USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > Christ church parish and cathedral, 1762-1942 : an historical sketch > Part 3
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The new spirit of reverence and devotion was reflected in every aspect of parish life, and most vividly in the fabric itself. When it appeared that the church would become a cathedral, the chancel was altered and renovated, and at the great service on June 15, 1919, the bishop dedi- cated many memorials, including: a stone altar in memory of the Rever- end Doctor James Goodwin, late rector; the enlarged reredos; stone seats; the bishop's throne; a choir parapet; the dean's stall; sanctuary lanterns; and a new altar cross. Throughout Dean Colladay's ministry, the love and devotion of members continually added richness and beauty to the church. In May, 1921 four hanging electric lamps were placed in the sanctuary, and at Easter in 1925 six more were hung in the nave. The Litany desk was blessed on July 17, 1921. Upon it, on Maundy Thursday of 1922, was blessed a Litany Book, bound in purple morocco and bearing a bronze cross, in memory of the Reverend Doctor Samuel Hart, archivist of the diocese.
Constantly beautified and enriched by many gifts, the parish's devotional life flowed on, and received new currents from all the services and observances connected with the cathedral. Following Dean Colla-
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day's ardent desire to center worship about the Eucharist, three weekly celebrations of the Holy Communion began in Lent, 1919. The regular Sunday schedule of services was developed to include two celebrations, Church School devotions, and matins with a sermon in the morning, with evensong after dark.
Even all these services did not round out the full corporate devotion of the cathedral parish. People came to love the vesper carols and mid- night Eucharist at Christmas, and the creche in the children's corner, with its carved figures of the Holy Family and the shepherds. Dean Colladay stressed the three-hour service of meditation on Good Friday, and saw its natural fruits in a great increase of Easter communions and of at- tendance at early celebrations. The cathedral has helped to promote unity among the outlying parishes, through the thronged annual service of presentation of Lenten mite boxes for missions. On that occasion hun- dreds used to realize what the cathedral meant to them and their parishes as a center of Church life and works.
While devotional life bloomed with a new luxuriance, the social side of a cathedral parish grew steadily. In anticipation of the demand, Mrs. James J. Goodwin, in memory of her husband, gave the parish house with an eventual endowment of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The edifice was dedicated on October 5, 1917, in a strenuous war period, when the parish and the Red Cross could use all the available room. Now known as the Cathedral House, it shelters a great number and variety of diocesan and parochial meetings.
Few people, even of the congregation, fully understand and appre- ciate the amazing scope of the cathedral's diocesan and community ser- vices. Some years see as many as forty meetings for diocesan business, besides many special services for the diocese and the six archdeaconries. The diocesan convention, Woman's Auxiliary and Clergy Conferences meet at the cathedral, and the bishop comes for ordinations and confirma- tions. The Diocesan Lending Library and the Church Missions Publish- ing Company - the latter of national scope - are located in the cathed- ral buildings. There are many meetings of community groups outside the Episcopal Church, and for the benefit of the Church's Italian, Negro, domestic and foreign missions. The Dean oversees Saint Monica's Mis- sion and is treasurer of Saint Paul's Italian Church. The cathedral clergy are in charge of Grace Church, Newington.
Dean Colladay earnestly desired to make the cathedral a more than nominal center of missionary work. Especially in times of distress like the economic depression of the early 1930's, the smaller and weaker parishes never turned to him in vain. In addition to Newington, the cathedral clergy for some time served Saint Andrew's Church in Thomp-
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sonville; little Calvary Church in Colchester, which does not have even a building; and Saint James' Church, Glastonbury. Dean Colladay used to visit regularly at Rocky Hill, to administer the Holy Communion to a few devoted Episcopalians.
The same missionary spirit has made the cathedral a place of con- tinual intercession for "all sorts and conditions of men." Not only for families and individuals of the congregation, but also for parishes and missions of the diocese, and for the Church's work throughout the world. Every day the cathedral is open for prayer and meditation, and every year there are more than a thousand services, mostly celebrations of the Holy Communion.
A principal reason for the cathedral's establishment was that it should become a center of what is somewhat vaguely called "social service" - which really is religious service. Nearly forty years ago the inspiration for this branch of the Cathedral's program sprang from the acute social consciousness of the Reverend James Goodwin, and the example of several great institutional churches, particularly in New York City.
As early as 1907 an editorial in the Evangel mentioned the pressing need for a deaconess or special parish worker. For some years previous such work had been performed by Miss Faith Collins, "with a devotion and an unselfish generosity rarely seen." Her health failed, and at Christ- mas in 1906 she was succeeded by Miss Alice Blake, a graduate of the Philadelphia Training School for Deaconesses, although not professed. She became parish visitor and choir mother, and superintended the kindergarten, the sewing school, the Little Saint Margarets, the choir boys' weekly Bible class and social meetings, the boys' and girls' clubs, and the home department and cradle roll in the Sunday School.
The creation of such an office was a novelty to the parish, which always had depended upon volunteer services, and to some it must have seemed an unnecessary luxury. But Doctor Goodwin. who clearly saw the inevitable trend, considered a salaried woman worker as an essen- tial, and carefully explained the situation in the Evangel. Voluntary contributions met the expenses at first, but he suggested that eventually they must become part of the regular parish budget. In 1908 Miss Blake resigned and went to New York City.
Her successor was Miss Susan Louise Sprague, also a graduate of the Philadelphia Training School. In November she began her work, as parish visitor and superintendent of all the young people's activities. She contributed a most valuable and long remembered service, by calling among the poor, superintending the Sunday School, and working among the young girls. When she left the parish on July 1, 1914, the Women's
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Guild gave a supper in her honor, with Rector and Mrs. Goodwin present.
The new parish house brought a noticeable growth of social work. From 1923 to July, 1926, Mrs. Philip Lee served as the parish visitor, at first voluntarily. She filled a much-needed role, as the calling had grown to formidable proportions, and much of it required a woman of some experience in such work. In the spring of 1926 it was arranged to have somebody in the parish office all day from Monday to Friday, and on Saturday morning. By that time the office staff had grown to three - Mrs. Lee, Miss M. L. Randall as parish secretary, and Miss Barbara Rommell as bookkeeper.
Mrs. Lee moved from the city in the summer of 1926, and was suc- ceeded on September 1st by Mrs. Leonard O. Melville, wife of the lay- reader at Grace Church, Newington, who was then a student at Berkeley Divinity School.
After twelve years of service as Cathedral Secretary, and two years as Parish Visitor of old Christ Church, Miss Mary L. Randall tendered her resignation in the summer of 1929. Her remarkable knowledge of the Church; her cultural background; her wide reading; and her many years of experience as Parish Visitor in Holy Trinity Church on the east-side of New York, make her services invaluable. One of her special contributions to the Cathedral office was the "setting up" of a most efficient card index system of the parish roster and the very accurate keeping of the Parish Register. Although she had retired from active duty as a member of the Staff, her advice and counsel was often sought in the succeeding years when she continued as a valued member of the Cathedral.
Miss Florence Coykendall, who had been a part-time assistant in the Church School while studying at the Hartford Theological Seminary, now assumed the combined duties of Director of Religious Education and Cathedral Secretary. She relinquished this work the following year upon her marriage to the Reverend Lynde E. May, Jr.
The work had grown to such proportions that it seemed best to have a full-time Secretary, as well as a Religious Director and Social Worker. In 1930, Miss Selina L. Winter, for many years a member of old Christ Church, who had had wide experience in the business world and as assist- ant to the rectors of St. James' Church in Danbury and the Church of the Holy Communion in South Orange, N. J., was appointed Cathedral Secretary. She has served in this capacity under all three Deans. Her work has been. distinguished by her great love of people, her deep interest in the Church, and her eagerness to serve.
Mrs. Frederick Eberle (nee Barbara Rommell) who had been book- keeper for the Cathedral, as well as Secretary of the Church Missions
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Publishing Company, felt that her duties at home should command her full time, and her resignation in 1933 was regretfully accepted. Mrs. Theodore W. Pomeroy was her successor, and she fulfilled her duties in a most conscientious and efficient manner. Mrs. Pomeroy was also for many years, previously to her association with the Cathedral Staff, a special volunteer visitor and Choir Mother of the Church School Girls' Choir. When serious illness caused her enforced leave of absence in 1939, she was greatly missed. Miss Thelma L. Hungerford then took over the duties of Cathedral bookkeeper and has proved very helpful in every way.
It seems fitting that something should be said of the fine services of Miss Constance Marsh Gay who served as a volunteer member of the Cathedral Staff for many years. Her untimely death caused by an auto- mobile accident in 1941 brought deep sorrow to her many friends in the Cathedral and in the community. She was an expert accountant and rendered valuable assistance in the auditing of the benevolent accounts and as Treasurer of the Church School. For one of the Cathedral anni- versary observances she compiled the "Book of Memorials" descriptive of all the beautiful memorials in the Cathedral Church. She was custodian of the Book of Remembrance. Her personal services to the afflicted and those in sorrow will not soon be forgotten. Her memory is precious to all who had the privilege of her friendship.
In the fall of 1930, Mrs. Leonard O. Melville, who had graduated from St. Faith's School for deaconesses and other women church workers, the previous May, became a member of the Cathedral Staff as director of the Church School and Social Worker. About that time the country was hit by the economic blizzard which began in 1929-1930, and the enormously increased demand for social and relief work gave Mrs. Mel- ville unlimited opportunity for the exercise of that special training she had received in social work.
At this time, the Open Hearth, in which Christ Church had always taken a great interest, was taxed beyond its capacity for the sheltering of homeless and jobless men, and the city had no Municipal Shelter for them. The Reverend Robert B. Day (now Rector of Christ Church, Roxbury) did a notable work at Christ Church Cathedral for these men. Under his supervision, the lower floor of the Cathedral House was turned into dormitories where the men were given lodging for the night and supplied with breakfast the next morning. Tradition says these men were sometimes strenuously taught by Mr. Day that cleanliness and godliness go together. Mayor Walter E. Batterson "cited" Mr. Day for his ad- mirable piece of community service.
The winter of 1930-31 was especially severe, and the cathedral
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strove to mitigate suffering, largely through generous help from the parishioners, which amounted to about three hundred and fifty garments and twenty-six hundred dollars. The parish provided also free treatment for about forty-five persons at the Hartford Hospital, and gave about ninety dollars monthly, in pensions to needy parishioners and others.
During the depression years the Evangel repeatedly begged for clothing. "Extra! We need, at once, a baby carriage and a crib for a six months' old infant." And again, "Winter is coming, and the cupboard is bare! ! ! " From the parish house flowed a steady bounty of food, clothing, shoes for school children, medication, hospital care, coal, and occasionally rent. There were many calls for help in remedying family troubles, which often assumed dangerous aspects because of the financial pinch. The Laymen's Association generously aided the social work, from a fund derived from a play at the Bushnell Memorial. The parish beds at the Hartford Hospital prevented many from falling hopelessly into debt on account of sickness. This work opened to many a door to spiritual help, and strengthened the parish's own religious life.
Even after the worst phase of depression and unemployment had passed, need persisted because many people were paying up old debts. The number of people enjoying the advantage of the hospital beds, ran into the hundreds. Family relief work continued to be the largest field of service, and the Hartley-Salmon Clinic gave invaluable assistance with "problem children." Pitiful cases of destitution continued to crop up, people continued to need - and found - employment, especially in home work and care of children. The cathedral's department of social service became a recognized agency, cooperating with all the public and private agencies in city and state and working with individuals as well as families.
While carrying on all this work, the cathedral has tried to keep abreast of all the usual parish calling, and its work in neighboring insti- tutions. The clerical and office staff call on members of the congregation as often as possible. All the local hospitals are familiar with the cathedral clergy, through their regular and special pastoral visits, even to out-of- town people. Services have been held at the Hartford Hospital, the Wildwood and Cedarcrest sanatoriums, the Woman's Aid, the Church Home, and other institutions in and near the city. Through this work, maintained year after year, the cathedral has become truly what Bishop Brewster wanted it to be: a house of God for all people; not simply for Episcopalians, but for those of all faiths, or perchance of no faith. Many of the latter class have come to know the faith and love it.
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IV. THE PARISH AND FAMILY OF CHRIST CHURCH
Christ Church was the thirty-sixth parish of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. It was founded long after the Church had become power- ful in several towns settled much later than Hartford - such as Newtown, Danbury, Woodbury, Redding, Waterbury, Plymouth, Simsbury and Hebron. For many years it was far surpassed in strength and importance by parishes which today are much smaller. In 1812 Saint Michael's in Litchfield and Trinity Church, Newtown, were wealthier. As late as about 1850, one of the rectors declined a call to Newtown, because he did not feel equal to a greater burden! In early diocesan records the parish is not so prominent as one today would naturally think. It sent no lay delegate to the convention until 1802, forty years after its first organiza- tion and sixteen after its revival. There was no settled rector until 1801. At that time there were only six regular communcants; ten years later, but thirty-four. Many of the present "country" parishes could do much better. The first parochial report, in 1812, showed only eighty families, including twelve or fourteen in Windsor and East Windsor.
Such a comparatively humble station startles one familiar with the parish's present influence in the diocese. It was due to several forgotten facts. Christ Church then was situated in the very stronghold of Puritan Congregationalism. When it was founded, the present area of Hartford County was almost solidly Congregational, with only three Episcopal churches outside Hartford - Simsbury, Granby and Bristol. Even in 1817-18, when the Toleration and Reform Party swept the state, Hart- ford County still gave a majority for the Congregational-Federalist party. As late as 1800 Hartford was relatively less important than today, surpassed in population and wealth by several other towns. Churchmen here were not of the very wealthy class, as financial records of the parish clearly show. The early subscription lists contain few large givers, and the erection of the first building must have taxed resources to the utmost. Congregationalism had most of the wealth, while Episcopalians, Baptists and Methodists were comparatively poor. Whatever it was elsewhere, the Church in early Hartford was no special preserve of the rich and well- born. Growth was almost painfully slow. The parish records from 1802 to 1810 reveal only one hundred and fifty-seven baptisms and sixty- eight marriages: not an impressive showing after over forty years of effort.
The great expansion of wealth and influence came after 1820. A new era began with the rise of a Toleration Party in state politics, and the disestablishment of the Congregational Church in 1818. Prestige came from the increasing influence of Churchmen in politics, business and edu-
THE RIGHT REVEREND EDWARD CAMPION ACHESON, D.D. SIXTH BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT
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cation, and especially from the founding of Washington (Trinity) College in 1823. The Church here also felt the force of clergymen like Philander Chase, Nathaniel S. Wheaton and Bishop Thomas C. Brownell; . and the consecrated energy of such laymen as Charles K. Sigourney, William Imlay and George Beach. It was no longer an oddity to be an Episco- palian.
By 1825 Christ Church was growing at a rate that would have amazed the little band of 1762, or even of 1795. At the annual meeting in 1827, thirty men desired to become legal members of the "society" or parish. Twelve years later there were one hundred and sixty-two voters, probably representing almost as many families.
Growing prosperity brought a significant change in the method of support. The early way of maintaining parishes was by taxing the members. Christ Church avoided that irritation as far as possible, striv- ing to raise funds by renting pews and taking collections at services. Offerings were small, and there were deficits, which had to be met by special subscriptions. The last recorded tax was in 1844, for by that time the parish was becoming able to live on voluntary offerings and pew rents. The disappearance of the hateful "church rate" marked the start of our modern way of voluntary sacrifices by the faithful. It reflected a new spirit of expansion and missionary effort in the Episcopal Church of Hartford.
By 1840 Hartford was bursting its village shell and becoming a thriving small city. The spacious old house lots had been divided and new streets ran through the former pastures, gardens and orchards. A solid settlement extended from Park Street to Keney Tower and from the river to High Street. In 1847 there were ninety named streets, three district schools, a high school, eighteen hotels and sixteen churches, including two Episcopal. Nearly eighty years had passed since the found- ing of Christ Church, which for generations had been the only spiritual home of Churchmen in Hartford and surrounding towns.
But it was no longer alone. There was a new church, Saint John's, standing as the city directory quaintly said, "near the Stone Bridge" on Main Street. Saint John's grew from the astonishing increase of Christ Church, especially since the erection of the new building. There was not a single vacant pew, and the rector saw no remedy except to enlarge the church at great expense or to divide the parish. A special meeting weighed the matter on March 15, 1841, and only three days later Saint John's started with thirty-seven members. The first meeting of the new parish took place on April 19.
No ill feeling attended the separation, and eighteen members of Christ Church subscribed over sixteen hundred dollars for the new
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church. At its consecration on April 20, 1842, the rector of the mother church delivered the sermon, and his wardens and vestrymen joined in the procession. Under the pastoral care of Arthur Cleveland Coxe, later Bishop of Western New York, Saint John's within a few years grew to two hundred and fifty communicants. Its fine old church, a landmark in the city, was torn down in 1907 to make way for the Morgan Memorial. The present Saint John's on Farmington Avenue, consecrated in 1909, marked the westward drift of population and showed a far-sighted appre- ciation of the future growth of West Hartford.
The loss of many fine members did not bring the decline which some feared. It spurred Christ Church to such zeal that within a few years the empty seats were filled. Again rose the problem of enough room in the inn - this time for the poor and the stranger. It became more press- ing that ever, as older and wealthier native families moved westward towards "the Hill", while the poor and the immigrant gathered on the "East Side." The conscience of the city churches stirred, and in 1850 a joint meeting of members from Christ Church and Saint John's founded the Church City Mission Society. As missionary the society chose the Reverend Charles Richmond Fisher, who served until his death in 1876 and became affectionately known as "Father."
The mission, which became a parish in 1857, met in halls until the completion of Saint Paul's Church, Market Street, on land given by George Beach for religious purposes only. The mission was supported largely by the Society, managed by three men from each of the mother parishes. Although it did a great and noble work, Saint Paul's was not a permanent necessity, especially after Christ Church and Saint John's offered free seats. It declined after the death of its genius, Father Fisher, and in 1878 was dissolved and consolidated with Christ Church. Later the building became a Lutheran church, as the congregation included many Germans. In 1898 Saint Anthony's Italian Roman Catholic Church bought the building, and worshipped there until its present edifice was erected. It is now a parish house called "Casa Maria," with a tiny garden containing a grave.
Saint John's, inheriting the missionary zeal of its parent, presented to Christ Church a rather numerous brood of descendants. In 1859 the parish began a Sunday School in the "Meadow" district. Within seven years it progressed from the Mission of the Holy Innocents to the Parish of the Good Shepherd, to which Mrs. Samuel Colt presented a handsome church. The Reverend Henry M. Nelson, assistant at St. John's, became the first rector. Almost at once the new parish planted Trinity Church in Wethersfield, which for two hundred years had been sealed against Episcopal influence. From Saint John's sprang also Saint Gabriel's in
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Windsor, founded in 1842 and in 1865 renamed Grace Church. Another child was Grace Church in Burnside, established in 1854, but in 1865 removed to East Hartford center and called Saint John's. Saint James's Church in Hartford, organized in 1868 as the Church of the Incarnation, originated in a Sunday School under the auspices of Saint John's, in the old Trinity College buildings at the site of the State Capitol. The moving spirit was the Reverend Professor John T. Huntington, who became the first rector. As the church at Park and Washington Streets became engulfed by business, in 1926 the congregation moved to a new parish house on Zion Street.
While all these descendants were coming into the world, Christ Church benevolently regarded the progress of offspring in other places. Of her it could truly be said, the aged shall bring forth seed. The first Episcopal services in West Hartford were maintained largely by Christ Church in 1842-43, in the North Schoolhouse and the old Quaker meetinghouse on South Quaker Lane. Saint James's Church, which soon will celebrate its centennial, struggled bravely against many early adversities, but in 1853 was strong enough to erect its charming brick church facing the Green.
In the 1850's westward migration became so marked that a few Episcopalians on Asylum Hill began to long for a parish. They considered their somewhat rustic suburb a distinct community, as a mile was then a long distance from town. In 1859 only twelve of them organized Trinity Church, by consent of the rectors of Christ Church and Saint John's, which lost some of their oldest and most helpful members. From a very small group the parish grew into a large, wealthy and socially prominent congregation. Its great expansion dated from the election of the Rev- erend Ernest deF. Miel as rector, in 1893. Trinity Church was barely established, when some of its members saw a missionary field in Park- ville. They started a Sunday School in the old brick schoolhouse on Baker Road (New Park Avenue) and called it Trinity Mission. It became Grace Chapel in 1868, and a parish in 1912.
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