The Archangels

By Marsha Getto Aikens, Kelly Crawford, the Rev. David Faulkner, Ann Ramsey, Katie Robinson-Edwards, Harriet Stoneham, and Karen Wiley

At Saint Michael, we have a special devotion to our patron saints, Michael and all of the angels. The name of “Saint Michael and All Angels” is a richly symbolic church dedication, reflecting the Jewish and Christian understanding of angelic ministry that imbues the angels carved into our reredos with profound spiritual meaning. Our understanding of the ministry of angels is informed by the Old and New Testaments, the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha, and evolving beliefs and practices in the tradition of the Church. Angels are spiritual protectors and messengers of revelations from God to guide humankind. Every Sunday, we identify our worship with the Heavenly Host right before we sing “Holy, Holy, Holy.” In worship, Heaven and Earth are united, and angels and those who have gone before worship alongside the earthly Church, so the angels in our reredos are ideally located for their purpose.

In 1961, the monumental marble reredos behind the altar at Saint Michael and All Angels was installed, revealing angels close to the altar worshipping with us. Embedded within the 35-foot tall reredos is the 15-foot-high bas-relief sculpture of The Archangels by sculptor Charles Umlauf (1910–1994). The flitch-matched Italian Cremo marble creates patterns of angels’ wings that appear as the Heavenly Host around their leader, Michael, and three of the archangels: Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, with their worshipful attention directed towards the large gold leaf cross. Archangels are one of the Nine Choirs of Angels, which represent how Angels participate in God’s mission to humanity as guides, protectors, and who worship alongside humankind.

Each archangel worshiping beside us in the reredos provides a symbolic representation within the Heavenly Host.

MICHAEL

Michael, a name which translates as “Who is like God?”, is the General of the Heavenly Host, which includes all Nine Choirs of Angels. Michael, our chief patron, is traditionally understood to ward off evil and deliver peace at mortal life’s end. From our epistle for the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels, we hear the account of Michael leading the Heavenly Host to cast Satan out of Heaven: Revelation 12:7 “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.”

GABRIEL

Gabriel, “God is my strength,” is the chief herald of Heaven. He is most familiar to us in Luke’s account of the annunciation to Mary. He also will announce the return of Christ, and he appears in the Old Testament as a reassuring messenger in Daniel 9: 21–23: “While I was praying, Gabriel came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. He said, “Oh, Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the word I bring and understand the vision.”

RAPHAEL

Raphael translates as, “God has healed.” He is traditionally a healer, aids sufferers, and presents the prayers of the saints in God’s presence. He is quoted in Tobit 12: 6,7b “Praise God and give thanks to Him, exalt Him and give thanks to Him in the presence of the living for what He has done for you. Do not be slow to give Him thanks. Do good and evil will not overtake you.”

URIEL

Uriel translates as, “God is my light.” Uriel is associated with fire, wisdom, prophetic illumination, and enlightens mortals concerning the problem of evil. II Esdras 4: 1–6 contains Ezra’s visions and conversations with the angel Uriel.

Saint Michael’s former Rector, Father Taliaferro, speaks with The Archangels sculptor Charles Umlauf.

The Archangels and architectural design for the Church framed the future as symbols of hope, community and strength. The Church was designed by Harwood K. Smith & Partners and their lead Architect, James Clutts (1925–2021), whose work significantly shaped Dallas’ architectural landscape. As the architectural design neared completion and bids for the Church’s construction began in April 1960, the idea for the sculpture in the reredos took shape as an integral part of the chancel design.

Years before, Clutts was an architectural student at the University of Texas at Austin and worked with Professor Umlauf (1910–1994) on his thesis project. Clutts knew Umlauf was well-regarded nationally for his rigorous working process and recommended him as the reredos sculptor to Father Taliaferro, Rector at Saint Michael. Umlauf was awarded the commission according to the Vestry minutes of April 18, 1960.

Model of The Archangels.

The marble came from the same quarry in Carrara, Italy where Michelangelo sourced his marble. Umlauf himself selected the stone, and shipped it to the Vermont Marble Company where the initial carving was done working from Umlauf’s plaster model. Once the blocks were in place on the reredos, Umlauf did the final polishing of the bas-relief before it was unveiled. The seamlessly embedded sculpture creates an appropriately otherworldly effect.

In 1960, Umlauf’s work was already represented in the permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, the McNay, and Dallas museums, as well as on public view throughout his hometown of Chicago. Umlauf regularly won prizes in the Annual Exhibitions of Texas Painting and Sculpture at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. In spring 1959, the new sculpture garden at Valley House Gallery opened with a solo Umlauf exhibition and catalogue. In 1960, he was also commissioned by the Dallas Monuments Commission to design a public sculpture at the new Southwest Airlines terminal at Dallas Love Field, gifted by the Leo Corrigan family. His colossal Spirit of Flight features a seventeen-foot-high winged allegorical figure mounted on a twenty-four-foot plinth, set in a mosaic fountain and surrounded by eighteen bronze birds with six-foot wingspans. Also in 1961, Umlauf’s Torchbearers were installed at Dallas’ Fair Park Music Hall.

The treasured gift of The Archangels were “Given to the Glory of God by Dudley Kezer and Mary Lee Thomson Woodward, Jr. (husband and wife) in thanksgiving for their parents: Dudley Kezer and Anna Russell Woodward, and Horace Alexander and Rachel Elizabeth Thomson,” as commemorated on a brass plaque on the north end of the reredos. We are grateful to their grandchildren, Elizabeth Jones Turner and Mary Lee Virden, for sharing their memories and historical details as stewards of The Archangels.

The Archangels mark a unique point in history when the construction of the church of Saint Michael coincided with the period of growth in Dallas around Love Field and Fair Park in the 1960s. The unique iconology of The Archangels connects Saint Michael to the rich tradition of Texas art that began in the early 20th Century through one of its most well-known artists, Charles Umlauf. And with The Archangels, the reredos brings to life the Heavenly Host, Michael and the Archangels, as we join our worship with the worship of heaven at every service.

**This article was written by Marsha Getto Aikens, Kelly Crawford, the Rev. David Faulkner, Ann Ramsey, Katie Robinson-Edwards, Harriet Stoneham, and Karen Wiley, and was featured in the 2026 Spring Archangel.