Rohn & Associates Design recently had the pleasure of revisiting a very special church restoration project, the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, GA. Considered the "Sistine of the South," the Mother Church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah (and the oldest Roman Catholic church in Georgia) is a local landmark. Its white steeples tower over the skyline of the historic city and welcome the faithful and hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.
Liturgical Designer Rolf Rohn spent two years collaborating with Bishop Emeritus John Kevin Boland and Rector Monsignor William O'Neill, with the requirement to stay true to the architectural and liturgical designs of the 18th century while updating the space with Vatican II guidelines. Rolf and his team developed and executed the space formation, restored existing liturgical furniture, and designed new complementary furniture and appointments (including the altar, ambo, tabernacle, baptismal font, ambry, cathedra and deacon chairs, St. Joseph's side altar confessional, and crucifix image for the other side altar). They also implemented an inspiring new lighting system, flooring, and pews.
At Rolf's direction, artisans replicated the detailing of the original high raredos on the new main altar. The 9,000-pound white Carrara marble piece features the Latin inscription, "Beati Qui Ad Cenam Agni Vocati Sunt." This translates to "Blessed are they who are called to the banquet of the Lamb," a quotation from Revelation 19:9. The priests and Bishop of the Diocese of Savannah generously donated the altar to the cathedral.
Rolf designed the baptismal font to match the front panels of the main altar and raredos, which were cast in the 1700s. Artists crafted molds of the raredos design and sent them to Carrara, Italy, to be applied to the new font. The octagonal piece weighs an intentional 8,000 pounds (the number eight represents rebirth or resurrection, which is the essence of the Sacrament of Baptism). Another Latin inscription carved in the font declares, “He who sent me to baptize with water, he it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." The early parishioners were mostly Irish, so Rolf incorporated a Celtic theme and gold mosaic representing eternity into its inner granite base.
The team also rebuilt the side altar with matching marble frames for the three oils and fitted it with bronze doors inlaid with granite from Poland to create the ambry.
Finally, Rolf reintroduced the Four Evangelists and Gospel symbols into the Cathedral's pulpit, a replica of one destroyed by an arsonist in 2003.
