History

OUR CATHEDRAL TODAY

Our Cathedral is a house of a prayer for all. We are the Episcopal Cathedral in the Diocese of Massachusetts, located in the heart of Boston. We welcome everyone to join our vibrant community. We are home to a diverse array of parishioners and community members including our regular Sunday congregation; the Episcopal Chinese Congregation; our emerging church community, The Crossing; our community of those who are homeless and in transition; and a Muslim community who gathers for Jum’ah Friday Prayers.

OUR FOUNDING

St. Paul’s Church, Boston’s fourth Episcopal Church, was established in 1818 by a group of Boston patriots wanting to found a wholly American Episcopal parish. The two existing Episcopal churches, Christ Church (Old North), established in 1722, and Trinity Church, founded in 1733 on downtown Summer Street, had been formed prior to the American Revolution. The oldest Episcopal parish, King’s Chapel (1686), had already been swept away by the rising tide of Unitarianism.

In 1819, the founders commissioned Alexander Parris and Solomon Willard to construct a Greek temple to contrast with the existing colonial and “gothick” structures of the town. Financed by the sale of 100 shares, all of which were sold by April 1819, St. Paul’s Church was consecrated by Bishop Alexander Viets Griswold on June 30, 1820.

The History Committee’s ongoing research identified founding members William Appleton and David Sears as beneficiaries of the slave economy. Read more about their history, and what it means for St. Paul’s now, in our report on Reparations & Slavery.

NOTABLE HISTORICAL EVENTS

St. Paul’s has hosted several significant events in Episcopal Church history. Alexander Crummell, the third African-American ordained in the Episcopal Church, was ordained here in 1844. The Right Reverend Barbara Harris, the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion, was elected bishop here, and for years St. Paul’s served as the base for her prophetic ministry. The first public healing services for people with AIDS were also held here. Read more about notable moments in our history in our series, 200 Years of St. Paul’s.

ARCHITECTURE

The first example of Greek Revival architecture in Boston, St. Paul’s was a strong contrast to the colonial “meeting house” appearance of the Park Street Church (1809) across Tremont Street. The light Quincy granite, used for the body of the building, was brought from the quarries in Quincy to the Quincy waterfront on the first railroad operated in the United States. It was then shipped by water to the Boston waterfront.

The Ionic columns on the portico are of brown sandstone quarried from the region of Acquia Creek in Stafford County, Virginia. This sandstone was used for all the sandstone trim, including the column bases, the capitals, and the pediment. We have learned recently that the quarry labor which produced this stone was from enslaved persons. This leaves us with the question of how to reconcile our past. Read more about the columns, among the Cathedral’s other ties to the slave economy, here.

Donald Lipski is an internationally recognized artist specializing in public art projects. His career spans more than 30 years and includes major works in cities across America. Lipski said at the outset, “As an artist, I feel great responsibility for every sculpture I place in the public sphere. However, this particular project calls upon every aspect of my creative force and I welcome such an exciting challenge.”

This structure float in front of a blue panel, the color derived from the shield and flag of the Episcopal Church. The blue of the sky, used often by artists for the clothing of the Blessed Virgin, is called “Madonna Blue.” This color represents the human nature of Jesus, which He received from His Mother. The blue back panel will be lit by LED lights concealed along the perimeter of the pediment or incorporated into the back of the sculpture, creating a dramatic and awe-inspiring night presence, animating the entire building.

The Chambered Nautilus derives from the same mathematical perfection that gives the Cathedral Church of St. Paul its classical Greek proportions. This tiny sea creature, existing for half a billion years, lives in the chamber of its young and fragile shell. As the creature evolves, its increasing size is accommodated by its housing, much like the Church welcomes and accommodates all who pass through its doors. As it grows, the nautilus enlarges its shell through the addition of a new, larger, stronger chamber suitable for the next stage of its life. Season by season, these chambers are added, spiraling out with beautiful precision. The spiral shape suggests infinite growth. There is no design for a "final" chamber. The creature keeps building new chambers as long as it lives. It cannot go back to the previous ones; they no longer fit. It has no choice but to move on.This sculpture was made possible by a grant from the Henderson Foundation.

INTERIOR RENOVATIONS

The interior of the church has undergone repeated and extensive renovation. The current curved apse is a later addition to what was originally a nearly square New England meeting house interior. St. Paul’s also enjoys the distinction of having two beautiful pipe organs, the magnificent Aeolian-Skinner, in the rear (currently in storage waiting for restoration), and the smaller Andover instrument in the chancel.

In April 2014, our Cathedral closed its doors in order to undergo extensive interior renovations; we reopened in Fall 2015. View a brief guide of the cathedral here in English and en espanol.

Read more about the Cathedral’s architecture and renovations in our blog series, 200 Years of St. Paul’s.