In June 1803, 53 Protestants responded to an appeal to form a Protestant congregation in the predominantly Roman Catholic City of New Orleans. After a preliminary meeting, the choice of denomination was put up to a vote. The ballot results were: Episcopal, 45 votes; Presbyterian, 7 votes; Methodist, 1 vote. With the result of the vote, the Episcopal congregation of Christ's Church was founded. Soon after, a call was sent to various colleges and churches in the east for recommendations for a suitable clergyman. On November 16, 1805, Philander Chase, a young minister from Poughkeepsie arrived with a letter of introduction from Bishop Benjamin Moore of New York. The founders approved of young Chase and at eleven o'clock in the morning of the following day, Philander Chase preached his first sermon at The Cabildo on the Place d'Armes.
Services were held in various public buildings until 1816 when the first Christ church was erected at the riverside corner of Canal and Bourbon streets. No sketch exists of this first Christ Church. Records show it was designed by Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe, son of the distinguished architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe. The building was octagonal in shape, 60 feet (18m) in diameter with a domed roof surmounted by a cupola and constructed in brick.
Second and third church building
The third Christ Church building, c. 1870s
By 1833 the first church building proved to be too small for the growing congregation. By 1835 plans for a new church building on the same site were drawn by the noted architects James Gallier Sr. and James H. Dakin. The new building was in the design of a Greek Temple, fronted by six Ionic columns supporting a pediment. It was consecrated on March 26, 1837.
In 1845 Francis Lister Hawks became rector of Christ Church and he submitted plans for a third church building. One of the plans had been drawn by Thomas Wharton, drawing teacher and architect. In 1846 the Vestry contracted James Gallier Jr., son of the famous Gallier who designed the second church, to build the new church following Hawks' and Wharton's plans, for $56,000. The third building was Gothic in style, with buttresses and a central tower, and was erected on the lakeside corner of Canal and Dauphine streets. At this time the second building was bought by Judah Touro and became a synagogue. The Gothic style church served the Christ's Church congregation for 40 years. In 1873 Jewell's Crescent City said of this building, "Christ Church is one of the most elegant church structures in New Orleans." Neither this nor the earlier buildings still survives.
By the late 19th century, New Orleans had grown tremendously. Most of the parishioners of Christ Church lived in uptown New Orleans and it was decided to relocate the church in that area. The corner of Canal and Dauphine was valuable commercial property. The present property on the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Sixth Street was purchased. The cornerstone for the present Christ Church was laid on June 10, 1886. This fourth building, also Gothic in style, was designed by architect Lawrence B. Valk of New York. Through a devoted benefactor, New Orleans architect Thomas Sully's chapel of matching design was added in 1889. Since it was debt free, it was consecrated prior to the cathedral.
In 1959 the latest expansion program was begun-providing space for administrative offices, the church school, library, assembly hall, and service areas. The architects were Freret and Wolf. The Gothic design of the Cathedral and chapel were followed.
Christ Church has had a number of rectors and deans. James F. Hull followed Philander Chase, who went on to become the first Bishop of Ohio in 1819 (where he founded Kenyon College), the first Bishop of Illinois in 1835, and in 1852 he became Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; Nathaniel Wheaton; Francis L. Hawkes (who was chosen the first president of the University of Louisiana, which later became Tulane University); Edmund Neville; William Thomas Leacock, who served Christ Church for 30 years; Alexander I. Drysdale and David Sessums, who left to become the 4th Bishop of Louisiana, an office he held for 38 years.
Christ Church becomes a cathedral
Under Bishop Sessums' sponsorship, Christ Church became a cathedral in 1891 and young Quincy Ewing served briefly as its first dean. He was followed by F. I. Paradise, Charles L. Wells, William A. Barr, J.D. Cummins, William H. Nes, Albert R. Stuart, who was elected Bishop of Georgia in 1954, William E. Craig, Leonard E. Nelson, Richard Rowland, David Lowry, John Senette, and the present dean, David A. duPlantier.
Christ Church served not only its parishioners, but the community as a whole. It was instrumental in founding the chapel for French Protestants, started St. Peter's Mission (1846) which later became St. Anna's Episcopal Church; founded a children's home in 1860, aided in founding Trinity, Calvary, and St. Andrew's Episcopal churches. In a broader context, Christ Church has a special interest in the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, the founding of which was led by the first Bishop of Louisiana, the Right Reverend Leonidas Polk.[citation needed]
Present
Worship includes four Sunday services, as well as the daily offices and weekday celebrations of the Holy Eucharist, offering a rich variety of Anglican worship.
The cathedral became the first[citation needed] Episcopal church to commission a jazz composition when it commissioned one by New Orleans jazz musician Irvin Mayfield to commemorate Hurricane Katrina. Mayfield's composition, entitled "All the Saints", was premiered on November 17, 2005, at the cathedral in conjunction with the bicentennial of Episcopal ministry in New Orleans.[citation needed]
The cathedral is headed by its current dean and rector, the Very Reverend David Allard duPlantier, and is the seat of the twelfth bishop of Louisiana, the Right Reverend Shannon Rogers Duckworth.
The Cathedral Church of All Saints is the bishop's church of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. The current parish is a descendant of a small mission by the Right Reverend Jackson Kemper. It is located in Milwaukee's downtown Yankee Hill neighborhood.
Christ Church Cathedral, Houston is the cathedral church for the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. The congregation was established in 1839, when Texas was still an independent republic. It is the oldest extant congregation in Houston and one of the oldest non-Roman Catholic churches in Texas. Many Episcopal churches in Houston and the surrounding area were founded as missions of Christ Church, such as Trinity Church, Houston, founded in 1893.
Philander Chase was an Episcopal Church bishop, educator, and pioneer of the United States western frontier, especially in Ohio and Illinois.
The Cathedral Church of St. Paul is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. In 1824 its congregation formed as the first Episcopal and first Protestant church in the Michigan Territory.
The Diocese of Ohio is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion represented in the United States by The Episcopal Church. It was organized in 1817 and was the first diocese established outside of the original 13 colonies. The first bishop was Philander Chase. Since that time the Diocese has been served by 11 additional bishops. The 12th and current bishop, the Right Reverend Anne B. Jolly was ordained and consecrated as bishop in April 2023.
The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the eastern part of the state of Louisiana. The see city is New Orleans.
Christ Church Cathedral, Cincinnati, is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, United States.
James Harrison Dakin was an American architect who designed Neo-Gothic buildings and was the architect for the Old Louisiana State Capitol, Old Bank of Louisville, and other public buildings.
Trinity Cathedral is an Episcopal Church in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is the cathedral for the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral for the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis. Christ Church parish was formally organized in 1837. The present-day church building was erected in 1857 on Monument Circle at the center of downtown Indianapolis to replace the parish's first church built on the same site. Designed by architect William Tinsley, the English Gothic Revival-style structure is the oldest church building in Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, that has remained in continuous use. It is also the oldest building on Monument Circle. Christ Church is known for its music, especially its pipe organs, one of which was donated by Ruth Lilly, and its professional Choir of Men and Boys and Girls' Choir. The parish is also known for its community service, including an annual strawberry festival fundraiser and other charitable work. Christ Church Cathedral was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 10, 1973. It is located in the Washington Street-Monument Circle Historic District.
Trinity Cathedral is located in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Nebraska's first Episcopal parish, Trinity was established in 1856, and became the state's first Episcopal cathedral in 1872. Designed by noted English architect Henry G. Harrison in 1880, the cathedral was consecrated on November 15, 1883. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Today Trinity Cathedral is considered one of the most beautiful churches in Omaha.
St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, more commonly called Old St. Paul's Church today, is a historic Episcopal church located at 233 North Charles Street at the southeast corner with East Saratoga Street, in Baltimore, Maryland, near "Cathedral Hill" on the northern edge of the downtown central business district to the south and the Mount Vernon-Belevedere cultural/historic neighborhood to the north. It was founded in 1692 as the parish church for the "Patapsco Parish", one of the "original 30 parishes" of the old Church of England in colonial Maryland.
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, formerly known as Grace Cathedral, is the historic cathedral in the Diocese of Iowa. The cathedral is located on the bluff overlooking Downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1873, Trinity is one of the oldest cathedrals in the Episcopal Church in the United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1983 the cathedral was included as a contributing property in the College Square Historic District, which is also listed on the National Register.
St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, is located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
St. Paul's Cathedral is an Episcopal church in Bankers Hill in San Diego, California. It is the formal seat of the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. It traces its origins to the first Protestant church in San Diego, founded in Old Town in 1853, although the building itself was only completed in 1951.
The Union Bethel A.M.E. Church in New Orleans, Louisiana, at 2321 Thalia St. at the corner of Liberty St., is a historic African Methodist Episcopal church.
The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul the Apostle is an Episcopal cathedral in Springfield, Illinois, United States. It is the seat of the Diocese of Springfield. The present church building, the third for the parish, was completed in 1913.
Davis Sessums was a bishop of Louisiana in The Episcopal Church.
Christ Church, also known as Christ Episcopal Church, is a Christian house of worship located on the corner of Church Street and Main Street in Newton, New Jersey. It is a parish overseen by the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The congregation first met on 28 December 1769 and was granted a charter by New Jersey's last Royal Governor William Franklin on behalf of Britain's King George III. Christ Church is the oldest church in Newton and the third oldest parish in the Diocese of Newark.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
