founders

The Rev. Samuel Jarvis Comes to Boston

The Rev. Samuel Jarvis Comes to Boston

The Reverend Doctor Samuel Farmar Jarvis is celebrated as “the first historiographer of the Episcopal Church,” a position to which he was named at the General Convention in 1838. He is best known to us, however, as the first Rector of St. Paul’s Church in Boston. Prior to his installation as pastor of the new church on July 7, 1820, the Rev. Jarvis was already well known to many of the church’s first subscribers. His nature as a prolific recorder of events, along with his keen attention to his reputation and legacy, left us with many clues in the church’s and other institutional archives about the early years of St. Paul’s and his tenure as Rector.

The Consecration of St. Paul’s Church

The Consecration of St. Paul’s Church

The Consecration of St. Paul’s Church in Boston, Friday, June 30, 1820 This coming Tuesday, June 30th, will mark the two-hundred year anniversary of the consecration and opening of St. Paul’s. On the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church we celebrate the Feast of St. Peter & St. Paul on June 29th, that is to say, one of two feast days honoring St. Paul. But how did the founders of St. Paul’s get to that day in June of 1820?

The Founding of St. Paul's

The Founding of St. Paul's

In 1818 a group of individuals, many of whom were not Episcopalians, decided that they wanted to establish a wholly American Episcopal parish. The first Anglican parish in Boston (King’s Chapel) had already been swept up by the Unitarian movement leaving Christ Church (Old North) and Trinity as the remaining two parishes from the pre-Revolutionary days. In 1818 a group of individuals, many of whom were not Episcopalians, decided that they wanted to establish a wholly American Episcopal parish. The first Anglican parish in Boston (King’s Chapel) had already been swept up by the Unitarian movement leaving Christ Church (Old North) and Trinity as the remaining two parishes from the pre-Revolutionary days. The founders purchased a lot on Common Street, now Tremont Street in a neighborhood that was growing.