St. Augustine's of Canterbury, Wiesbaden
Encyclopedia
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(also known as the "English Church") is a parish of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. It occupies a Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
church building at the corner of Frankfurter Straße and Kleine Wilhelmstraße and is named for Augustine of Canterbury
Augustine of Canterbury
Augustine of Canterbury was a Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597...
, a Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, who founded the Archbishopric of Canterbury. The red brick building is located next door to the Villa Clementine and is thus directly across from the park Warmer Damm in close proximity to Wilhelmstraße.
History
The church was built in 1863 for British subjects taking the waters at the international spa of Wiesbaden. In the First World War, when the British spa visitors of whom the parish was composed, had left the country, the church was no longer used for worship services. During the National SocialistNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
period, the property, which the Kurhausaktiengesellschaft had put at the disposal of the (no longer existent) congregation, was expropriated by the state. After the end of the Second World War the U.S. military
Military of the United States
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
used the building as a military chapel until the current facility at "Heinerberg" was constructed in 1955. Then the property was deeded to the Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
to return to its original purpose as an Anglican house of worship.
Because a large portion of the congregation continued to be made up of members of the US military and civilian DOD
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
employees and their dependents, the church began to take on an increasingly American character. It has used the American Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
since this point in time, and the Convocation of American Churches in Europe (a jurisdiction of the U.S. Episcopal Church
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
, renamed the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe in 2009) has held the responsibility for the calling of clergy.
In January 1966, a major fire, caused by a malfunction of the heating system, gutted the building. The church was restored through donations from the congregation and insurance proceeds. The new church organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
, which had been recently delivered, but not yet installed, was therefore not covered by insurance and posed a major financial loss to the parish.
During the 1970s, the Episcopal Church appointed Edmond Lee Browning as bishop-in-charge of the congregations in Europe; Browning attended worship at St. Augustine's and lived in Wiesbaden at that time, before becoming Bishop of Hawaii
Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii
The Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii is the ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Episcopal Church of the Anglican Communion in the United States encompassing the state of Hawaii...
and later Presiding Bishop
Presiding Bishop
The Presiding Bishop is an ecclesiastical position in some denominations of Christianity.- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America :The Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the chief ecumenical officer of the church, and the leader and caretaker for the bishops of the...
. In 1980, when the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe
Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe
The Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe is geographically the largest diocese of the Church of England and arguably the largest diocese in the Anglican Communion, covering some one-sixth of the Earth's landmass, including Morocco, Europe , Turkey, and the territory of the former Soviet...
was formed to oversee the Continental chaplaincies of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
previously under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe
Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe
The Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers not only the area of Gibraltar in British jurisdiction but also all of mainland Europe, Morocco and the territory of the former Soviet Union...
formally transferred his episcopal authority to his US colleague in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
for as long as the US church would be responsible for the maintenance and operation costs of the parish. The end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and the resulting decline in the presence of American troops in Germany has led to an increasingly civilian and multi-national character in the parish since 1990.
In the mid-1970s Pastor Martin Niemöller and his wife, Sybil, were communicants at St. Augustine's.
In 2003, the parish called its first woman rector, the Rev. Martha Hubbard, who previously served in the parish of St. Mark's in Penn Yan, New York
Penn Yan, New York
Penn Yan is a village in Yates County, New York, USA. The population was 5,219 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Yates County and lies at the north end of the east branch of Keuka Lake, one of the Finger Lakes....
in the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester
Episcopal Diocese of Rochester
The Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over eight counties in west central New York...
. The vestry presently includes three British subjects, five German citizens and four U.S. citizens. Other members of the congregation include Canadian and Australian subjects as well as South African, Italian or Nigerian citizens.
In addition to the regular Sunday morning worship services (10 a.m.), which are usually Holy Eucharists, there are also two home group
Cell group
The cell group is a form of church organization that is used in some Christian churches. Cell groups are generally intended to teach the Bible and personalize Christian fellowship. They are always used in cell churches, but also occur in parachurch organizations and other interdenominational...
s currently active.