefit of the local Young Men's Christian
Association. "No," he replied, with characteristic tenacity
and precision, "there shall be no building erected
on this site until there is a fund of fifty thousand dollars
to construct it."

In March, 1890, a special edition of College Topics
was issued in the association's interest, and the need of a
large building for its use was presented in its pages with
remarkable clearness and persuasiveness. John R. Mott,
travelling secretary of the International Committee, was
visiting the University about the time that this number
was published, and he threw the weight of his powerful
advocacy on the side of the college journal's appeal for
support. A mass meeting was held,—on which occasion,
the subject of a new building was discussed in all
its bearings. It was suggested that the structure should
contain a modern gymnasium also; and that the whole
of the campus should be graded for the enjoyment of
athletic sports. The movement practically ended with
the meeting, although a respectable sum seems to have
been subscribed before adjournment. When the new
chapel was finished,—which led to the evacuation of one
of the Rotunda's front wings by the University congregation,
—the Board of Visitors permitted the association
to take possession of that apartment.

The work of this body continued to be limited to the
two provinces which it had so faithfully and so successfully
occupied anterior to the war. This work consisted,
first, of supporting Sunday Schools within the precincts
for the teaching of the white and black children
alike, and of holding a prayer-meeting on every Wednesday
afternoon for the benefit of the students domiciled in
each division of the University, and also on Sunday for
the benefit of the entire mass in college. Under the
auspices of the same body, Bible lessons of extraordinary
interest were given by Professors Minor and Davis.
The work of the association consisted, secondly, of instructing
the illiterate population of the contiguous regions

in the simplest principles of the Christian religion.
Small modern school-houses had been built for the purpose
at Cedar Grove, Ridge View, and New Hope, situated
in the country; and at least two of these primitive
structures stood four miles away from the University,
and one even as far off as six miles. The recitations
began at eleven o'clock in the morning. The first to
arrive in winter, whether teacher or pupil, was expected
to kindle the fire. The furniture of the room consisted
of one stove, one table, three rows of benches, and a
rude pulpit. The singing of hymns was an indispensable
part of the religious exercises. The pupils were
distributed among six classes for religious instruction.
One of these was composed entirely of men and women,
since adults were encouraged to attend. Two of the
classes were made up of small children alone. The remaining
three were recruited from young people of both
sexes.

The association began the session of 1865–66 with
a membership of eighty-eight, which number, by the close
of the following year, had expanded to one hundred and
fifty. With the decline in the enrollment of students
in the different schools which became observable after
1872, this membership, as was to be expected, shrank
very perceptibly, but it started to swell again just as soon
as the annual list of matriculates gave the first sign of
growing in length. Throughout the Seventh Period,
1865–95, the number of Episcopalians, whether in actual
communion with that denomination, or in sympathy
with its doctrines, preponderated over those who were
affiliated with the other sects. The following table pertinent
to three sessions chosen from different sections
of the same period will show the proportions at those
times:

Number of Communicants

               

	1869–70	1871–2	1876–7
Episcopalian	38	41	54
Presbyterian	33	34	26
Baptist	14	20	14
Methodist	19	13	18
Disciples	5	3	6
Catholic	2	5	13
Lutheran	2	2	2

During the session of 1880–81, there were one hundred
and twenty-nine students in active communion with
the Protestant Episcopal denomination; ninety-one, with
the Presbyterian; forty-three, with the Methodist; thirty-eight,
with the Baptist; ten with the Christian; seven
with the Catholic; and three with the Lutheran. During
the session of 1891–2, forty-eight per cent of the matriculates
were united with the Protestant Episcopal
church, and twenty-three with the Presbyterian. The
remainder were divided into smaller circles between the
other sects. The proportion of those who, throughout
the Seventh Period, 1865–95, were zealously associated
with some denomination, was at least one-fourth, and,
during some years, as much as one-third or even more,
of all the matriculates enrolled.

The spirit of tolerance which prevailed made a lasting
impression on more than one intelligent observer.
Writing at the end of the Seventh Period, the Rev. A.
R. Cocke, the chaplain, said, "The religious life at the
University of Virginia is of the most catholic type. The
Faculty embraces men who are leading forces in all the
principal denominations. Their names in their respective
churches are synonyms of devotion, joined with the
highest manhood and keenest intellect. In my extensive
acquaintance with the colleges and universities of the
country, I have never seen instructors more deeply interested

in the moral and religious welfare of their students.
There is no denominational narrowness. The
same catholic spirit, mingled with deep earnestness, pervades
the student body. They work together throughout
the session without asking denominational names. The
University throws every possible religious influence
around the students, and if they go astray, it is despite
innumerable restraints."