Beginning in 1939, the primary place for worship for Providence College students and visitors was the chapel in Aquinas Hall. Liturgies were celebrated there daily and on weekends. Presently that space has been converted to the Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies, to promote that mission of the College. In earlier days, Dominican friars prayed in a cloistered chapel on the fifth floor of Harkins Hall and a number of them lived on the fourth floor. As the student body grew a new, larger worship space was needed and so St. Dominic Chapel was built, opening in 2001. The architect, Dennis Keefe, thought the chapel should “express both the permanence and the relevance of the gospel, should be traditional yet unmistakably of our own time, and should attract and challenge the students who worship there.” The chapel was built through the generous gift of Frank ‘40 and Charlotte Grangnani.
The chapel is octagonal in shape with open stone and wood interior space and high wooden ceilings. There are 45 stained glass windows, designed by the artist Sylvia Nicolas, which show the history and mission of the Dominican Order. She also designed the central crucifix and Stations of the Cross. Portrayed in the widows is the life of Saint Dominic and other women and men saints such as the Peruvian Dominican brother Juan Macias; the African woman Sister Chicaba; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the North American foundress of the Sisters of Charity; Bartolome de las Casas, the Spanish Dominican theologian of human rights; and Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement in the United States.