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Johannes A.S. Oertel and St. James Episcopal Church

Johannes_Adam_Simon_Oertel.jpg

A portrait of Oertel published in J.F. Oertel's A Vision Realized

Johannes Adam Simon Oertel (1823-1909)

Priest • Painter • Carver 

Born in Furth, Bavaria, in what is now Germany, and trained as an engraver, Johannes A.S. Oertel came to Lenoir, North Carolina to serve in ministry at St. James Episcopal Church. He lived in Lenoir from 1869 to 1874. While in Lenoir, he began a girl's school, served the missionary parish of the Chapel of Peace in Whitnel and the Chapel of Rest in Happy Valley, all the while practicing his talents of painting, drawing, and carving. One of the first in the area to provide a school for African-American children, Oertel also conducted religious services for the recently freed slaves.  These rites included baptism, confirmation, marriage, and funeral rites. Rev. Oertel's legacy to St. James parish is a collection of art representative of the talents that eventually led him to chair the department of Christian art at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.

For information about in-person tours of the art, see the St. James Episcopal Church website:

http://www.saintjamesepiscopal.org/

 

Johannes A.S. Oertel and St. James Episcopal Church