Christ Church Cathedral (Victoria, British Columbia)
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Christ Church Cathedral in
Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...
is the cathedral church of the
Diocese of British Columbia The Diocese of British Columbia, also known as the Anglican Diocese of Islands and Inlets, is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon of the Anglican Church of Canada. Despite the name, the diocese comprises only t ...
of the
Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2016, the Anglican Church of ...
.


History


First church (1856–1869)

The
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
hired Robert John Staines, graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, to teach the children of Fort Victoria, and offered him a further stipend to take
Holy Orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...
and serve as chaplain to the fort as well. He arrived at the fort with his wife Emma and servants in 1849, none too impressed with the rustic conditions at this remote trading post. For their part, the small fort community became increasingly dissatisfied with his teaching skills and manner, such that he was discharged in 1854. He in turn set off for London to grieve the Company's land policies at the Colonial Office on behalf of fellow settlers. Staines had held Anglican services in the mess room of Fort Victoria and aboard visiting ships pending completion of a church. The Company appointed
Edward Cridge Edward Cridge (December 17, 1817 – May 5, 1913) was a British Canadians, British-Canadian clergyman and Reform movement, social reformer. Born and raised in England and ordained in the Church of England, Cridge—a low church Evangelical Angli ...
, a college friend of Staines, as his replacement. Cridge and his new wife Mary arrived from England on April 1, 1855, via the new Panama Canal Railway. The 1855 census of Victoria reported "232 non-native persons". The company church, designed and supervised by J. D. Pemberton, Colonial Surveyor, was finally ready for use on August 31, 1856 and was initially known as the Victoria District Church. Beginning in 1858, Victoria was overrun with gold seekers on their way to the
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's ...
. Hundreds of makeshift structures went up and several years of intense growth ensued. December 12, 1859, Queen Victoria issued Royal Letters Patent creating the Bishopric of British Columbia. On January 12, 1859, Letters Patent created the Diocese of British Columbia, endowed by The Baroness Burdett-Coutts. On February 24, 1859, George Hills was consecrated in Westminster Abbey as its first Bishop. After a summer of fundraising for the Columbia Mission Fund, Hills sailed for Victoria and arrived on January 6, 1860. Hills had engaged the clipper barque Athelstan to bring from England a pre-fabricated church building and furnishings, which arrived in February. It was erected on Block R, Douglas St., about half a mile north of Christ Church, and was consecrated as the Church of St John the Divine, after his parish in Yarmouth. The Town of Victoria was incorporated in 1862 with 6000 people and 1500 buildings. Vancouver Island reverted from the Hudson's Bay Company to the Crown, and Fort Victoria was demolished. Hills had to choose which of the two churches to make the cathedral. St John's could hold 600. Christ Church had been built with a capacity of 400, but an apse and south aisle were added to it in 1862 and a north aisle in 1865. On December 7, 1865, opting for the better location of Christ Church, he consecrated Christ Church Cathedral and appointed Cridge as its first dean. On the night of September 30, 1869, the cathedral burned to the ground. The communion vessels and organ were rescued and the vestry books survived. The parish used a vacant Presbyterian church for several years while they rebuilt.


Second church (1872–1929)

The cornerstone for the new building was laid on May 20, 1872 by Lieutenant-Governor
Joseph Trutch Sir Joseph William Trutch, (18 January 1826 – 2 March 1904) was an English-born Canadian civil engineer, land surveyor, and politician who served as first Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. Early life and career Joseph was born i ...
. It was to be another wooden structure as conditions were not ripe for a stone building. It was about by with a tower of Construction took a little over six months.


Schism of 1874

As a
low church In Anglican Christianity, the term ''low church'' refers to those who give little emphasis to ritual, often having an emphasis on preaching, individual salvation, and personal conversion. The term is most often used in a liturgical sense, denot ...
man, Cridge had little use for church hierarchy and authority; not for obedience to his bishop, and certainly not for formal liturgies. Things simmered privately between Cridge and Hills until evensong on December 5, 1872, the day of services for the consecration of the new cathedral, when guest preacher William S. Reece, Archdeacon of Vancouver (i.e. Vancouver Island), gave what Cridge interpreted as a rousing endorsement of
ritualism A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
. Rather than announcing the following hymn, Cridge hotly took issue with the homily, in breach of canon law which prohibited public disagreement among clergy. Hills then had to take official notice of the situation, trying first censure, the most lenient course. Cridge remained defiant. The citizens and newspapers of Victoria took sides. Hills then tried Cridge in ecclesiastical court. The trial was held in the vacant Presbyterian church, was open to the public and received attentive press coverage. On September 22, 1874, Cridge was found guilty of 16 of 18 charges laid, and his licence was revoked. Cridge disregarded the revocation and demanded that the case be heard in "an unbiased secular court." Hills then sought an injunction against Cridge in the Supreme Court of British Columbia ''sub nomine Bishop of Columbia v. Cridge''. It fell to their mutual friend Supreme Court Chief Justice
Matthew Baillie Begbie Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (9 May 1819 – 11 June 1894) was a British lawyer, politician, and judge. In 1858, Begbie became the first Chief Justice of the Crown Colony of British Columbia in colonial times and in the first decades after Br ...
to adjudicate. He encouraged them to settle out of court. Cridge did apologise for his outburst at evensong, but would not recognise the authority of the Bishop. In his judgment of October 24, 1874, granting an injunction forbidding Cridge to act as a priest of the diocese, Chief Justice Begbie observed,
His ills'reluctance to use his power may however, obviously be imputed to motives of the most christian forbearance … But if the defendant had been at once in December, 1872, excluded from the pulpit of Christ Church until due submission, I should not now have had the most painful duty of attending to this distressing case, and probably much correspondence of a most disagreeable nature would have been avoided.
Begbie had been a member of the cathedral parish and was on the building committee for the new cathedral, but after rendering this verdict, he transferred his membership to St. John the Divine. Much of the Cathedral's congregation, among them some of Victoria's major figures such as Sir James Douglas and Dr. J.S. Helmcken, met with Cridge a few days later and voted to form a new congregation, the Church of Our Lord, under the auspices of the
Reformed Episcopal Church The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) is an Anglican Church. It was founded in 1873 in New York City by George David Cummins, a former bishop of the Episcopal Church (United States), Protestant Episcopal Church. The REC is a founding member of the ...
, which had recently broken from the Episcopal Church of the United States. Even so, the Columbia Mission Report was able to state that givings at Christ Church in 1875 were similar to those in 1871. Cridge's new congregation met at the vacant Presbyterian church until their building was completed at the end of 1875.


Present church (1929–present)

The wooden structure built in 1872 became inadequate for the size of the congregation. In 1891, an international design competition for a larger and more enduring edifice was held. In January 1893, architect J.C.M. Keith of Victoria was announced as the winner. He designed a 13th century Gothic style building with a spire. The congregation made a good start on a building fund, but it was not adequate to begin construction. Efforts were discontinued until 1920. By then, Keith had altered his original design to include two west towers and a central lantern tower, but the latter was never built. Charles Schofield, elected bishop in 1916, had the judgement, tact, courage, perseverance and business sense to lead the project. He had recently overseen the rebuilding of Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton, which was ignited by lightning in 1911 during his tenure there as Dean. In 1919, a new Cathedral Buildings Campaign for $250,000 was authorized.


Construction

Schofield had Memorial Hall built first; its cornerstone was laid on October 1, 1923. A service for breaking ground on the new Cathedral took place on May 20, 1926. Fortunately, Mr. Keith was still available to supervise the project. The cornerstone was laid on September 9, 1926 by
Arthur Winnington-Ingram Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram (26 January 1858 – 26 May 1946) was Bishop of London from 1901 to 1939. Early life and career He was born in the rectory at Stanford-on-Teme, Worcestershire, the fourth son of Edward Winnington-Ingram (a Ch ...
, the
Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
. Funds were just sufficient to construct the nave, narthex and the lower portions of the northwest and southwest towers only. Vaulting was of brick rather than stone, and was flattened by two feet to reduce costs. The organ from the previous building was rebuilt on top of temporary vestries in the south-east corner of the nave. The east end of the nave was closed with a temporary wooden wall, and this much was consecrated on September 28, 1929.
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
visited the site several weeks earlier, on September 9, 1929, and was quick to help when the superintendent asked him to lay a stone on the north tower. During construction, a robin nested atop scaffolding next to the top of one of the main pillars of the nave. Work in that area was deferred until the end of nesting season. R. W. Marsh, who was responsible for production of the many
cast stone Cast stone or reconstructed stone is a refined artificial stone, a form of precast concrete. It is used as a building material to simulate natural-cut masonry in architectural features such as facings and trim; for statuary; and for garden or ...
elements of the interior pillars and arches, suggested that a sculpture of the robin on its nest be placed atop the pillar, and offered to cast one in stone, given a model. Reginald Dove, the architect's assistant, sculpted the bird and nest in clay, and a stone casting of his model was made and installed on the capital of the pillar. In 1933, thanks to an anonymous donation of £5000, a contract was let to continue the north-west tower as far as the bell chamber floor. In 1936, through the generosity of two donors, Mrs. Mozley and Mrs. Matson, a peal of eight bells for
change ringing Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuning (music), tuned bell (instrument), bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in ...
was purchased and installed atop this floor. The bells were made by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel, London and were shipped via the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
. They are of the same design as the peal at
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...
. The eight tons of steel girders and seven and a half tons of bells were hoisted the seventy feet onto the tower and installed by Yarrows Shipyard of Victoria under the direction of Edward W. Izard in just six working days. As the tower was incomplete, a wooden shed was built over the bells to protect them from the elements. The bells were first rung on July 12, 1936. In 1952, a columbarium was constructed under the nave. In 1957, the western towers and the arch over the rose window were completed in concrete with stone facing. To reduce costs, the 20 foot lantern band at the top of each tower was omitted. Skilled stone cutters were in short supply, so workers from Europe were brought to the quarry on Texada Island, where they produced and shipped finished stones. In 1958, a proposal to rebuild the main organ for $40,000 was approved.


Renovations since completion

The high altar which had been brought from the second cathedral was moved to the Lady Chapel. A new free-standing altar was put on a raised platform with the choir behind, and fronted by a semi-circular altar rail. A large hexagonal corona lighting fixture was suspended over the altar to draw attention there. A portable classroom was attached to the rear of the building as choir practice room and vestry. Fairbridge Farms Society offered their Harrison and Harrison organ, which was installed in the west gallery in 1975. The small Bevington organ which had been there was moved to the main floor and put on casters. In 1980, a decision was taken to rebuild the main organ yet again, and to relocate it to an engineered shelf over the west gallery. The Harrison and Harrison organ was moved from the gallery to where the main organ had been. Several years later, two smaller bells were added to the peal of eight. They were dedicated on March 8, 1983 in the presence of
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
and
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...
before being hung in the tower. The Treble is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Izard, who led the ringing in the tower for nearly forty years, and the Second to the Queen's grandson
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge William, Prince of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his pat ...
. The temporary wooden east wall had become unsound. In 1985, completion of the design with central tower was abandoned, and a design for a worthy completion in the spirit of the original was adopted, a stone-clad addition containing a chapel, vestries, chapter room, and wash rooms. It was expected that the addition might exist with simple sheet metal cladding for many years before stone cladding could be afforded, but several unexpected large bequests came along, which allowed the project to be completed immediately, and removed all construction debt. The exterior was, however, finished not on stone, but in concrete masonry and EIFS. Birds of the precinct have found EIFS to be an ideal substrate for nest cavity construction. In 1988, the corona over the altar was removed. In 1994, the columbarium was enlarged. In 1997, bonding and ballasting of the brick vaulting was undertaken as a seismic upgrade. It was to have been parged when constructed, but this was done only on the aisle vaulting. In 2000, a contract for a new four-manual mechanical action pipe organ was signed with Hellmuth Wolff & Associés of Laval QC. Site preparation began in 2002 with removal of the old organ and the shelf on which it stood. It had been thought at the time of signing that the project would have to proceed in several phases due to fund-raising constraints, but by the time that site preparation had begun, pledges for the whole amount were in hand, so the contract was re-negotiated as a single project. This entailed rescheduling to 2004, as the builder had since signed other contracts which he had to fulfil first. The organ was completed in September 2005. In June 2019, the Cathedral became a partner in the Community of Cross of Nails (CCN) founded by 
Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midla ...
after the destruction of it and the city by bombing in the Second World War. In Christ Church, the former baptistry was re-dedicated as the Chapel of Reconciliation and Cross of Nails by John WitcombeDean of Coventry, who presented the Cathedral with a Cross of Nails which was mounted on the wall below the carved words "Creator Forgive."   An explanatory marble plaque was also mounted on the wall.


Deans of Columbia

The Dean of Columbia is also Rector of Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria. Past and current Deans of Columbia include: * 1860–1874:
Edward Cridge Edward Cridge (December 17, 1817 – May 5, 1913) was a British Canadians, British-Canadian clergyman and Reform movement, social reformer. Born and raised in England and ordained in the Church of England, Cridge—a low church Evangelical Angli ...
(1st Dean, left church after ecclesiastical trial) * 1876: Sam Gilson * 1878–1881: George Mason * 1881–1892: ''Duties performed by Bishop'' * 1910–1914:
Alexander Doull Alexander John Doull was an Anglican bishop in the 20th century. Doull was educated at Merchiston Castle School and Oriel College, Oxford. He trained for Holy Orders at Ripon College Cuddesdon. Doull was ordained in the Church of England in 189 ...
( Bishop of Kootenay, 1915) * 1915–1916: Charles Schofield (afterwards Bishop of British Columbia, 1916) * 1917–1937: Cecil S. Quainton * c.1945: Spenser Elliot * 1949–1952:
George Calvert George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (; 1580 – 15 April 1632) was an English politician. He achieved domestic political success as a member of parliament and later Secretary of State (England), Secretary of State under James VI and I, King Ja ...
(afterwards Anglican Bishop of Calgary, 1952) * 1952–1955: Philip Beattie (afterwards Bishop of Kootenay, 1955) * 1955–1980: Brian William Whitlow, MA
Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...
* 1981–1995: John Timothy Frame * 1996–2005: John Wright * 2006–2015: Logan McMenamie (afterwards Bishop of British Columbia, 2014) * July 2015–2022: Margaret Ansley Tucker * September 2024–present: Jonathan Thomas


Organists

Past pipe organists at the cathedral include: *Stanley Bulley *Graham Percy Steed, B.Mus
Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
, Fellow of the
Royal College of Organists The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, with members worldwide. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral music, and it offers music education, training and de ...
*Richard Proudman, M.A.
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
https://www.boysoloist.com/album.asp?AlbumID=6186&ArtistID=&gid=30 *Beal Thomas, M.M. *Canon Michael Gormley *Donald Hunt, MMus (McGill), FRCO, ARCCO (Organ Scholar, St. Paul's Cathedral, London (2010–2011), Assistant Organist, St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (2012–2017)


References


External links


Christ Church Cathedral website

Christ Church Cathedral Change Ringers website

Christ Church Cathedral School website

Canadian Encyclopedia biography of Edward CridgeThe Community of the Cross of Nails
{{Authority control Anglican cathedrals in British Columbia 20th-century Anglican church buildings in Canada Churches in Victoria, British Columbia Tourist attractions in Victoria, British Columbia Anglican church buildings in British Columbia