LIVING HISTORY
STILL STANDING
Cypress, at least Holy Apostles’ cypress, also
isn’t bothered by storms. Hurricanes have come
and gone, but the chapel has stood firm, except
for shingles lost during the back-to-back storms of
2004. Clear plexiglass safeguards the homemade
stained glass from errant flying debris.
“The building has never really been damaged,”
Wichmann said.
Holy Apostles could well be in the National
Register of Historic Places, but for its vinyl-clad
skin, installed by an ever-practical congregation
exhausted by the upkeep of wood.
“It got to be too much of a problem to keep
painting it every couple of years,” Wichmann said.
Other than the convenient siding and a bell
tower later added in celebration of its silver anniversary,
26
the church remains pretty much as it was
in the early 1900s, with its framework of beams
and a network of cables that keep it from swaying
too much.
Outside the church, a small memorial garden
holds the ashes of more than a hundred of the
parishioners, some of whom had seen the church
come up the lagoon. Nearby, a statue of St. Francis
of Assisi looks over the ashes of parishioners’ pets.
Wichmann’s own two dogs are interred there.
“Now they can play together,” said Wichmann,
who, when her time comes, plans for her ashes to
be nearby.
Wichmann knows that even when she is praying
by herself, she is never alone at Holy Apostles.
“I like to pray there when the wind blows and
the building creaks and you smell the old wood,”
she said. “You think about the thousands of people
who have prayed in this old building. You feel the
prayers of everybody and sense God in the midst.
It’s a glorious feeling.”
LIFE
The former St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Fort Pierce receives a formal blessing on
its way to its new home in Satellite Beach.
A bell tower was
added to celebrate
the church’s 25th anniversary
of arriving
in Satellite Beach.
HOLY APOSTLES EPISCOPAL CHURCH
The former St. Andrew’s Episcopal Chapel was moved from downtown Fort
Pierce onto a barge at the start of its journey.
MARIA SONNENBERG
MARIA SONNENBERG
A statue of St. Francis of Assisi looks over the memorial garden containing
the ashes of the pets of Holy Apostles parishioners.