The Church of the Saviour (Syracuse) is a chapel in the

Episcopal Diocese of Central New York The Episcopal Diocese of Central New York is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America encompassing the area in the center of New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the Unit ...

. It is an

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...

Episcopal parish noteworthy for its historically significant architecture and decor, which took shape in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ChurchoftheSaviourSyracuse-GreatRood

The Church of the Saviour was first organized in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

in 1848 as St. James Church. It was only the second church established in the state of New York to have entirely free

pews A pew () is a long bench (furniture), bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating Member (local church), members of a Church (congregation), congregation or choir in a Church (building), church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom. Overview ...

. After a series of fires, the building was replaced in 1891 with one designed by Syracuse architect Asa L. Merrick. Seven years later, after a bankruptcy auction, the parish was reorganized as the Church of the Saviour. Finally, after yet another fire, in 1912, the building interior was redesigned by the firm of Ralph Adams Cram, one the country's leading exponents of

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

architecture and proponent of Anglo-Catholic worship. The interior of the Church of the Saviour features a

rood beam The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

carved in 1913 by

Johannes Kirchmayer Johannes Kirchmayer also known as John Kirchmayer (March 31, 1860 – November 29, 1930) was one of the leading woodcarvers in the United States, active primarily in the Boston area. Kirchmayer was born in Oberammergau, Bavaria. After learn ...

of Boston; an altar of

Caen stone Caen stone (french: Pierre de Caen) is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about ...

and

Carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...

, by the firm of J. and R. Lamb, dedicated in 1915; and a 2,000-pipe organ built by the M. P. Möller Company in 1962. The organ was built according to an unusual design created by the musicologist Ernest F. White, the Möller Company's tonal director, who also served as the Church of the Saviour's organist and musical director in 1962–1963. The building also contains a

lady chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, an ...

and a wooden

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "'' colu ...

. Sunday

Eucharistic The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...

services at the Church of the Saviour are conducted according to rite I of the

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

, similar to the form of the liturgy used in Episcopal churches in the United States before 1979.

References

*Dodge, J. Roy. ''The Church of the Saviour: A History of the Parish.'' Privately published. 1997. Passim. *Hawke, H. William. "Ernest White." ''The Canadian Encyclopedia.'' 2009

Retrieved 6 January 2014. *Keefe, Greg. "Syracuse Pipe Organ Holiday, August 11–14, 2014: The Organ Historical Society's 59th Annual Convention.

Retrieved 6 January 2014. *"About Us.

Retrieved 15 January 2011. * "Services.

Retrieved 15 January 2011. *"Brief History.

Retrieved 15 January 2011. *"The Episcopal Diocese of Central New York: Parishes.

Retrieved 15 January 2011. *"Asa L. Merrick (1848-1922)." ''Syracuse Then and Now.'

Retrieved 15 January 2011.

External links

''The Church of The Saviour Syracuse - Home'' (Parish Website)
*Potter, Horatio. "Free Will Offerings With an Holy Worship: A Sermon Preached at the Consecration of St James' Church, Syracuse, November 15, 1853.

{{Coord, 43, 3, 11.6, N, 76, 8, 51.1, W, display=title Episcopal church buildings in New York (state) Churches in Syracuse, New York Anglo-Catholic church buildings in the United States