About Our Lady of Ephesus Chapel · Kansas City, Missouri
Our Lady of Ephesus Chapel is the chapel of the diocesan Catholic Center (chancery) of the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph, located at 20 West Ninth Street in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Established by Bishop Robert W. Finn and dedicated on August 15, 2011 — the Solemnity of the Assumption — it honors the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Ephesus, recalling the ancient tradition that Mary spent her final years in the city of Ephesus under the care of St. John the Evangelist. Though small (seating about sixty), it is not a private chapel but is offered for the curial staff and the wider diocesan faithful, with Mass celebrated in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms, chant sacred music, and a richly symbolic interior designed by classical architect William Heyer of Columbus, Ohio.
- Established
- 2011
- Patron
- Our Lady of Ephesus (the Blessed Virgin Mary, venerated in her traditional residence at Ephesus)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph
Why belong here
Our Lady of Ephesus Chapel offers something rare: a small, intimate chapel in the heart of downtown Kansas City where the diocesan curial staff and visiting faithful can worship in a space built deliberately to recall the earliest house-churches of Christianity. Mass is celebrated in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms, chant is the preferred style of sacred music, and a wooden altar rail allows the traditional reception of Holy Communion. For anyone with a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a love of traditional sacred architecture, or an interest in the early Christian world of Ephesus, this chapel — directly supported by the Ephesus Foundation's mission of preserving the ancient Christian sites of Turkey — is a unique spiritual home in the diocese.
Mass times at Our Lady of Ephesus Chapel
Weekly Mass schedule
History & Origins of Our Lady of Ephesus Chapel
The chapel's story begins not in Kansas City but in the ancient city of Ephesus, in present-day Turkey, where sacred tradition holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary spent her final years under the care of St. John the Evangelist. In the late 19th century, Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey, a French Daughter of Charity working at a hospital in Smyrna (Izmir), identified and purchased the modest stone dwelling now venerated as the 'House of Mary' (Panaya Kapulu). More than a century later, Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City–St. Joseph visited the shrine, and in January 2011 the Congregation for the Causes of Saints transferred the canonization cause of Sister Marie to the diocese. The chapel was the natural fruit of that pilgrimage, and it was solemnly dedicated on August 15, 2011 — the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- Founded and dedicated: August 15, 2011
- Initiated by Bishop Robert W. Finn, Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph
- Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey, Daughters of Charity (+1915), connected through her canonization cause
- Ephesus Foundation, Inc. (formed 2007, Missouri 501(c)(3)) assisted with artwork funding
Architecture & Design
Classical architect William Heyer of Columbus, Ohio, designed the chapel in collaboration with Bishop Finn. A former conference room on the ground floor of the Catholic Center chancery was repurposed; its existing pilasters and entablature were repainted and gilded to suit a classical vocabulary appropriate to a chapel invoking ancient Ephesus. New chandeliers and custom woodwork were commissioned, niches were added for statues of St. Paul and St. John, and a new terrazzo floor was laid in a geometric pattern recalling the Temple of Jerusalem, with a highly symbolic Emblem of Our Lady of Ephesus at the center. The freestanding altar — a scale model of the Ephesian house-church with a blind arcade for façade and doorway — anchors the space, and a wooden altar rail allows the traditional reception of Holy Communion.
- Architect: William Heyer, William Heyer Architect (Columbus, OH)
- Freestanding altar: scale model of the House of Mary at Ephesus, with three blind arches
- Terrazzo floor: geometric pattern recalling the Temple of Jerusalem
- Centerpiece emblem combining an Ionic rose (Temple of Artemis), tower-embattlements, lilies, pomegranates and a crescent moon
- Niches for statues of St. Paul and St. John
- Seating for approximately sixty
Liturgy & Sacred Music
From its dedication, Our Lady of Ephesus Chapel has served as a place for both the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The Traditional Latin Mass is offered at the high altar, and a wooden rail is available for those who wish to receive Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue. Sacred music is centered on Gregorian chant; at the 2011 Dedication Mass the entire liturgy was sung a cappella, and chant remains the preferred musical style of the chapel.
- Ordinary Form Mass (Novus Ordo) in English
- Extraordinary Form Mass (Traditional Latin Mass) at the high altar
- Wooden altar rail for traditional reception of Holy Communion
- Chant / a cappella sacred music as the preferred style
Connection to Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey
Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey (d. 1915) was a French noblewoman who became a Daughter of Charity and was sent to serve in a hospital in Smyrna. With the help of a Vincentian priest she identified the ancient House of Mary on the hillside above Ephesus, and with her own family money purchased the property and established it as a Catholic shrine. After Bishop Finn's pilgrimage to the shrine, the Archdiocese of Izmir asked the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph to officially adopt Sister Marie's canonization cause; the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the transfer in January 2011. An oil painting of Sister Marie — depicted holding a miniature of the House of Mary — rests on an easel in the sanctuary of the Kansas City chapel below the statue of St. Paul, and the diocesan adoption of her cause is a direct spiritual and historical reason for the chapel's existence.
- Daughter of Charity, French noblewoman (d. 1915)
- Identified and purchased the House of Mary at Ephesus
- Cause for canonization transferred to the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph, January 2011
- Oil painting of Sister Marie in the sanctuary
The Ephesus Foundation, Inc.
The Ephesus Foundation, Inc. was formed on June 7, 2007, as a Missouri non-profit corporation and is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Its main focus is the restoration of Christian archaeological sites in the area of the former Ephesus, Turkey (today outside modern Selçuk), with a related Turkish entity formed under the Turkish Civil Code in 2010. The Foundation supported the artwork of Our Lady of Ephesus Chapel as part of that mission, and the chapel serves as a visible extension of the Foundation's work in Kansas City. Its U.S. office is located in the Kansas City area, and its broader projects include conservation of the great amphitheater and other early Christian sites in Ephesus.
- Formed June 7, 2007, as a Missouri 501(c)(3) non-profit
- Restores Christian archaeological sites around Ephesus, Turkey
- Turkish counterpart formed in 2010
- Funded artwork for Our Lady of Ephesus Chapel
The Emblem of Our Lady of Ephesus
At the center of the chapel's terrazzo floor lies a unique composite emblem that deliberately re-purposes the sacred art of the pagan goddess Artemis of Ephesus for Marian theology. According to architect William Heyer, the rose at the center derives from the Ionic column capitals of the destroyed Temple of Artemis and is an ancient Church symbol of Mary's purity; the surrounding outer line of tower embattlements references both the headdress of Artemis and Mary's Litany titles as 'Tower of Ivory' and 'Tower of David'; the lilies are Greek symbols of Artemis and ancient Church symbols of Mary's purity; the alternating pomegranates are classical fertility symbols transformed to express Mary's singular fertility in bearing Christ; and the crescent moon — an ancient symbol of Artemis — is given new meaning as the moon reflects the light of the sun, just as Mary reflects her Son.
- Rose: Ionic capital of the Temple of Artemis / Mary's purity
- Tower embattlements: Artemis's headdress / Tower of Ivory & Tower of David
- Lilies: Artemis and Mary symbols of purity
- Pomegranates: classical fertility / Mary's fruitfulness
- Crescent moon: Artemis / Mary as reflection of Christ
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Bishop Robert W. Finn (founder)established 2011
Bishop of Kansas City–St. Joseph who initiated and dedicated the chapel in connection with his devotion to Our Lady of Ephesus and his adoption of the canonization cause of Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey.