St Mary's Church or the 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

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

in the Netherlands. It is part of the Archdeaconry of North West Europe 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, ...

History

Interieur naar het oosten - Rotterdam - 20191618 - RCE

Prentbriefkaart de Engelse Episcopale kerk aan het Haringvliet 1902

In 1635 an English congregation shared St Peter's Church in the Hoogstraat of

with

French protestants Protestantism in France has existed in its various forms, starting with Calvinism and Lutheranism since the Protestant Reformation. John Calvin was a Frenchman, as were numerous other Protestant Reformers including William Farel, Pierre Viret and ...

but the Anglo-Dutch Wars dispersed the resident English community. In 1699, 17 families of English merchants in the city agreed to guarantee the stipend for a priest. Services began in a converted warehouse, but enough was raised through donations to construct a purpose-built building, the English Church of St Mary's in Rotterdam, consecrated in 1708. The many donors included Queen Anne, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the

Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was a British army officer and statesman. From a gentry family, he ...

and the diarist

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...

; the chaplain's stipend was paid by the British government. The Church and its congregation flourished until most of the English population returned to England during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

. The building was in a poor state when the congregation returned in 1815 after the French and later the Russian occupiers had used the church as prison, arsenal and granary. The tower was struck by lightning in 1864 and had to be removed and repairs were necessary because the Church was starting to subside. In 1878 St Mary's came under the patronage of the Colonial and Continental Church Society, now the

Intercontinental Church Society Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) is a global Anglican mission organisation. ICS is a voluntary Evangelical society, a full member of the Partnership for World Mission, and therefore a recognized agency of the Church of England for overseas w ...

(ICS), who still own the building and appoint the chaplain. At the end of the 19th century the

Port of Rotterdam The Port of Rotterdam is the largest seaport in Europe, and the world's largest seaport outside of Asia, located in and near the city of Rotterdam, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. From 1962 until 2004, it was the List of bus ...

was flourishing. To meet the need for more pastoral care and support for sailors, St Mary's Church, together with the Scots Church, opened a seamen's centre. In 1893 the Missions to Seamen were invited to work in conjunction with St Mary's. In the early 20th century, the building on the Haringvliet was considered beyond repair and St Mary's Church and the Missions to Seamen were given permission to build a new church and seamen's club in

Delfshaven Delfshaven () is a borough of Rotterdam, Netherlands, on the right bank of river Nieuwe Maas. It was a separate municipality until 1886. The town of Delfshaven grew around the port of the city of Delft. Delft itself was not located on a major ri ...

, adjacent to the riverfront. The Rotterdam architect Jan Verheul designed the building in a neo-Gothic style and on 2 June 1913,

Herbert Bury Herbert Bury (19 June 1853 – 15 January 1933) was an Anglican bishop in the first decades of the 20th century. He was appointed Bishop of British Honduras in 1908, remaining there until 1911, and was then Bishop for Northern and Central Eur ...

, Bishop of Northern and Central Europe, laid the foundation stone. When the Rotterdam church was demolished, English author and academic

A. C. Benson Arthur Christopher Benson, (24 April 1862 – 17 June 1925) was an English essayist, poet and academic, who served as the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He wrote the lyrics of Edward Elgar's ''Coronation Ode'', including the words ...

bought the interior woodwork. He presented the pulpit from St Mary's to

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

in memory of his father,

Edward White Benson Edward White Benson (14 July 1829 – 11 October 1896) was archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death. Before this, he was the first Bishop of Truro, serving from 1877 to 1883, and began construction of Truro Cathedral. He was previousl ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury 1882–1896. The altar rails are in

St Giles' Church, Cambridge The Church of St Giles is a Grade II*-listed church in Cambridge, England. It is a Church of England parish church in the Parish of the Ascension of the Diocese of Ely, located on the junction of Castle Street and Chesterton Road. It was compl ...

and panelling was given to

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

and

Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Selwyn (bishop of Lichfield), Georg ...

. The organ of 1773 was purchased by Henry Elford Luxmoore and given to

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. After the completion of the church, in 1914-1915 an institute of the Missions to Seamen was built, also designed by Verheul. The two buildings are on the municipal monument list of Rotterdam. During the First World War, the church was used for the internment of prisoners of war. The chaplain, Rev Henry Haworth Coryton, ministered to the PoWs in Groningen and, as a thank-offering, Leonard A. Powell painted the three-panelled reredos. A

Harrison & Harrison Harrison & Harrison Ltd is a British company based in Durham that makes and restores pipe organs. It was established in Rochdale in 1861. It is well known for its work on instruments such as King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and t ...

organ was added in 1920. In 1958, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip together with Queen Juliana, Prince Bernhard and the Princesses Beatrix and Irene made a visit on the 250th anniversary of the Church. Queen Beatrix visited St Mary's in April 2008 for the 300th anniversary. St Mary's Anglican and Episcopal Church continues to serve the English-speaking community in the

Rijnmond Rijnmond (; literally 'Rhine Mouth', 'Mouth of the Rhine', 'Rhine Estuary') is the conurbation surrounding the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Another term used in this context is Stadsregio Rotterdam (literally 'Rotterdam Urban Region' or m ...

conurbation.

References

External links

{{coord, 51.542, N, 4.273, E, display=title, source:nlwiki
St Mary's website
Anglicanism in the Netherlands Churches in Rotterdam

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

History

See also

References

External links