Who Was Michael A. Jenkins?

Who was Michael Jenkins, the man who donated so much of his personal money to the building and beautification of Corpus Christi Jenkins-Memorial Church? 

He was born December 27, 1842, the youngest son of Thomas Courtney Jenkins and Louisa Carrell.  As his father and his older brothers, he was educated at Mount Saint Mary’s College, located in Emmitsburg, Maryland, graduating in the class of 1862.  Returning to Baltimore, he joined his father and brothers George and Joseph in the commercial firm Poland, Jenkins & Co. (later Jenkins, Staylor & Co., and, by 1880, Jenkins Brothers).

On October 2, 1866, he married his 2^nd cousin Mary Isabella Plowder Jenkins (1844-1911), the daughter of his father’s paternal cousin, Austin Jenkins (1806-1888).  For a few years, Michael and Mary Isabella resided in the home of Michael’s parents at 167 St. Paul Street.  By 1868 however they had moved to a house at 130 Park Avenue.  After the death of Mary Isabella’s father, Austin, in 1888, the couple moved to Mary’s ancestral home at 616 Park Avenue.  This house remained their city residence until Michael’s death in 1915. 

Meanwhile, Michael became a leading financier involving himself in many business and civic activities. In 1896 he was elected president of the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company, resigning in 1907 to become Chairman of the Board of Directors. He was made president of the Safe Deposit and Trust Company in 1901 and of the Atlantic Coast Line Company in 1906. He was also vice president of the Northern Central Railway Company, director of the Metropolitan Savings Bank, a trustee of the Baltimore Cathedral, and treasurer of the Peabody Institute. He was one of the founders of The Catholic University of America, serving as a trustee from 1885 and as a treasurer from 1905 until his death.  While Michael Jenkins did not play an active role in Baltimore politics, he was instrumental in bringing the 1912 Democratic Convention to Baltimore. 

As devout Catholics, Michael and Mary Isabella Jenkins were important benefactors to many charitable institutions.  As the Sun mentioned in 1915 “practically every charitable institution, orphanage and hospital under the patronage of the Catholic Church has enjoyed his beneficence.[1]”  Michael was a trustee of the Cathedral in Baltimore and a very close friend of Cardinal James Gibbons.  They frequently spent time together at each other’s homes and Cardinal Gibbons consulted Michael on many archdiocesan financial matters.  In recognition for all the things he had done for the cause of Catholicism in the United States, Pope Pius X ennobled Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins in May 1903 as the Duke and Duchess of Llewellyn of the Holy Roman Empire.  Finally, in 1904, Michael Jenkins donated the land next to Corpus Christi to MICA after their building downtown was destroyed in the 1904 fire, land which he had purchased for the sole purpose of protecting the property. 

Like many well-to-do Baltimoreans, Michael and Mary Isabella Jenkins also owned a country villa outside the city, in very close proximity to the estates that belonged to his older siblings.  In 1881, his older brother Joseph had purchased a beautiful estate, called “Windy Gates,” which stretched the length of Lake Avenue between Falls Road and Roland Avenue and featured gardens designed by the famed Olmsted Brothers[2]. Three years later, in 1884, Joseph bought “Edgewood” (911 West Lake) for his unmarried sisters, Eliza and Ellen[3].  In 1895 Michael followed suit and bought an old farmhouse on Lake Avenue, not far from “Windy Gates,” and named it “Llewellyn”[4].  Likewise, his brother George Jenkins built “Seven Oaks” in 1904, a large Georgian revival house designed by Joseph Evans Sperry, on nearby Valley Road[5]. 

Michael Jenkins' old country villa now the Boy's Latin Upper School main building.

Michael and Mary Isabella Jenkins never had children.  When Mary Isabella died on March 5, 1911 she was buried in the St. Thomas Chapel of Corpus Christi and, as a memorial to her, Michael Jenkins financed extensive renovations for the church in her memory. The church was repainted and mosaic flooring was laid in the vestibules and nave, consisting of white marble with centerpieces and borders of grape clusters and shades of wheat.  In the sanctuary, the candlesticks were re-gilded, and the circular surrounding wall was covered with figured gold above a rich wainscoting of marble.  The arched ceilings of the St. Mary and Sacred Heart Chapels were overlaid with gold, as were the organ pipes and the iron gates in front of the sanctuary.  The vestibules of both entrances received marble wainscoting, radiators were concealed and gas was replaced by electricity.  In 1912 the old tower was removed and work on a new steeple was begun.  A huge clock was installed with dials visible of a wide territory and four new bells were added so that chimes would ring the hours and half-hours.   That same year, the original Stations of the Cross, which were small oil paintings, were replaced by relief mosaics.  Finally, in 1914, two mosaics representing the Eucharistic Christ were installed, one on each side of the sanctuary, the walls surrounding the Altar of the Blessed Virgin were marbleized, and a gold mosaic ceiling was formed above the high altar.

Exactly one hundred years ago last week, on Monday, September 7 1915, Michael A. Jenkins died of pneumonia in the home of his sister Eliza on Lake Avenue.  Had he lived a few more weeks until the end of the month he would have been 73 years old.  According to the Baltimore Sun, the city reacted shocked, flags were half-masted, Henry Walters, “deeply grieved,” returned from New York, and Archbishop Gibbons, “completely crushed,” contemplated breaking his retreat for the first time in his life. [6]  Even Mr. and Mrs. W. Vanderbilt traveled to Baltimore to pay their respects.[7] 

A Requiem Mass was celebrated on September 10^th at the Cathedral.  The liturgy was presided over by the Archbishop and attended by several bishops and many priests, nuns and prelates of the Catholic Church, as well as numerous prominent businessmen and politicians.  Afterwards his relatives and closest friends attended his burial in the crypt at Corpus Christi Church.[8]  

Michael Jenkins’ wealth at the time of his death was estimated to be at least $15,000,000, but the Baltimore Sun had to announce a week later that the financier’s estate was far smaller than expected, only $3,500,000.  He left no will, perhaps to the disappointment of many, and thus his fortune was distributed among his three nearest relatives, his siblings George, Joseph, and Eliza.[9]

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[1] "Michael Jenkins, Financier, Dies." Sun [Baltimore] 8 Sept. 2015: 14+. ProQuest Historical Newspapers [ProQuest]. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.

[2] In the early 1980s Windy Gates was developed into Devon Hill Condominiums.

[3] Edgewood is now owned by the Josephite Fathers.

[4] Llewellyn is now the main building on the campus of Baltimore's Boy’s Latin School.

[5] In 1947 the School Sisters of Notre Dame founded Villa Julie College at “Seven Oaks.”

[6] "Michael Jenkins, Financier, Dies." Sun [Baltimore] 8 Sept. 2015: 14+. ProQuest Historical Newspapers [ProQuest]. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.

[7] "W.K. Vanderbilt Here." Sun [Baltimore] 9 Sept. 1915: 12. ProQuest Historical Newspapers [ProQuest]. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.

[8] "Cardinal Extols Him." Sun [Baltimore] 12 Sept. 1915: 4. ProQuest Historical Newspapers [ProQuest]. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.

[9] "Jenkins Left $3,500,000." Sun [Baltimore] 17 Sept. 1915: 7. ProQuest Historical Newspapers [ProQuest]. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.

The Feast of St. John the Baptist

Next week Wednesday, June 24, the church celebrates the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.  June 24 is also this saint’s feast day, which is unusual (normally a the day of a saint’s death is chosen as the feast day because that day marks the saint’s entrance into heaven).  However, Catholic tradition holds that St. John was cleansed of original sin in the womb of his mother at the greeting of Mary. 

The nativity of St. John the Baptist comes three months after the Annunciation (March 25) and six months before Christmas (December 25).  If you are wondering why June 24, rather than 25, this is due to the Roman way of counting, which proceeded backward from the calends (first day) of the succeeding month.  Christmas was "the eighth day before the Kalends of January".  Consequently, St. John's nativity was put on the "eighth day before the Kalends of July." However, since June has only thirty days, in our way of counting the feast falls on June 24.

St. John the Baptist, the forerunner or ‘messenger’ of Christ, forms a link between the Old and New Testaments, being regarded as the last in the line of Old Testament prophets and the first of the saints of the New.  He was the son of Zacharias, a priest of the Temple of Jerusalem, and Elisabeth, a kinswoman of the Virgin Mary.  St. John was a preacher and lived an ascetic life in the desert.  He baptized in the Jordan waters all who came to him in a penitent spirit.  At the baptism of Christ, the Holy Ghost appears in the form of a dove was seen to descend from heaven.  He was imprisoned by Herod Antipas and later executed as a consequence of a rash promise made by the tetrarch to his step-daughter Salome.[i]

In 1901, three additional stained glass windows were installed at Corpus Christi Church, further gifts from Michael Jenkins.  In the main vestibule, St. Michael & St. Gabriel were added, whereas the side vestibule was adorned with a portrait of St. John the Baptist.

The saint is portrayed as an adult walking in the wilderness.  He is dressed in a camel’s hair coat, but the artist added a white outer garment of cloth, much like a toga.  Around his waist is a leather girdle.  His hair is rather wild an unkempt. 

 In his left hand he holds the reed cross with a long slender stem, his attribute and a symbol for a preacher.   His right hand is lifted upwards as he is pointing to God in heaven.  From the reed cross a banner unfolds with the words “Ecce Agnus Dei” (John 1:35-36).   

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,  and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

Reeds are growing at his feet, a reference to Jesus’ statement of John in Luke 7:24-26

When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?  What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. 26What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.  

Two white birds (doves?) are hovering nearby, perhaps foretelling the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove at Jesus’ baptism.[ii]

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[i] James Hall, Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art (Westview Press, 2008): p. 178

[ii] Ibid.; Richard Taylor, How to read a church (Hidden Spring, 2003): p. 94-95.

Vines, thorns, crowns and pelicans

 In 1911, after the death of his wife, Mary Isabel Jenkins, Michael Jenkins commissioned an extensive renovation of Corpus Christi Church.  As part of the redecoration, the old windows of the aisles were replaced by 10 new English stained-glass windows, designed and fabricated by the John Hardman and Co. of London and Birmingham, England. 

Filled with elaborate foliated work, the new windows symbolize the Holy Eucharist.  One window shows a conventional treatment of the Vine, the emblem of the Eucharist.  The next window shows the Holy Thorn intertwined at regular intervals with a golden crown to signify the heavenly reward of earthly suffering.  This window pattern alternates in the ten main aisle windows. 

The traceries above the thorn & vine windows show six other emblems of the Eucharist: the Lamb of God, a pelican in her piety, a sheaf of wheat, a chalice, and finally a lamp burning as if it were in honor of the Sacrament. 

Lamb of God

Sheaf of wheat

Burning Lamp

Chalice

Pelican in her piety

The image of the pelican “in piety” was an often used symbol for the Jenkins family.  E.g., the motif of the pelican piercing its breast to feed its young with its blood was used to decorate one of the early chalices used in the church.

First and foremost, the pelican is seen as the symbol of symbolizes the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (because he gave his blood for others) as well as the Eucharist (because it represents Christ's blood and provides spiritual nourishment). 

The Physiologus (a Greek didactic text written in 2nd cent. AD) told that the pelican is very fond of its brood, but when the young ones begin to grow they rebel against the male bird and provoke his anger, so that he kills them; the mother returns to the nest in three days, sits on the dead birds, pours tier blood over them, and they feed on the blood.  The physical reality which probably resulted in this legend is that the long beak of the pelican has a sack or pouch which serves as a container for the small fish that it feeds its young. In the process of feeding them, the bird presses the sack back against its neck in such a way that it seems to open its breast with its bill. The reddish tinge of its breast plumage and the redness of the tip of its beak prompted the legend that it actually drew blood from its own breast.

Thomas Aquinas used the allegory in his 'Adoro Te Devote'

Pelican of mercy, Jesus, Lord and God,

Cleanse me, wretched sinner, in Thy Precious Blood:

Blood where one drop for human-kind outpoured

Might from all transgression have the world restored.

By extension, the Pelican is also the personification of two virtues that were exceptionally important to the Jenkins family, i.e. “charity,” and “devotion to family.”   The pelican feeding its young is an emblem of charity.  Thus the pelican was said to be “in her piety,” a word derived from the latin pietas, which was one of the chief virtues of the Romans.  Cicero defined it as the quality "which admonishes us to do our duty to our country or our parents or other blood relations," i.e. familial affection and patriotism.

Bibliography
Hall, James. Dictionary of Subject and Symbols in Art. Boulder: Westview, 2008.
Raithwood, Elizabeth. "The Medieval Pelican." Elizabeth Raithwood's Home page. n.d. http://donna.hrynkiw.net/sca/pelican/ (accessed May 13, 2015).
Wikipedia contributors. "Adore te devote." Wikipedia. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adoro_te_devote&oldid=641531406 (accessed May 13, 2015).
—. "Pelican." Wikipedia. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pelican&oldid=660271020 (accessed May 13, 2015).
—. "Physiologus." Wikipedia. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Physiologus&oldid=648772577 (accessed May 13, 2015).

I am the True Vine

"I am the true vine and my Father is the vinegrower."  This is the first verse of this weekend's gospel reading, John 15:1-8.  It immediately reminded me of one of the two large mosaics in the front of Corpus Christi church, on either side of the apse.  

The two mosaics were installed in 1913-1914, as the Baltimore Sun reported in early August:

“What experts pronounce to be the two finest mosaics in the United States were blessed a few days ago at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Mount Royal and Lafayette avenues, by the Rev. James F. Nolan, pastor of the church. The mosaics are a gift of Michael Jenkins in memory of his wife, who is buried at the church.  [...] The mosaics represent the Eucharistic Christ. They are eight feet high and five feet wide.  Ten thousand pieces were used in the making of each mosaic.  They are the work of the John Harden Company, London, and it took two years to complete.  [...] The hundreds of persons who have visited the church to see the mosaics have been impressed by their great beauty and dignity."[1]

In the mosaic, Christ is wearing a white vestment worn at Benediction.  The large outer garment is called a cope and the white tunic is called an alb.    He is shown treading the wine press and wine from the press flows into three communion chalices below.  Interlacing grapevines form the border of the central figure.  Beneath the mosaic is the text "I am the true vine."   Two angels with blue wings hold up a red tapestry that also includes the first verse of John 15.

[1] "Fine Mosaics Blessed: Those at Corpus Christi Pronounced Best in Country." Sun [Baltimore] 8 Aug. 1914: 7. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Web. 31 Jan. 2015.

Stations of the Cross at Corpus Christi

During this time of lent it seems appropriate to take a closer look at the the fourteen mosaic representations of the Stations of the Cross which are arranged at intervals around the walls of the church.  The current stations, which replaced the original ones from 1890s, were installed in 1912 as part of the renovations financed by Michael Jenkins.  The Baltimore Sun reported on the beautification of the church in an article on July 26, 1912:

“The extensive improvements being made to Corpus Christi Catholic Church, at Mount Royal and Lafayette Avenues, by Mr. Michael Jenkins, are well under way and will probably be finished by next October.  […]  It is understood that the present Stations of the Cross, which are small and oil paintings, will be superseded by magnificent mosaics in relief, made abroad.  These will be the only ones of their kind in the United States.  Their value is said to represent a small fortune.  Several designs have been submitted and one of particular beauty was placed in the church in order that it might be ascertained whether or not it harmonized with the other decorations."[1]

The Stations of the Cross (also called the Way of the Cross, Via Crucis or Via Dolorosa) represent fourteen episodes in the passion and death of Christ from His judgment before Pilate to His burial in the tomb of Joseph or Aramethea.  The origin of the devotion can be traced back to the Holy Land.  The Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem was reverently marked out from the earliest times and has been the goal of pious pilgrims ever since the days of Constantine.  A desire to reproduce these holy places in other lands, in order to satisfy the devotion of those who were hindered from making the actual pilgrimage, seems to have manifested itself at quite an early date, but one can be relatively certain that the Way of the Cross as we understand it today (i.e. a settled route with special stopping places with indulgences attached) was not known until the 15^th century.  And the erection of the Stations inside churches did not become common until the end of the 17th century.  In 1686, Pope Innocent XI granted the Franciscans, in answer to their petition, the right to erect the Stations in all their churches, and declared that all the indulgences that had ever been given for devoutly visiting the actual scenes of Christ's Passion, could thenceforth be gained by Franciscans and all others affiliated to their order if they made the Way of the Cross in their own churches in the accustomed manner.   By the middle of the 18^th century, all priests had been given the right to erect Stations within their church, and most Catholic Church nowadays contain such treasures. [2]

The standard set from the 17^th century onwards has consisted of 14 representations of the following scenes:

1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus carries his cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets his mother
5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7. Jesus falls the second time
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls the third time
10. Jesus is stripped of his garments
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus is taken down from the cross (Deposition or Lamentation)
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.

Station 1 [Jesus is condemned to death] depicts Jesus being led away by soldiers while Pontius Pilate washes his hands.  Jesus is wearing the scarlet robe and crown of thorns, as mentioned in Matthew 27:24-29:

When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it." And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children." Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.  Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand.

[1] "Beautifying Corpus Christi: Heoric Statues in Place, Magnificent Stations Planned." Sun [Baltimore] 26 July 1912: 11. Proquest Historical Newspapers. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.

[2] Alston, George Cyprian. "Way of the Cross." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 27 Feb. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15569a.htm>.