Twilight exterior of the brick oratory with its octagonal lantern tower lit from within, seen from above across the paved forecourt and campus lawns.

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University of Saint Francis — Oratory of Saint Francis

Sited at the heart of the University campus, the Oratory of St Francis expresses monumentality, strength, and beauty through sacred geometry and enduring materials.

Twilight exterior view of a brick chapel with an octagonal lantern tower, illuminated within, reflected in a still pond surrounded by campus paths and lamps.

The completed interior looking toward the sanctuary: a tall nave with plain cream walls, light falling from the lantern above the crossing, wooden pews either side of the aisle and the apse beyond.

The sanctuary: a rounded apse with a blue-painted half-dome and a painted crucifix above the altar on its raised platform, a side chapel opening at right.

The completed oratory interior during Mass, seen from the gallery: a barrel-vaulted nave with plain cream walls, a rounded apse framed by pilasters with a painted crucifix above the altar, clergy at the altar and a full congregation standing in wooden pews.

The oratory by day: brick walls with stone trim, the apse and the octagonal lantern tower under a blue sky, campus buildings beyond.

The oratory from the north-east: the brick mass with its pedimented gables and the octagonal lantern tower rising over the crossing, against a bright sky.

Detail of the entrance: a carved stone inscription over the doors beneath a latticed stone transom, set in the brick front.

Daytime exterior view of a brick chapel with an octagonal lantern tower, with an autumn tree and a university banner on a lamp post in the foreground.

Watercolor design rendering of the interior looking down the nave to the sanctuary, the apse arch and half-dome painted with figures and ornament. — Design rendering of the interior

Watercolor design rendering of the oratory beside the campus pond, with its lantern tower, tiled roofs and a footbridge. — Design rendering of the exterior

Watercolor aerial rendering of the oratory on its campus site, set among lawns, paths and the pond. — Aerial site rendering

Rendering by Conrad Schmitt Studios of a proposed decorative scheme for the oratory interior: a coffered ceiling, an arched apse with a painted figure of Christ and gilded ornament, painted panels along the nave walls and stained-glass windows. — Interior decoration scheme proposed by Conrad Schmitt Studios — not carried out

Rendering by Conrad Schmitt Studios of a proposed sanctuary wall: three arched niches on patterned grounds, statues of saints in the outer two, the tabernacle in the center, and a wooden altar with a dove emblem before it. — Sanctuary wall as proposed by Conrad Schmitt Studios — not carried out

Floor plan of the oratory: a cruciform nave with rows of pews, the octagonal crossing, the apse and the entrance porch. — Plan

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