Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Chapel

The Chapel was first built in 1953, and it was one of the first Catholic churches in the United States to be built based off of a circular design, with the altar at the center of the church and the congregation intimately flowing completely around it. Brother Nilus Donnelly built the chapel with Marist Brothers' labor and simple building techniques. The upper inner perimeter of the chapel was originally lined with photographic images of the Virgin Mary. Images of a model (Rita Hunt) portraying the Madonna with accompanying quotes from scripture where displayed on sheets of heavy plastic. The plastic sheets were suspended on strings which compensated for the expansion caused by the sunlight and the contraction which occurred during the night. Recently stained glass windows were installed in the Chapel depicting scenes from around the Hudson River Valley.