Church of the Epiphany, Providence (Mss. Gr. 227)

Historical note

The Church of the Epiphany began in Elmwood area of Providence, Rhode Island as a mission in 1868 under Lorenzo Sears, a missionary from Spraguesville in Cranston. Services were held beginning on March 29th in a building known as the Swedenborgian Chapel on the corner of then Greenwich (now Elmwood) and Potter Avenues. Rev. Sears was assisted by Rev. Webb of South Providence. Services were held until that November when scheduling conflicts developed.

In the fall 1869 Freeborn Coggshall, a student at the General Theological Seminary began a church school. The mission, now called the Mission of the Holy Cross, began holding regular services under Coggshall’s inspiration. He was ordained Deacon at St. Stephens Church in Providence in 1870 and St. Stephen’s took charge over the Mission. In 1872 Coggshall was called to other duties. He died in Oxford, England in 1876. Albert Lippitt took up the effort and renamed the mission The Episcopal Mission Elmwood. Lay readers and local priests gave time for conducting services. Land for a church building was purchased on September 28, 1873. Albert Lippitt was elected Senior Warden. On April 2, 1875 The Church of the Epiphany was incorporated. Four years later on October 11, 1879, the cornerstone for the church was laid. Charles Newbold was called as Rector in January 1876. Bylaws were passed in March and a parish register was begun that July. The Church of the Epiphany was admitted into the Convention of the Diocese of Rhode Island.

Newbold resigned two years later to take a call at St. Paul’s in Hoboken, NJ. Otis Wright, a candidate for Holy Orders, took charge in 1879 but poor health forced his resignation in January 1880. The Rev. J. M. C. Fulton of Brandon VT, took the call in March. The parish’s inability to pay the salary to support married clergy lead to his resignation a little over a year later in May, 1881. James C. Craven arrived in August but left in April the following year due to ill health.

The Rev. Henry Bassett took the call shortly after his ordination in June 1882. During his tenure, the building was consecrated by Rt. Rev. Thomas Clark on April 1883. In 1885 the church expanded on the east side to make room for its new organ built by Edward G. Jardine of New York. The dedication concert performed by Jardine was held November 15, 1885. That same year Church of the Ascension, Auburn was organized as a mission of the Church of the Epiphany. For many years the parish prospered and in 1890 the church was extended to make room for the growing needs of the congregation.

In 1892 property on Elmwood Ave. and Hawthorne St. was purchased from Elizabeth Hope for use as a Rectory. That year Rev. Bassett married Cora West Mann. She died a year later at the age of 24. Rev. Bassett never remarried and devoted his entire ministry to the Church of the Epiphany which lasted nearly fifty years. His tenure oversaw many expansions, including the building of a parish house in 1812, and two fires one in 1895 and another, causing substantially more damage, on May 22, 1907.

In his advancing years, an assistant curate Rev. John Robinette was hired to assist Rev. Bassett in 1924. Rev. James M. Duncan became curate from 1927 until 1930 when he took the call to become Rector of St. Albans in Centerdale. Rev. Cassius Hunt was then hired as curate and when Rev. Bassett resigned in November 1931, he was elected priest in charge. Rev. Bassett was given the title Rector Emeritus in 1931. He died at the age of 79 on November 14, 1932.

Rev. Hunt accepted the call in April 1932 and was Rector until his sudden death on September 6, 1936. He was 43. Rev. William Pressey conducted services until a new Rector was found.

During his Rectorship, Rev. Hunt instituted the performance of The Passion Play. The production was overseen by Hunt from costuming, lighting and staging. With a cast of 80 actors, it was quite a spectacle. A review in the Providence Journal of its first public performance in March, 1931 remarked that it was “one of the most remarkable presentations of its kind that we have ever witnessed.” The music was arranged by Rev. Walter Williams of St. Dunstan’s College of Sacred Music. The play had a popular run of six years.

Rev. H. Neville Tinker took the call in January 1937. He had previously served as Rector to the Church of the Epiphany in Calvert, TX. During his Rectorship, the church was refurbished and the robing room was converted to a Lady Chapel. The dedication service took place on September 21, 1939. In 1940 stained glass windows were installed over the altar and parish rooms were converted to offices. Much of the work during WWII was devoted to Red Cross work and keeping up the news of the many parishioners in the service. Rev. Tinker left to become the Rector of St. Paul’s Church, Chicago, IL.

Rev. Francis B. Downs took the call on August 1, 1943. He had been Rector at Christ Church, Riverton , NJ. He instituted Healing Services that year. Stained glass was added to the aisle windows as memorial gifts and in September 1945 large windows were dedicated to those who served in WWII.

Rev. Downs took an active role in social and various organizations of the church, encouraging young people and married couples to gather through parish parties and other activities. He had a wife and son. His wife, besides being active in the expected life of a reverend’s wife, was a Syriac ( dialect of Aramaic ) scholar and translator of early Gospel manuscripts. Rev. Downs was Rector for ten years, leaving in 1953. During his tenure, the parish installed a new Casavant organ made in Canada in 1951 after a survey of the church found the old organ in need of replacing.

By 1947 the members of the parish numbered 740. But the demographic nature of the neighborhood had begun to change. Elmwood had been a 19th century prominent section of the City and home to many prominent and wealthy families who were active supporters of the parish. Socio-economic factors led to urban decline and by the 1980s the parishioners numbered around 60 at its low point.

Rev. William Good took the call in 1953. The Parish house building was razed in 1965. In 1968 the parish leased the increasingly underused Rectory property to Mobile Oil Corporation for a gas station to generate income and increase parking space.

Rev. Good was named Rector Emeritus upon his resignation in 1972 and remained active in the parish. In 1982 he participated in the reunion celebration of 25 years of St Mary’s Guild, a group established by Rev. Good.

James W. Leech was Rector from 1973- August 1979. He was called to be the Dean of the Cathedral in Milwaukee, WI. During his tenure, the parish endured further decline of the neighborhood, seven robberies from 1973-1978 were reported. The Bishop ordered Rev. Leech to drop charges in the last of the robberies, stating his rational in a letter to Providence Police Dept dated March 23, 1978. “We are trying against many difficult obstacles to provide the witness of a strong parish in the Elmwood neighborhood.” The environment surrounding the church continued to deteriorate insurmountably, the lay leadership was stressed and inconsistent and the congregation was led by a series of interim Rectors during its final decades. Capt. Herbert W. Bolles, served as Interim Rector until Allen Warren was extended a call in Sept. 1980 but was unable to accept. Rev. Robert D. Duffy of St. Mary’s Church in Providence was selected to serve as Rector. It is unclear from the record when or if Rev. Duffy served. Rev. Paul C. Kintzing served as Priest in Charge until December 1980 when despite his best efforts, acrimony with certain of the parishioners forced his resignation. Rev. Michael A. Pearson who had been priest in charge at St. Stephen’s Church, Providence, took the call in January 1981 and began duties in August of that year. Until then, Rev. Dwight A. Hambly of Christ Church, Providence served as priest in charge.

Under the direction of Rev. Pearson, the parish seemed to gain strength in its mission as a “working class” parish, ministering to the needy, running a soup kitchen and thrift shop. Rev Pearson in an article in The Providence Journal in 1987, believed the key to reestablish a thriving parish was working on attracting members of the Hispanic and Southeast Asian community in the neighborhood and providing transportation services for those who could not get to the services. Good efforts included a 1987 refurbishing of the church interiors and much needed repairs, and the establishment of an afterschool program in conjunction with St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. He left in February 1989 and Rev. Frederic Brunson took the call. Among other outreach efforts, The Family Outreach Center run by Sister Catherine MCGreevy leased the parish house in 1987. The lease terminated in 1991.

The Diocese supported the financially impoverished parish from 1998 until 2003. The parish struggled for 6 more years to maintain services and remake itself, focusing on social justice issues. One effort was embracing an identity with Jonathan Daniels a seminarian from South Providence who was killed in Alabama for his work in the American Civil Rights movement. He was declared a martyr by the US Episcopal Church. At the time of its closure, the parish had tried to turn the three buildings it owned into affordable housing but municipal requirements for the conversion of the properties proved too costly.

At the close of the church, Epiphany had a congregation of around 75. The Rev. Karen Fraioli served as its last vicar. The remaining parishioners transferred to Cathedral of St. John’s in Providence.