OUR ALTARS

“Sonia Gagarin was a White Russian princess and the equivalent of a “lady-in-waiting” to the Czarina in the early 1910s. At the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution, Sonia escaped from Russia, as one story goes, by bribing a guard with her jewelry box. Shelived in New York for a while and met Nicholas Rostovsky, a handsome Russian model for the Arrow shirt company. When the couple moved to Baton Rouge for Nick’s job with Standard Oil as a translator, Sonia joined Trinity Church. She painted the altars in the church, the cradle roll listing of baptized children displayed in the church offices, and a sketch of the church. The walls of their home on Hyacinth Avenue, near the church, were painted with scenes of her childhood in Russia. Sadly, later owners of the house painted over the walls.”

Rev. Ralph E. Howe, Jr.

Former Rector (1992-2004)