CSB/SJU: A wonderful book for a wonderful church

Feature on Victoria Young's SAINT JOHN'S ABBEY CHURCH

Young_Saint coverThere weren't a lot of architectural wonders for Victoria Young to study growing up in Comfrey, Minnesota.

A grain elevator was interesting to look at. The Post Office and the old City Hall had some nice touches, but nothing that would show up on the pages of Architecture Minnesota magazine.

But when the teen-aged Young visited Saint John's University and saw the Abbey and University Church for the first time, her eyes lit up.

"We had a very small school, and it didn't even have an art class. It (the church) was like, 'Wow, this is pretty incredible.' I always remembered it," Young said.

Young, professor and chair of the art history department at the University of St. Thomas, has authored a book on the church, "Saint John's Abbey Church: Marcel Breuer and the Creation of a Modern Sacred Space" (2014, University of Minnesota Press, 240 pages, $34.95).

Keep reading.

Published in: College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University Community Newsroom
By: Mike Killeen