St. Thomas West Hospital Chapel

About St. Thomas West Hospital Chapel

St. Thomas West Hospital Chapel is the Catholic chapel at the heart of Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West, a 541-bed acute-care hospital at 4220 Harding Pike in Nashville. It is the spiritual-care hub for one of the longest continuously operating Catholic health ministries in Middle Tennessee — a ministry that traces its roots to Easter Monday 1898, when the Daughters of Charity opened Saint Thomas Sanitarium at Bishop Thomas Byrne's request. Sunday and weekday Mass are celebrated in the chapel, televised into patient rooms, and complemented by a 24/7 Spiritual Care Department that ministers to patients, families and staff.

History of Saint Thomas Hospital

On April 11, 1898 — Easter Monday — six Daughters of Charity moved into the former Dickinson Mansion on Church Street and opened Saint Thomas Sanitarium as a 26-bed 'refuge for the sick.' Bishop Thomas Byrne of Nashville had asked them to come, and he named the hospital for his patron saint. A new building opened in 1902 and a major expansion followed in 1917; the hospital also operated a School of Nursing and grew to 333 beds. In 1972 the hospital moved about four miles west to its present campus at 4220 Harding Road, where the chapel continues the institution's Catholic worship life. After the Daughters of Charity co-founded Ascension Health in 1999 and Ascension acquired Baptist Hospital in 2001, the two Nashville campuses were distinguished in 2013 as Saint Thomas Midtown and Saint Thomas West. The hospital remains, by charter, 'a Ministry of the Catholic Church.'

• 1898 — Saint Thomas Sanitarium opens Easter Monday, founded by the Daughters of Charity at Bishop Thomas Byrne's request
• 1902 — New hospital building opens
• 1917 — Major expansion completed
• 1919 — Protestant Hospital (later Baptist, then Saint Thomas Midtown) opens nearby
• 1960 — Saint Thomas becomes the first Nashville hospital to fully integrate
• 1967 — First open-heart surgery in Tennessee performed at Saint Thomas
• 1972–1974 — Hospital relocates to 4220 Harding Pike
• 1984 — First heart transplant in Tennessee
• 1999 — Daughters of Charity co-found Ascension Health
• 2001 — Ascension acquires Baptist Hospital
• 2013 — Harding Pike campus renamed Saint Thomas – West Hospital

Mass and Worship Schedule

Catholic Mass is celebrated in the hospital chapel on Sundays at 10:00 AM and on weekdays at 11:30 AM. Mass is also livestreamed into patient rooms on Channel 39 so that those unable to leave their rooms can still participate. Sunday Mass is followed at some Ascension Saint Thomas sites by an Interdenominational Communion Service broadcast on Channel 38, and special seasonal services are televised throughout the year.

• Sunday — 10:00 AM (also on Channel 39)
• Weekdays — 11:30 AM (also on Channel 39)
• Sacramental emergencies — 24-hour on-call chaplain/priest

Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy

The Ascension Saint Thomas Spiritual Care Department treats chaplains as professionally trained clinicians who provide evidence-based spiritual, emotional, moral and existential care. At Saint Thomas West they offer bedside visits, sacramental ministry, prayer and ritual support, and a proactive presence in the emergency room during high-stress events. The team collaborates closely with the hospital's Donor Care Unit and Tennessee Donor Services on honor walks and grief support for organ donor families, and Saint Thomas West chaplains also serve on the hospital's ethics committee and counsel medical students from Vanderbilt and Meharry.

• Bedside spiritual and emotional care for patients, families and staff
• Anointing of the Sick and bedside Holy Communion on request
• Chaplains embedded in the emergency department for crisis support
• Ethics committee and medical-student counseling ministry
• Honor walks and grief support in the Donor Care Unit

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE)

The Ascension Saint Thomas Nashville CPE Partnership, headquartered at 4220 Harding Pike, is accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) to offer Level IA, IB, IIA, IIB and CEC programs. CPE students are trained in workplace, congregational and parish-based environments and rotate among placement sites that include Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West and Midtown, Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford, Hickman Hospital and Alive Hospice. A Residency (with a $41,000 stipend plus health benefits), an Intensive Summer Internship, and an Extended Internship are all available, preparing future chaplains for hospital, hospice and parish ministry.

• Residency — five-day workweek, eight hours per day, plus on-call duties; $41,000 stipend
• Level I and Level II Student CPE programs
• Intensive Summer Internship for seminarians and ministers
• Extended Internship for additional supervised training
• Placement sites include Saint Thomas West, Midtown, Rutherford, Hickman Hospital and Alive Hospice

Clergy and Spiritual Care Leadership

Pastoral care across Ascension Saint Thomas is overseen by the System Director of Spiritual Care and Clinical Pastoral Education, Father Calin Tamiian, a Romanian Greek Catholic (Eastern Rite) priest who has served in hospital chaplaincy for more than two decades, including ministry at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He often emphasizes that chaplains 'lead the mission of the Church' by caring for people 'in some of the most difficult and challenging times.' Retired Bishop James Niedergeses of Nashville, after stepping down in 1992, continued to make chaplain rounds at the hospital for years. Father John Raphael, staff chaplain at Ascension Saint Thomas West, was honored with the inaugural Outstanding Guild Chaplain Award from the Catholic Medical Association in 2019.

• Rev. Calin Tamiian — System Director of Spiritual Care and CPE; Romanian Greek Catholic priest
• Rev. John Raphael — Staff Chaplain, Ascension Saint Thomas West; 2019 CMA Outstanding Guild Chaplain
• Bishop James Niedergeses — Retired Bishop of Nashville; served as chaplain after 1992 retirement

Sacraments for Patients

Because the chapel sits inside an acute-care hospital, sacramental ministry is organized around patient need. Anointing of the Sick is available on request to anyone receiving care, and Holy Communion can be brought directly to patient rooms. For urgent situations — including end-of-life emergencies — a priest chaplain is available 24 hours a day through the Spiritual Care Department.

• Anointing of the Sick by request
• Communion brought to patient rooms
• 24/7 emergency sacramental ministry via on-call chaplain

Catholic Identity and Legacy

Saint Thomas Hospital has long been recognized as a flagship Catholic health ministry in the Diocese of Nashville. The Nashville Guild of the Catholic Medical Association — the largest association of Catholic physicians and healthcare professionals in the United States — is organized around the hospital, and a sister organization, the Society of Saints Cosmas and Damian, serves medical students at Vanderbilt and Meharry. In 2019 the Nashville Guild received the CMA's Outstanding Guild Award. The Sister Juliana Beuerlein Fund honors Sister Juliana's service as CEO of Saint Thomas Hospital from 1981 to 1989 and supports associates in crisis, continuing the Daughters of Charity's tradition of compassionate care that began in 1898.

• Operated as 'a Ministry of the Catholic Church' under Ascension Saint Thomas
• Nashville Guild of the Catholic Medical Association is based here
• Society of Saints Cosmas and Damian supports Vanderbilt and Meharry medical students
• Sister Juliana Beuerlein Fund supports associates in need