A MYSTERY PAINTING
St. Martin’s United Church uncovers an intriguing piece of the past
Not long ago Rev. Michael Webster, a minister at St. Martin's United Church, and a group of volunteers took on the task of cleaning out the church's archives room.
A mountain of papers was sorted through, duplicates made, and the originals forwarded to Saskatchewan United Church Archives. As the volunteers worked their way through the decades of accumulation, they uncovered a 4x8-foot oil painting.
“It's quite a good painting,” Webster says. “On the left, there's a sort of Nativity scene with Joseph, Mary and Jesus in a stable with a few animals. Jesus is not a newborn. Mary has curly blond hair and blue eyes, and looks like she just won the 'Miss Sweden' beauty pageant. Joseph is holding an awl and a strip of leather and is also distinctly non-Jewish.”
The Nativity family are looking across a wedge of water toward a group of children of different ethnicities: Caucasian, Inuit or Dené, Asian, Middle Eastern, European and African.
The background of the painting is interesting. A structure in the top right corner bears a striking resemblance to the Government Elevators in Saskatoon's Montgomery neighbourhood, while the scattered buildings at mid-range put one in mind of photographs from Saskatoon's early settlement days.
The signature on the painting is N. Lyne followed by the date 1961. A block of space in between suggests something there may have been painted over.
“Nothing is known about the artist,” Webster says, “and no one has any idea where the painting came from. The St. Martin's congregation was founded in 1958 and we still have some of the original members, but the painting is a mystery to them. Although one person remembers seeing it as a child.
“We brought the painting out of deep storage and showed it to the congregation. People were quite impressed by how good it is and thought it was probably pretty progressive in its day. But it doesn't match who we want to be in 2017, so we won't hang it in our sanctuary.”
The big reason, Webster says, is because the children in the painting are extremely stereotypical and St. Martin's Church today is a welcoming and affirming congregation with the United Church of Canada. “We want to be as welcoming as possible to everyone who comes through our doors regardless of skin colour, ethnicity, social status or sexual orientation.”
St. Martin's was founded in 1958 to serve the new Adelaide Park and Churchill neighbourhoods that were opening up on the edge of wide open prairie. It was founded by local residents who thought there should be a United Church in the area.
Webster says the new plant was swarming with so many children the new building couldn't accommodate them, so Sunday School was held on Wednesday afternoons at nearby Churchill School.
No one's quite sure why the church was named St. Martin's, since it's unusual for a United Church to be named for a saint other than the Gospel writers. This one is named for St. Martin of Tours, a French bishop best known for using his military sword to divide his cloak and give half to a rag-clad beggar.
The name has proven prophetic. St. Martin's is deeply involved with social issues and participates locally in the work of organizations like The Lighthouse and the Food Bank. It is a distribution centre for the CHEP Good Food Box Program. Every evening sees a 12-Step program in the church.
Webster says the building is well used. “There's something going on every evening of the week. Besides the usual, a Hindu group meets here, as does a Japanese drumming group. A Spanish language preschool and Grades 1 and 2 classes meet in the basement.”
The youth program has been cyclic over the years, but is burgeoning once again. The congregation is relatively young, very active, and attendance is steady.
“This has always been a congregation willing to try things,” Webster says. “We were one of the earlier United Churches to use PowerPoint, and to broadcast our services on YouTube. We also try to be visible in community. We established a community garden north of church building, but that is moving to the park nearby because the Taylor Street Fire House is relocating to where the garden used to be.”
For the past 10 years, St. Martin's has been active in refugee sponsorship. The church has sponsored families from Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa.
“St. Martin's a very generous congregation,” Webster says. “When our most recent refugees learned they had to pay back their airfare, we raised $10,000 in two Sundays.”
As for the mystery painting, Webster says St. Martin's isn't sure what to do with it and would welcome hearing from anyone with information regarding the painting or the artist. Contact 306-3437101.
We want to be as welcoming as possible to everyone who comes through our doors.