Holy Trinity or Te Deum (Left Panel Detail)
Phipps, Ball & Burnham (Conjecture) - Circa 1920
In Loving Memory of
Oct. 26, 1845 Livingston W. Bethel Oct. 21, 1914
DESCRIPTION: Whereas the center panel of Holy Trinity is devoted to the Trinity, the left panel expresses the joyous praise of angels. It features two beautiful angels, one expressively playing a stringed instrument; the other is prepared to offer a hymn of praise. Above their heads is a banderole with the following words: "And with the morn those angel faces smile." These angels of music and praise were well-chosen as a memorial for a dedicated man.
MEMORIAL: Livingston Wellesley Bethel was the son of Judge and Mrs. Winer Bethel. He was born in the Bahamas and came to Key West at an early age. He was educated in Geneva, New York and later studied law. He was district attorney, four term mayor of Key West (1877-1880), Royal Arch Mason, and Knight Templar.
Livingston married Mary Nieves Browne, daughter of Joseph and Mary Nieves Browne, remembered in the center panel of Holy Trinity. Livingston and Mary Nieves were the parents of Mary Yulee, Grace Livingston, Henry Livingston, Otto, Florida, Sybil and Effie.
Judge Bethel served St. Paul's and its mission, (First) Holy Innocents, in many capacities. In 1891 when he was Secretary of the Vestry of St. Paul's, his detailed writings preserved the history of its chime of bells, the first chime in the state of Florida. At a time when the bells were in need of repair, this valuable information provided a lead to the same company that cast the bells one hundred years before. A medley of hymns chosen from the bells inaugural program on Palm Sunday 1891 was heard once again on the anniversary of their one hundredth year.
Source: The Golden Cockerel: The Art, Symbolism & History of the Stained Glass Windows, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Key West, Florida by Winifred Shine Fryzel.
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