Jan Henryk Rosen’s mosaics in St Matthew’s Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

The mosaics designed by Jan Henryk Rosen in St Matthew’s Cathedral, Washington adorn the baptistery (1967–1968), the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament (1968–1970) and the tympanum above the main portal on the façade (1970), where ‘Christ blessing with the open Gospel of St Matthew’ is depicted. All the mosaics were created by The Ravenna Mosaic Company of Saint Louis, a firm with which the artist had collaborated on numerous occasions.

, the Roman Catholic cathedral of Washington (part of the archdiocese since 1939), was built between 1893 and 1895 to a design by the renowned New York architect Christopher Grant La Farge (1862–1938), of the New York architectural firm Heins & LaFarge. It was here that John F. Kennedy’s funeral Mass was held in 1963.

The baptistery, situated to the left of the church entrance, at the end of the portico added to the façade, was decorated with mosaics in 1967–1968, designed by Jan Henryk Rosen. They were consecrated on 28 July 1968 by Monsignor John K. Cartwright, parish priest of the cathedral from 1948 to 1968 and the man who commissioned the designs. The mosaics adorn two walls of a four-sided room with cut corners, laid out on a hexagonal plan. They were placed on adjacent (perpendicular to one another) walls, in recesses of varying widths (one of which is twice as wide as the other). The mosaic opposite the entrance (on the west wall) depicts St Matthew baptising the Ethiopian, with the inscription: ‘and matthew was | baptizing and preaching | in ethiopia rom mart ix 21’ (“And Matthew baptised and preached in Ethiopia”), taken from the liturgical commemoration of St Matthew in the *Martyrologium Romanum*, which falls on 21 October.

The larger of the scenes (on the north wall) depicts an angel stirring the waters of the Pool of Bethesda , with the inscription: “Tharsus, angel of the waters”, whose actions were said to impart healing properties to the water, and a lame man who was healed by the water from the pool (as evidenced by the crutches he has cast aside) – an event described in the Gospel of St John (John 5:1–18). The essential content of the depiction is described on the banner appearing at the top of the composition: ‘For an angel of the Lord used to come | at certain times into the pool | and the water was troubled | St John V 4’ (‘For an angel of the Lord used to come down from time to time [into the pool] and stir up the water’, Jn 5:4). Below, against a gold background, there is another inscription – a hymn of thanksgiving in honour of God: “wherefore I bless you, O | creature of water | by the living God | by the true God | by the holy God” (“Therefore I bless you, creature of water, by the living God, by the true God, by the holy God”). The composition is set against a smooth golden background, which contrasts sharply with the angel’s red robes billowing in motion and the healed man’s lush green cloak. Rosen, as is traditional, depicted the water in silver. The painting is signed at the bottom right, on a banner: ‘john de rosen’.

The mosaic covering the entire altar wall of the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, adjoining the chancel to the west, shares similar formal characteristics. Against a golden background, the Apostles at Emmaus are depicted at the moment when they recognise Christ ‘in the breaking of the bread’ – as indicated by the inscription on the right: ‘they | recognised | him in the | breaking | of the | bread’. The figure of Christ breaking bread is not depicted in the painting itself; this representation is replaced by a tabernacle placed on a small altar table, symbolically completing the scene depicted. The Apostles stand on either side of the tabernacle, facing it and gesturing towards it. The painting is signed at the bottom right: ‘john | de rosen’. The chapel was consecrated on Palm Sunday, 22 March 1970, by Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle, then Archbishop of Washington. The creation of the mosaic in the chapel was delayed due to changes in the position of rector of the cathedral. It was completed when Fr John G. Kuhn became parish priest; he also commissioned the mosaic in the tympanum above the church entrance (1970).