St. Peter's Episcopal Church is a parish of the Episcopal Church in

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, 14th most populous city in Mississippi, United States, and the county seat of Lafayette County, Mississippi, Lafayette County, southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis. A college town, Oxford ...

. It is noted for its historic

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

church building A church, church building, church house, or chapel is a building used for Christian worship services and Christian activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 AD and 256 AD. ''Church'' is also ...

at 113 S. 9th Street, which once served as the

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish Church (building), church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefect ...

for what is now the

Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi The Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, created in 1826, is the diocese of The Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over the entire state of Mississippi. It is located in Province 4 of the Episcopal Church in the United ...

History

The Episcopal history of the area predates the incorporation of Oxford, with services held periodically throughout the 1840s. In 1848

James Hervey Otey James Hervey Otey (January 27, 1800 – April 23, 1863) was a Christian educator, author, and the first Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee. He established the Anglican church in the state, including its first parish churches and what became the Univ ...

, then provisional Bishop of Mississippi, encouraged the establishment of an Episcopal congregation there, anticipating opportunities from the recent opening of the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

. The church was founded on May 12, 1851, with the election of its

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

and wardens. Noted scholar Rev. Prof.

Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard (May 5, 1809 – April 27, 1889) was an American academic and educator who served as the 10th President of Columbia University. Born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, he graduated from Yale University in 1828 and serv ...

, the first resident cleric, arrived in 1855 and began the work of building a permanent church. Land was offered by

John Donelson Martin John Donelson Martin (1830–1862) was a Confederate States Army officer during the American Civil War. Early life John Martin was born on August 18, 1830, in Davidson County, Tennessee. In 1846 he volunteered for the Mexican–American War, serv ...

in 1850, but the lot where the church now stands was purchased in 1855 from Philip and Mary Yancey, with construction beginning that year. In 1856 Barnard was named chancellor of the university, contributing to the parish's interest in the university community. Construction on the church was completed in 1860, with Barnard delivering the first sermon on

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

that year. Barnard resigned his posts after the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, however, and staffing and other difficulties relating to the hostilities prevented formal consecration of the church until 1871.

Bishop Coadjutor A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

and later Bishop

Hugh Miller Thompson Hugh Miller Thompson (June 5, 1830 – November 18, 1902) was the second Bishop of Mississippi. Biography Thompson was born on June 5, 1830, in Derry, Ireland however he emigrated to the United States with his parents when he was 6 years old. H ...

moved into St. Peter's newly constructed original rectory in 1883, leading some to refer to St. Peter's as a cathedral or pro-cathedral, a practice that continued until at least 1889. Several high-ranking Confederates including

Jacob Thompson Jacob Thompson (May 15, 1810 – March 24, 1885) was the United States Secretary of the Interior, who resigned on the outbreak of the American Civil War and became the Inspector General of the Confederate States Army. In 1864, Jefferson Davis ...

, Francis A. Shoup, and

Albert Taylor Bledsoe Albert Taylor Bledsoe (November 9, 1809 – December 8, 1877) was an American Episcopal priest, attorney, professor of mathematics, and officer in the Confederate army and was best known as a staunch defender of slavery and, after the South lost ...

were members of the congregation. Nevertheless, then-rector (later bishop) Rev. Duncan M. Gray Jr. strongly supported the 1962 integration of the university, and under his leadership and that of his son, the parish became heavily involved in racial reconciliation efforts.

Church

The church faces west at the corner of E. Jackson Ave. and N. 9th St., three blocks west of the courthouse square. It is not known for certain who served as architect, although parish tradition holds it to be

Richard Upjohn Richard Upjohn (22 January 1802 – 16 August 1878) was a British-American architect who immigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to popula ...

, to whose style the church does correspond in plan and detail. The church was built mainly of finely ornamented local brick on a simple nave plan, with

lancet windows A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

between buttresses. The tower in the northwest corner is topped by an octagonal

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

added in 1893. It was added to the National Register in 1975.

References

External links

* Episcopal church buildings in Mississippi Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi Gothic Revival church buildings in Mississippi Churches completed in 1855 Former cathedrals in the United States Buildings and structures in Oxford, Mississippi 19th-century Episcopal church buildings National Register of Historic Places in Lafayette County, Mississippi {{Mississippi-Anglican-church-stub