St. Thomas's Anglican Church (Toronto)

Last updated
St Thomas's Anglican Church
St Thomas Anglican Church, Toronto.JPG
Toronto map.png
Red pog.svg
St Thomas's Anglican Church
43°39′57″N79°24′02″W / 43.6659°N 79.4005°W / 43.6659; -79.4005
Location383 Huron Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 2G5
Denomination Anglican Church of Canada
Tradition Anglo-Catholic
Churchmanship High Church
Website stthomas.on.ca
History
Founded1874 (1874)
Dedication Thomas the Apostle
Architecture
Heritage designationToronto Designated Part IV
Designated1976 [1]
Architect(s) Eden Smith
Architectural typeArts and Crafts
Administration
Province Ontario
Diocese Toronto
Archdeaconry South
Deanery Parkdale
Parish St Thomas, Huron Street
Clergy
Rector Rev. Nathan J.A. Humphrey
Assistant priest(s) Rev. James Shire
Honorary priest(s) Rev. Ian D. Nichols
Rev. Jeffry Kennedy
Rev. Roy A. Hoult
(Rector Emeritus)
Laity
Organist/Director of music Elizabeth Anderson Manuel Piazza (assistant)
Churchwarden(s) Matthew Aggus
Kevin Blagrave
Suzanne Coultes
Elizabeth Aaltonen
Parish administratorChristine Cover
St Thomas's Church, Huron Street logo.svg

St. Thomas's Church, Huron Street is a parish of the Anglican Church of Canada in Toronto, Ontario. One of the earliest Anglo-Catholic congregations in Canada, it was established in 1874, moving twice before settling into its present building, adjacent to the Annex on the western edge of the University of Toronto's downtown campus.

Contents

The liturgy and music at St. Thomas's make it a destination church. Many people who do not live within the boundaries of the parish attend its services, especially students, staff, and faculty at the University of Toronto. The parish describes itself as "an active and welcoming Anglo-Catholic parish rooted in Scripture, Reason, and Tradition." [2]

St. Thomas's currently has two full-time priests, the Rector and an Interim Associate Priest, being the Rev'd Fr. Nathan J. A. Humphrey and the Rev'd Fr. James Shire respectively, who are assisted by honorary associate priests. There is also a choirmaster and assistant choirmaster, currently being Elizabeth Anderson and Manuel Piazza.

History

The Arts and Crafts building, designed by architect and parishioner Eden Smith (1858–1949), was opened on January 17, 1893. [3] The First World War Memorial Baptistery with Bromsgrove Guild stained-glass windows was completed in 1922.

The aesthetic theorist and poet T. E. Hulme attended St Thomas's while living in Toronto briefly in 1906 after leaving Cambridge University. He is an important figure in Modernist literature, influencing, among others, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. [4] The world-famous English pianist Gerald Moore (1899–1987) grew up and obtained most of his music education in Toronto. [5] In his early life, he was sub-organist at St Thomas's.

The parish's logo was designed by Allan Fleming for its centenary celebrations in 1974. [6]

Liturgy

St. Thomas's is notable for its intricate liturgy, and is known for its high standards in music and liturgy. Liturgy at St. Thomas's is more formal and complex than would be encountered in all but a few Anglican churches in Canada and indeed in the rest of North America today. Of interest is its dedicated Acolytes' Guild and the parish's preservation of complex liturgical roles and minor orders like that of the subdiaconate, which are no longer found in the vast majority of Anglicanism and Western Christianity as a whole, including in contemporary Roman Catholicism. St. Thomas's draws mainly, however, from the high church tradition within Anglicanism, distinct from the Anglican Papalist movement, which takes its inspiration from contemporary Roman Catholicism. This tradition, as former rector Fr. Roy Hoult explains, sought

to rediscover the forms of dress and general tenor of worship that pertained in England prior to their destruction at the time of the Reformation. St. Thomas's is an example of this second kind of Anglo-Catholicism; its lack of lace and the predominance instead of plain albs and long surplices bear witness to this, as does the traditional Anglican arrangement of the chancel with its choir stalls. [7]

Liturgical particularities native to St. Thomas's reflect a notable influence of pre-conciliar Latin Rite practice on the parish as well, which puts St. Thomas's liturgy at the intersection of High Church Anglican and of Tridentine liturgy. The parish is locally nicknamed "Smoky Tom's" for its use of generous quantities of incense. However, influences from the Liturgical Movement of the twentieth century have been somewhat introduced, notably in the replacement of the prayer for the church militant with the prayers of the people, and especially in the contemporary Sung Mass which uses a contemporary text and is celebrated ad populum (towards the people).

St. Thomas's celebrates daily Low Mass and Morning & Evening Prayer, one of the only Anglican parish churches in Toronto which offers such a schedule. Low Mass is celebrated in the Lady Chapel at 12:15 pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at 5:30 pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and at 10:00 am on Saturday. Morning Prayer is said in the chancel from Monday to Friday at 8:30 am, and on Saturday at 9:30 am. Evening Prayer is said in the chancel as well from Monday to Friday at 5:00 pm. The church is open for private prayer daily from early in the morning to late at night, except on Saturdays.

Major Feast Days are usually observed with one or two Low Masses during the day and a Procession and High Mass in the evening. Service details, livestream links, and service leaflets are posted on the parish website.

On a normal Sunday, the services are:

Sung Mass, High Mass, and Evensong are livestreamed on YouTube. See the parish website.

Music

Music is an important part of the liturgy and mission of St. Thomas's and the high calibre of the music program attracts talent to St Thomas's. Past Directors of Music include John Tuttle, who served from 1989 to 2016 in the post, along with Matthew Larkin and Matthew Whitfield. The famous English accompanist Gerald Moore, who grew up in Toronto, was briefly an assistant organist at St. Thomas's. Elizabeth Anderson was Interim Organist and Choirmaster from July 2016 until August 2017, and was further appointed Interim Director of Music in September 2022. In March 2023, Anderson became the parish's permanent choirmaster. Manuel Piazza was also appointed organist and assistant choirmaster in the same month.

There are three choral services each Sunday. The choristers are mainly volunteers, with paid section leads. To date, the choir has toured to the U.K. three times in 2005, 2010, and 2013 to serve as choir-in-residence in cathedrals during the summer.

Parish culture

St. Thomas's publishes an e-newsletter from the rector called The Thurible weekly. The parish sponsors a Friday Food Ministry program and has a long tradition of refugee sponsorship. All are supported by volunteers from the parish and the community. It also occasionally hosts meetings of the Society of Mary, although these meetings also occur at St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church in Regent Park.

Many St. Thomas's parishioners are active as performers, writers, and artists, and the church has participated in events like Nuit Blanche and Doors Open Toronto.

The parish, although well-known for its liturgical conservatism, houses a sizable portion of parishioners who embrace a more liberal Anglo-Catholicism, following trends in the Anglican Church of Canada, although theologically traditional elements remain alive and well. [8]

On Sunday mornings, there is a small church school and a nursery school. The church also conducts an adult Christian education program, including programs targeted to young adults, Bible study series during the Lent and Advent seasons, discussion groups, and occasional lectures. From 2006 to 2015, there was also an active St Elmo's Youth Group; some of its members have gone on to serve as choristers and acolytes.

University connections

The church has had a long relationship with Trinity College, which hosts a theology department in the Liberal Catholic tradition. More recently, it has mended ties with Wycliffe College, a seminary in the evangelical Anglican tradition, which as recently as the late 1930s banned its students from entering St. Thomas's. Nowadays, however, seminarians from both Trinity and Wycliffe serve regularly during the academic term, involved in the liturgy and many aspects of parish, such as the Friday Food Ministry. Other students of Toronto School of Theology-affiliated institutions are involved in the parish as well.

St. Thomas's is the closest parish church for students of the Toronto School of Theology and of the wider University of Toronto. The church has an active outreach program to university students, and students of the University of Toronto are active in its various guilds and activities, most notably the weekly university-level bible study, as well as being general parishioners.

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liturgical year</span> Annually recurring fixed sequence of Christian feast days

The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year, ecclesiastical calendar, or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical days and seasons that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of scripture are to be read.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass (liturgy)</span> Type of worship service within many Christian denominations

Mass is the main Eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term Mass is commonly used in the Catholic Church, Western Rite Orthodoxy, Old Catholicism, and Independent Catholicism. The term is also used in some Lutheran churches, as well as in some Anglican churches, and on rare occasion by other Protestant churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canonical hours</span> Christian concept of periods of prayer throughout the day

In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Saturday</span> Saturday before Easter Sunday

Holy Saturday, also known as Great and Holy Saturday, Low Saturday, the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday, Saturday of the Glory, Sábado de Gloria, and Black Saturday or Easter Eve, and called "Joyous Saturday", "the Saturday of Light", and "Mega Sabbatun" among Coptic Christians, is the final day of Holy Week, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when Christians prepare for the latter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Use</span> Roman Rite liturgical use of former Anglicans in the Catholic Church

The Anglican Use, also known as Divine Worship, is a use of the Roman Rite celebrated by the personal ordinariates, originally created for former Anglicans who converted to Catholicism while wishing to maintain "aspects of the Anglican patrimony that are of particular value" and includes former Methodist converts to Catholicism who wish to retain aspects of Anglican and Methodist heritage, liturgy, and tradition. Its most common occurrence is within parishes of the personal ordinariates which were erected in 2009. Upon the promulgation of Divine Worship: The Missal, the term "Anglican Use" was replaced by "Divine Worship" in the liturgical books and complementary norms, though "Anglican Use" is still used to describe these liturgies as they existed from the papacy of John Paul II to present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican church music</span> Music genre

Anglican church music is music that is written for Christian worship in Anglican religious services, forming part of the liturgy. It mostly consists of pieces written to be sung by a church choir, which may sing a cappella or accompanied by an organ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missal</span> Liturgical book

A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a priest to celebrate Mass publicly and others for private and lay use. The texts of the most common Eucharistic liturgy in the world, the Catholic Church's Mass of Paul VI of the Roman Rite, are contained in the 1970 edition of the Roman Missal.

Christian liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Christian congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Within Christianity, liturgies descending from the same region, denomination, or culture are described as ritual families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church (Toronto)</span> Church

St Bartholomew's Anglican Church is a parish of the Diocese of Toronto in the Anglican Church of Canada. It is a ministry in collaboration with the Cathedral Church of St. James. Located in the Regent Park area of Toronto, the congregation operates several outreach programs. It is an Anglo-Catholic parish maintaining 'Full Catholic Privileges'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St. Mary Magdalene (Toronto)</span> Church

The Church of St. Mary Magdalene is a parish of the Anglican Church of Canada located in Toronto. It is named for Jesus' companion, Mary Magdalene, and is famous for its association with composer Healey Willan, who was organist and choirmaster for over four decades. The church was built in 1888.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ Church St Laurence</span> Church in City of Sydney. New South Wales, Australia

Christ Church St Laurence is an Anglican church located at 814 George Street, near Central railway station and Haymarket, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the principal centre of Anglo-Catholic worship in the city and Diocese of Sydney, where the Anglicanism is predominantly Evangelical in character. Anglo-Catholicism is manifested at Christ Church St Laurence by an emphasis on the sacraments, ritual, music and social action, all of which have been prominent features of Anglo-Catholicism since the 19th century.

The Church of the Ascension is an Anglo-Catholic parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. Founded in 1857 as a mission of St. James Church, it is now located on North La Salle Drive on Chicago's Near North Side. The church became a part of the Anglo-Catholic movement in 1869. The principal service on Sunday is the Solemn High Mass celebrated at 11 a.m., according to Rite II in the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer (1979). This Mass is celebrated at the High Altar, and includes three sacred ministers, many acolytes, incense, and music provided by a professional choir. The mass includes processions and other devotions on certain feasts and holy days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Peter's Church, Eastern Hill</span> Church in Australia

St Peter's Church, Eastern Hill is an Anglican church located on the corner of Albert and Gisborne Streets, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Part of the Diocese of Melbourne, the administration of the parish dates from 1847 when letters patent of Queen Victoria declaring the city status of Melbourne were read on the steps of St Peter's in 1848. The parish is known to belong to the Anglo-Catholic tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liturgical book</span> Christian prayer book

A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Bartholomew's Church, Dublin</span> Church in Ireland

Saint Bartholomew's Church, Dublin, is a Church of Ireland (Anglican) parish church located on Clyde Road in Ballsbridge on the Southside of Dublin.

The Church of the Incarnation is a parish of the Diocese of Dallas of the Episcopal Church, located at 3966 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Paul's Church, Bedford</span> Church in England

St Paul's Church is a Church of England parish church located on St Paul's Square in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. Formerly a medieval collegiate church, the large building of cathedral proportions with its later additions and iconic spire dominates the town. St Paul's is the largest Anglican church in Bedfordshire, and the church exercises a ministry of welcome to thousands of visitors and pilgrims from far and wide each year. St Paul's is officially recognised as a Major Parish Church and is a member of the Major Churches Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evensong</span> Church service

Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word vesperas as æfensang, which became 'evensong' in modern English. Typically used in reference to the Anglican daily office's evening liturgy, it can also refer to the pre-Reformation form of vespers or services of evening prayer from other denominations, particularly within the Anglican Use of the Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania)</span> Church in Pennsylvania, United States

The Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, is an Episcopal parish church in the progressive Anglo-Catholic tradition. It is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania and is located in the Philadelphia Main Line.

Protestant liturgy or Evangelical liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Protestant congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Liturgy is especially important in the Historical Protestant churches, both mainline and evangelical, while Baptist, Pentecostal, and nondenominational churches tend to be very flexible and in some cases have no liturgy at all. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday.

References

  1. "Heritage Property Detail: 383 Huron Street". City of Toronto's Heritage Property Search. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  2. "Mission Statement". St. Thomas’s Church, Toronto. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  3. Robertson, J. Ross (1904). Landmarks of Toronto: a collection of historical sketches of the old town of York from 1792 until 1837, and of Toronto from 1834 to 1904. Toronto: Robertson. p. 74.
  4. Whitworth, Michael (2001). "T. E. Hulme". The Literary Encyclopedia.
  5. Moore, Gerald (1944). The unashamed accompanist. New York: The Macmillan Company. ISBN   978-0-86203-496-2. OCLC   944441960.
  6. Kent, David. "Poetry Series". St Thomas's Anglican Church, Toronto. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  7. "St Thomas's Traditions". St Thomas's Anglican Church, Toronto. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  8. "Parish Profile". St. Thomas’s Church, Toronto. pp. 38–39. Retrieved 2023-06-01.