St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Memphis
Encyclopedia
St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, located near downtown Memphis, Tennessee
, is the cathedral
church of the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee
and the former cathedral of the old statewide Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee
.
(the city's first Episcopal
parish) with oversight from Calvary's rector, Charles Quintard, who later became the second bishop of the Diocese of Tennessee. Quintard led the chapel's first service on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1857.http://books.google.com/books?id=96DVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22st.+mary%27s%22+memphis+thanksgiving&dq=%22st.+mary%27s%22+memphis+thanksgiving&hl=en&ei=iLMXTbeWIIL-8AbIlY2aDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA
An item in the Memphis Appeal
, dated November 29th, describes the occasion:
Unlike its mother church, Calvary, this new parish would not have designated family pews or charge rent for them, enabling less affluent Memphians to regularly attend Episcopal services for the first time.
St. Mary's was officially consecrated as a parish church on Ascension Day, May 13, 1858 by the Rt. Rev. James Hervey Otey
, the first bishop of Tennessee, with assistance from the rectors of Calvary and Grace (Memphis), St. Luke's (Jackson
), St. Mary's (Covington
), St. James (Bolivar
), and by the new parish's own rector, Richard Hines, who would remain there until 1871.
At the time, only a handful of Episcopal dioceses had adopted the English-style cathedral system, mostly in the Midwest and the western frontier, where semi-itinerant bishops required more tangible ecclesiastical bases from which to administer sparse, but expansive, new dioceses and missionary territories. While the Episcopal Church was once a part of the Church of England
, the American dioceses were slow to designate official cathedrals in keeping with the Protestant or Reformed
character of its members. But as the Oxford Movement
's “high church
” or Roman Catholic-style liturgy began to take root in the United States, Episcopal cathedrals began to appear. With a devoted high churchman as its bishop (Quintard), the Diocese of Tennessee became an early adopter of this trend.
or martyrdom known throughout the world. Both episodes dramatically reduced the size of St. Mary's congregation, either through death or controversy.
, a mosquito
-borne hemorrhagic viral infection (related to dengue fever
and Ebola
) throughout the 19th century. The worst of the epidemics occurred in the summer of 1878, when 5,150 Memphians died and the fast-growing city lost its charter due to depopulation. Five years earlier, a group of Episcopal nuns from the recently formed Sisters of St. Mary (now the Community of St. Mary
) were invited by Bishop Quintard to take over operation of the St. Mary's School for Girls, now called St. Mary's Episcopal School,http://www.stmarysschool.org/index.aspx, which was relocated to the cathedral site.http://www.stmarysschool.org/aboutstmarys/history/index.aspx. When the 1878 epidemic struck, a number of priests and nuns (both Protestant and Catholic), doctors—and even a bordello owner, Annie Cook—stayed behind to tend to the sick and dying, despite the high risk of contracting the disease, which often resulted in a painful death. The Episcopal nuns' superior, Sister Constance, three other Episcopal nuns, and two Episcopal priests are known throughout the Anglican Communion
as "Constance and Her Companions" or, informally, the "Martyrs of Memphis". Added to the Episcopal Church's Lesser Feasts and Fasts
in 1981, their feast day (September 9) commemorates their sacrifices.
A traditional Anglican prayer memorializes the Martyrs in this way:
Episcopal nuns and priests who died from the epidemic
and co-author of certain rites in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer) took up the cathedral's processional cross and led the assembled ministers down Poplar Avenue to City Hall to petition Mayor Henry C. Loeb
to end the labor standoff
that King was in town to help negotiate. (The sanitation workers were protesting unsafe conditions, abusive white supervisors, low wages and the city government's refusal to recognize their union
). Nearly half of the cathedral's membership eventually left in protest of Dimmick's gesture of racial unity.
Like Constance and her companions, King was added to the Episcopal Church's Calendar of Saints
, where he is venerated on January 15th. Elsewhere in the Anglican Communion, King is memorialized with a statue over the western entrance of Westminster Abbey
, along with nine other 20th century martyrs.
, Bishop of Tennessee and president of the National Council of the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee spanned the entire state until 1982, when it began a long-considered partition based on the State of Tennessee's three Grand Divisions. The Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee was created in 1982, with St. Mary's retained as its cathedral church. The Continuing Diocese of Tennessee was again split in 1985 when the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee
was formed.http://www.episcopaldiocese-tn.org/diocese.htm
Each of the three realigned dioceses retained an important legacy of the old statewide body: West Tennessee had St. Mary's Cathedral; the diocese in Middle Tennessee
retained the name "Diocese of Tennessee" and the status as the Episcopal Church's sixteenth diocese; and the East Tennessee
diocese welcomed Bishop William Evan Sanders, eighth bishop of Tennessee, as its own first bishop. (Sanders served as the dean of St. Mary's from 1947 until 1961, when he became bishop coadjutor and moved to Knoxville to help manage the statewide diocese's work in East Tennessee.)
Ironically, while St. Mary's was the South's first Episcopal cathedral, Tennessee's other two cathedrals, Christ Church (Nashville) and St. John's in Knoxville are both older parishes, having been organized in 1829 with the original formation of the Diocese of Tennessee.
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, is the cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
church of the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee
Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee
The Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee is the diocese of the Episcopal Church that geographically coincides with the political region known as the Grand Division of West Tennessee. The geographic range of the Diocese of West Tennessee was originally part of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee,...
and the former cathedral of the old statewide Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee
Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee
The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America that covers roughly Middle Tennessee. A single diocese spanned the entire state until 1982, when the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee was created; the Diocese of Tennessee was again split...
.
History
St. Mary's was founded as a "North Memphis" mission chapel by the Ladies' Educational and Missionary Society of Calvary ChurchCalvary Episcopal Church (Memphis, Tennessee)
Calvary Episcopal Church, located at 102 North Second Street at Adams Avenue, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States, is an historic Episcopal church, founded August 6, 1832 by the Rev. Thomas Wright. The nave is the oldest public building in continuous use in the city of Memphis and was...
(the city's first Episcopal
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...
parish) with oversight from Calvary's rector, Charles Quintard, who later became the second bishop of the Diocese of Tennessee. Quintard led the chapel's first service on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1857.http://books.google.com/books?id=96DVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22st.+mary%27s%22+memphis+thanksgiving&dq=%22st.+mary%27s%22+memphis+thanksgiving&hl=en&ei=iLMXTbeWIIL-8AbIlY2aDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA
An item in the Memphis Appeal
The Commercial Appeal
The Commercial Appeal is the predominant daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by The E. W. Scripps Company, a major North American media company. Scripps also owned the former afternoon paper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar, which it folded in...
, dated November 29th, describes the occasion:
The Mission Church on Poplar Street. This Church which has been erected by the pious zeal of the ladies belonging to the Episcopal Church of this city was organized Thanksgiving Day by the election of wardens and vestrymen. The Church is called St. Mary's, and the Reverend Richard Hines has been chosen rector. Mr. Hines has arrived in the city and will preach at St. Mary's this morning. The seats are all free, the expenses of the Church are defrayed by the offering of the congregation.
Unlike its mother church, Calvary, this new parish would not have designated family pews or charge rent for them, enabling less affluent Memphians to regularly attend Episcopal services for the first time.
St. Mary's was officially consecrated as a parish church on Ascension Day, May 13, 1858 by the Rt. Rev. James Hervey Otey
James Hervey Otey
James Hervey Otey , Christian educator and the first Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee, established the first Anglican church in the state and its first parish churches.-Biography:...
, the first bishop of Tennessee, with assistance from the rectors of Calvary and Grace (Memphis), St. Luke's (Jackson
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
), St. Mary's (Covington
Covington, Tennessee
Covington is a city in central Tipton County in the State of Tennessee. Covington is the largest city and county seat of, Tipton County. Covington is located in one of just five counties of West Tennessee that are located along the Mississippi River, thus it is in extreme western Tennessee.This...
), St. James (Bolivar
Bolivar, Tennessee
Bolivar is a city in Hardeman County, Tennessee, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 5,802. It is the county seat of Hardeman County. The town was named for South American revolutionary leader Simón Bolívar, but is pronounced to rhyme with the name Oliver. Bolivar...
), and by the new parish's own rector, Richard Hines, who would remain there until 1871.
The South's first Episcopal cathedral (1871)
Thirteen years after its founding, St. Mary's became the first Episcopal cathedral in the American South.http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/ENS/ENSpress_release.pl?pr_number=2000-137 While the 1866 Journal of the Proceedings of the Diocese of Tennessee's 34th convention and the national Episcopal Church's 1868 Journal of the General Convention both list St. Mary's as a cathedral church, the official transition from parish to "bishop's church" was January 1, 1871.At the time, only a handful of Episcopal dioceses had adopted the English-style cathedral system, mostly in the Midwest and the western frontier, where semi-itinerant bishops required more tangible ecclesiastical bases from which to administer sparse, but expansive, new dioceses and missionary territories. While the Episcopal Church was once a part 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...
, the American dioceses were slow to designate official cathedrals in keeping with the Protestant or Reformed
Reformed Episcopal Church
The Reformed Episcopal Church is an Anglican church in the United States and Canada and a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America...
character of its members. But as the Oxford Movement
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
's “high church
High church
The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
” or Roman Catholic-style liturgy began to take root in the United States, Episcopal cathedrals began to appear. With a devoted high churchman as its bishop (Quintard), the Diocese of Tennessee became an early adopter of this trend.
Martyrs and the cathedral
St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral is closely associated with two episodes of self-sacrificeAltruistic suicide
Altruistic suicide is suicide committed for the benefit of others. Falling on a grenade is one such example. Émile Durkheim notes that tribal people sometimes see it as their duty to commit suicide, as when a wife kills herself after her husband dies, or a man kills himself in old age; but Durkheim...
or martyrdom known throughout the world. Both episodes dramatically reduced the size of St. Mary's congregation, either through death or controversy.
Constance and her companions
Memphis suffered periodic epidemics of yellow feverYellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
, a mosquito
Aedes aegypti
The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti is a mosquito that can spread the dengue fever, Chikungunya and yellow fever viruses, and other diseases. The mosquito can be recognized by white markings on legs and a marking in the form of a lyre on the thorax...
-borne hemorrhagic viral infection (related to dengue fever
Dengue fever
Dengue fever , also known as breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles...
and Ebola
Ebola
Ebola virus disease is the name for the human disease which may be caused by any of the four known ebolaviruses. These four viruses are: Bundibugyo virus , Ebola virus , Sudan virus , and Taï Forest virus...
) throughout the 19th century. The worst of the epidemics occurred in the summer of 1878, when 5,150 Memphians died and the fast-growing city lost its charter due to depopulation. Five years earlier, a group of Episcopal nuns from the recently formed Sisters of St. Mary (now the Community of St. Mary
Community of St. Mary
The Community of St. Mary is an Anglican religious order of nuns with three independent houses located in Greenwich, New York, Sewanee, Tennessee, and Mukwonago, Wisconsin...
) were invited by Bishop Quintard to take over operation of the St. Mary's School for Girls, now called St. Mary's Episcopal School,http://www.stmarysschool.org/index.aspx, which was relocated to the cathedral site.http://www.stmarysschool.org/aboutstmarys/history/index.aspx. When the 1878 epidemic struck, a number of priests and nuns (both Protestant and Catholic), doctors—and even a bordello owner, Annie Cook—stayed behind to tend to the sick and dying, despite the high risk of contracting the disease, which often resulted in a painful death. The Episcopal nuns' superior, Sister Constance, three other Episcopal nuns, and two Episcopal priests are known throughout the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
as "Constance and Her Companions" or, informally, the "Martyrs of Memphis". Added to the Episcopal Church's Lesser Feasts and Fasts
Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)
The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early Church which honors important people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term "saint" is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Those in the Anglo-Catholic tradition may...
in 1981, their feast day (September 9) commemorates their sacrifices.
A traditional Anglican prayer memorializes the Martyrs in this way:
We give thee thanks and praise, O God of compassion, for the Heroic witness of Constance and her companions, who, in a time of plague and pestilence, were steadfast in their care for the sick and the dying, and loved not their own lives, even unto death. Inspire in us a like love and commitment to those in need, following the example of our Savior JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
Christ...
Episcopal nuns and priests who died from the epidemic
- Sister Constance (née Caroline Louise Darling, b. Medway, MassachusettsMedway, MassachusettsMedway is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. According to the 2010 Census, the town had a population of 12,752.-History:Medway was first settled in 1657 and was officially incorporated in 1713. At that time, Medway began as a farming community of two hundred thirty-three...
, 1846), superior of the work at Memphis, headmistress of St. Mary’s School for Girls. - Sister Thecla, sacristanSacristanA sacristan is an officer who is charged with the care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents.In ancient times many duties of the sacristan were performed by the doorkeepers , later by the treasurers and mansionarii...
of St. Mary’s Cathedral and its school chapel, instructor in music and grammar (English and Latin) - Sister Ruth, nurse at Trinity Infirmary, New YorkTrinity Church, New YorkTrinity Church at 79 Broadway, Lower Manhattan, is a historic, active parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York...
- Sister Frances, a newly professed nun given charge of the Church Home orphanage
- The Rev. Charles Carroll Parsons, rector of Grace Church, Memphis; former U.S. ArmyArmy of the OhioThe Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863.-History:...
artillery commander, West Point alumnus and professor; served with classmate Lt. Col. George Armstrong CusterGeorge Armstrong CusterGeorge Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
in KansasU.S. 7th Cavalry RegimentThe 7th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army Cavalry Regiment, whose lineage traces back to the mid-19th century. Its official nickname is "Garryowen," in honor of the Irish air Garryowen that was adopted as its march tune....
, defense counsel in Custer's 1867 court-martial trial. - The Rev. Louis S. Schuyler, newly ordained assistant rector at Parsons' prior parish, Holy Innocents Episcopal Church, Hoboken, New JerseyEpiscopal Diocese of NewarkThe Episcopal Diocese of Newark is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America comprising the northern third of New Jersey in the United States...
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The second historic/tragic event that St. Mary's Cathedral attempted to mitigate was the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The day after King's death, Memphis clergy from many churches and synagogues met at the cathedral. In an impromptu move, Dean William Dimmick (later Bishop of Northern MichiganEpiscopal Diocese of Northern Michigan
The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with canonical jurisdiction in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was organized in 1895 as the Episcopal Diocese of Marquette....
and co-author of certain rites in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer) took up the cathedral's processional cross and led the assembled ministers down Poplar Avenue to City Hall to petition Mayor Henry C. Loeb
Henry Loeb
Henry Loeb III was the mayor of Memphis, Tennessee for two separate terms in the 1960s, from 1960 through 1963, and 1968 through 1971. He gained national notoriety in his second term for his role in opposing the demands of striking sanitation workers in February 1968...
to end the labor standoff
James J. Reynolds
James J. Reynolds was the Undersecretary of Labor for Labor-Management relations during the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration in the United States. Earlier he served as Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Relations from 1961–65, initially for President John F. Kennedy...
that King was in town to help negotiate. (The sanitation workers were protesting unsafe conditions, abusive white supervisors, low wages and the city government's refusal to recognize their union
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is the second- or third-largest labor union in the United States and one of the fastest-growing, representing over 1.4 million employees, primarily in local and state government and in the health care industry. AFSCME is part of the...
). Nearly half of the cathedral's membership eventually left in protest of Dimmick's gesture of racial unity.
Like Constance and her companions, King was added to the Episcopal Church's Calendar of Saints
Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)
The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early Church which honors important people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term "saint" is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Those in the Anglo-Catholic tradition may...
, where he is venerated on January 15th. Elsewhere in the Anglican Communion, King is memorialized with a statue over the western entrance of Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, along with nine other 20th century martyrs.
"New" cathedral building
Construction of its present Gothic Revival structure began in 1898 and was completed in 1926, when the parenthetical phrase "(Gailor Memorial)" was appended to the cathedral's formal name in honor of the Rt. Rev. Thomas Frank GailorThomas Frank Gailor
The Right Reverend Thomas Frank Gailor was the third bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee in the Episcopal Church and served from 1898-1935. He served as the eighth chancellor of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, from June 23, 1908, until his death...
, Bishop of Tennessee and president of the National Council of the Episcopal Church.
Diocese of West Tennessee
Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee
The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee is the diocese of the Episcopal Church that geographically coincides with the political region known as the Grand Division of East Tennessee. The geographic range of the Diocese of East Tennessee was originally part of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee,...
was formed.http://www.episcopaldiocese-tn.org/diocese.htm
Each of the three realigned dioceses retained an important legacy of the old statewide body: West Tennessee had St. Mary's Cathedral; the diocese in Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is a distinct portion of the state of Tennessee, delineated according to state law as the 41 counties in the Middle Grand Division of Tennessee....
retained the name "Diocese of Tennessee" and the status as the Episcopal Church's sixteenth diocese; and the East Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
diocese welcomed Bishop William Evan Sanders, eighth bishop of Tennessee, as its own first bishop. (Sanders served as the dean of St. Mary's from 1947 until 1961, when he became bishop coadjutor and moved to Knoxville to help manage the statewide diocese's work in East Tennessee.)
Ironically, while St. Mary's was the South's first Episcopal cathedral, Tennessee's other two cathedrals, Christ Church (Nashville) and St. John's in Knoxville are both older parishes, having been organized in 1829 with the original formation of the Diocese of Tennessee.
See also
- Book of Common Prayer
- Episcopal Church in the United States of America
- Episcopal Diocese of West TennesseeEpiscopal Diocese of West TennesseeThe Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee is the diocese of the Episcopal Church that geographically coincides with the political region known as the Grand Division of West Tennessee. The geographic range of the Diocese of West Tennessee was originally part of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee,...
- Episcopal Diocese of TennesseeEpiscopal Diocese of TennesseeThe Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America that covers roughly Middle Tennessee. A single diocese spanned the entire state until 1982, when the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee was created; the Diocese of Tennessee was again split...
- Memphis Sanitation StrikeMemphis Sanitation StrikeThe Memphis Sanitation Strike began on February 11, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Citing years of poor treatment, discrimination, dangerous working conditions, and the recent work-related deaths of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, some 1300 black sanitation workers walked off the job in protest...
- Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
- Sisters of St. MaryCommunity of St. MaryThe Community of St. Mary is an Anglican religious order of nuns with three independent houses located in Greenwich, New York, Sewanee, Tennessee, and Mukwonago, Wisconsin...
- Yellow feverYellow feverYellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....