Saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

Mark's English Church is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy. The church forms part of the chaplaincy of St Mark's Florence with Holy Cross

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, in the

Diocese in Europe The Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe, known simply as the Diocese in Europe (DiE), is a diocese of the Church of England. It was originally formed in 1842 as the Diocese of Gibraltar. It is geographically the largest diocese of the Church of Englan ...

of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. Father Chris Williams is the Chaplain. He arrived from St Mary's Church Liss, in the Diocese of Portsmouth, where he had been the Rector for 13 years. St Mark's has music and cultural programmes, and offers a variety of different activities, including: a book club and armchair drama club; meditation; and various talks from authors and other institutions in Florence. Opera at St Mark's has been offering opera performances by its resident opera company for more than ten years.

History

St Mark's was founded by the Reverend Charles Tooth as a centre of worship for

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

members of the Anglican Church in Florence. He started a

house church A house church or home church is a label used to describe a group of Christians who regularly gather for worship in private homes. The group may be part of a larger Christian body, such as a parish, but some have been independent groups that se ...

at 1 Via dei Serragli in 1877 to teach Anglo-Catholic principles and celebrate the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

daily during the week. In 1880, Tooth purchased a 15th-century

palazzo A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

to meet the new congregation's needs. John Roddam Spencer Stanhope designed and created the wall and ceiling decorations at his own expense. The first Eucharist was celebrated there on 1 May 1881, although chaplain and church were not licensed for service by the bishop until 1884. The premises were extended by the purchase of 16 Via Maggio in 1906. The church was damaged by the

1966 flood of the Arno The 1966 flood of the Arno () in Florence killed 101 people and damaged or destroyed millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. It is considered the worst flood in the city's history since 1557. With the combined effort of Italian and foreign ...

, resulting in the loss of

George Frederick Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott and worked with C. E. Kempe. He was in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career and was ...

's 19th-century stencil work on the lower walls, although some survived behind a display cabinet. St Mark's was the second Anglican church to be built in Florence. The British community in Florence has a long history and the chaplaincy began in the late 1820s. The first church, Holy Trinity, opened in the 1840s. Rebuilt in the 1890s, Trinity Church on the Via Lamarmara, is today a Waldensian Church.

Architecture

Exterior

The white marble statue in the niche over the main door is ''The Apotheosis of Saint Mark'' (2007–2008) by Jason Arkles. This is the first work by an American sculptor to have a permanent public location in Florence. It was commissioned by the then priest Fr Lawrence MacLean, who worked closely with Arkles on this project. They were able to find and use the same marble from which Michelangelo's ''David'' had once been carved.

Interior

The building was altered by Tooth, who turned the ground floor into a church with nave, aisles, transept and chancel, about long and seating 400. The interior is decorated in the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...

style and the upper reaches of the church have floral motifs which the art historian Berenice Schreiner has described as having "a wonderful sense of naturalism".

Notes

References

Citations * * *

External links

* ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Florence, Marks English Church Marks English Church Churches completed in 1906 Anglican church buildings in Italy Pre-Raphaelite artworks Anglo-Catholic church buildings in Italy Diocese in Europe 1877 establishments in Italy