Cross Hill

The elevation to the east of the monastery, long known in secular parlance as Almy Hill, once served as an ever-present reminder to the early monastic community of its hopes and plans to construct a new church and monastery. Throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s, as those hopes progressively grew into plans, it stood in the midst of agricultural land. An orchard spread out to the west, and sheep grazed freely, with little high bush or tree growth. With the monastery and the School continuing to grow, each sunrise illuminated an open space ready for the eastward and upward expansion of the monastery and grounds from its original setting in the Manor House. With the completion of the two first Belluschi structures in the late 1950’s, Almy Hill now rose directly behind the church and monastery. Now, the cross placed at the peak of that hill served as an ever-present reminder of why the monastery and church were there at all. And it came to be known by the name “Cross Hill.”

New stone bench installed at the top of Cross HillThe hill had offered commanding views of Narragansett Bay to the indigenous peoples who called the island Aquidneck. Its elevation lent it a strategic role in the Battle of Rhode Island of the American Revolution, as Hessian troops made their way down from it into bloody conflict with a diverse array of assembled American forces. For later occupants, its ready access rendered it a comfortable spot to stroll to take in again the beauty of its overlook. And for the devout, particularly on Good Friday, it has come to serve as a commemoration place of Our Lord’s Passion. The full force of this association is felt when they gather to pray the Stations of the Cross and the hill seems to take on a different name: Golgotha. In the Spring of 1977, the community was jarred to look up and see that the cross had suddenly gone missing – at the time, with less plant growth on the hill, the cross was more prominent, and its absence immediately detectable. Made of copper, which at the time was surging in value, it was assumed to have been stolen for profit. Students quickly cobbled together a provisional wooden cross, which they even carried up the hill the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday that year, producing a poignant experience for the assembled. A more sturdy (and not readily marketable) cross of iron eventually came to take its place.
Br. Joseph Byron working on installationBrother Joseph Byron, who has led the Stations for many years, has regularly suggested to participants that they refrain from taking in the view until they get to the top, a small symbolic abstinence that can accentuate the absorption of the full, universal meaning of the Stations. Once one arrives at the foot of the cross, one turns to take in the full sweep of the panorama. He has continued the practice of Fr. Edmund Adams of guiding the praying of the Stations with a beautiful collection of readings from Scripture and from Julian of Norwich, as selected by the Poor Clare Sisters at Ty Mam Duw, Wales. Inclement weather would mean the Good Friday Stations would be prayed indoors, with the faithful gathered around the set of the stations created by the Swiss artisan Meinrad Burch-Korrodi, who also created the corpus on the crucifix in the center of Lippold’s wire sculpture, “Trinity.” Until this year, the Stations prayed outdoors have been signposted by wooden panels with Roman numerals, temporary markers placed for the day. The year 2025, a Jubilee Year of Hope, brings a new and permanent path of markers in granite and bronze, a long simmering project of Br. Joseph that has finally come to fruition.
Station VI – Veronica wipes the face of ChristThree major elements finally came together this fall to catalyze the creation of the new Stations. First, with the cutting of much of the growth on Cross Hill, now more accessible to walkers from various directions, Br. Joseph began to visualize more distinctly how a path could be arranged along the western base of the hill. Second, the plaques designating each of the fourteen Stations were ready to hand, a gift from Mrs. Hope Carter. Br. Joseph had noticed the set in Lourdes while attending a pilgrimage organized by Mrs. Carter, thinking they would suit Portsmouth well. She in turn noticed his interest, and soon made the generous gift. The beautiful plaques were fabricated at the historic Benedictine monastery of Maria Laach in Germany. Now, with the set having awaited its use for two decades, the third element emerged: the granite pillars that would serve as their setting.
Along the path of the Stations of the Cross on Cross HillThe passing of Mr. Antonio Ramos in September of 2024, long a devoted and generous friend of the monastery, reconnected Br. Joseph with the Ramos family. Mr. Ramos’ company, Granites of America in Smithfield, Rhode Island, has done a good deal of work around the grounds, making the donation of paving stones around several of the buildings, including the stairs leading to the main entrance of the Church. His widow Mrs. Ann Marie Ramos and their daughter Toni heard of the plans for the Stations, and were immediately captivated by it, selecting and donating the pillars together with two stone benches to complete the project. Toni, class of 2012 and active in Spiritual Life programs as a student, felt a double connection to the project, with her devotion to the Stations as well as her participation in the Lourdes pilgrimage as a student. She has come to know her father’s trade quite well, and provided us with interesting additional information on the pillars and benches, all made of stone quarried by their company. The granite of the pillars is known as Tapestry, quarried in Milford, New Hampshire – coincidentally prominent in the buildings at USMA West Point. The benches are Deer Isle® quarried in Stonington, Maine, and used at the Rockefeller Center. Elsewhere on our own grounds here at Portsmouth, Deer Isle® is found on the walkway entrance to the Administration Building. A stone known as Jet Mist® is found in the paving and steps of the Administration Building facing the Holy Lawn, and in the steps to the Church, as well as the entrance of the new Science Building and around the new student Center. Jet Mist® is quarried in Rapidan, Virginia, and is also used in the National 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan, the National Airforce Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, and was requested by I.M. Pei for his last project in Japan.
View from Cross HillWith the components in place, now came the laborious steps of transitioning them into a completed scheme. Each step along the way presented its own challenges, such as adhering the plaques to the granite, installing the granite, and fully clearing and preparing the path. Having surmounted the challenge of adhering the plaques so they would endure the New England weather, and with the timely assistance of Mr. John Ferrell, who supplied machinery and a crew, the fourteen roughly 2000 pound pillars were quickly installed. Br. Joseph subsequently was hard at work clearing the growth along the path to get the site ready for its inaugural Good Friday.
Station XIII – Christ taken down from the CrossIf Good Friday inaugurates the temporal capstone of the Paschal Mystery and, like the original Passover, “marks the head of our calendar,” Cross Hill, particularly on that day, marks a kind of spatial capstone for Portsmouth. The Hill is a place of places, a place where one thinks of place, a place of synthesis and commemoration. The newly installed path and pillars for the Stations seem only to underline that and to create for it a new kind of hedge. They point the way to its summit and, like the Cross which now lends the hill a name, they remind us of why we are here.

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