(no subject)

[choco_frosh]

So yesterday I was down at the Church of the Advent for a church cleanup day (a project which really required about three times as many people as actually showed up, but that's beside the point.)

And as I was dusting the pulpit, one of my fellow cleaners said "Hey, what's this?"

Next to the pulpit stands the All Saints altar. It was, if I recall correctly, the altar from the original church (which was actually in the West End, on one of those streets which no longer even exists due to questionable urban renewal projects in the 1950s.) These days, it's been remodeled somewhat, and now backs on a wooden screen, which in turn creates a passageway used chiefly by the the choir to get out of the stalls in a non-obvious way. I must have walked through it a hundred times.
I had never noticed the (possibly original?) framed photographs of two nineteenth-century dudes on the back.
Two or three of us gathered around with a light.
"Any idea who these guys are?"
"Maybe we could check the Rogues' Gallery* of rectors' photos in the lobby: see if any of them look familiar.
"I dunno: I don't think this looks like any of 'em..."

We eventually called over the Deacon (I think): someone in the know, anyway.
"So that's actually the fourth Bishop of Massachusetts, the one who..."
"Oh LORD, that's Manton Eastburn?!?"

Manton Eastburn, for those who, well, are not both history- and Episcopalianism geeks, is perhaps best known for his protracted and rather wanky feud with the Church of the Advent. An evangelical, he objected to the cross and candlesticks on the said alter,** to the point of refusing to visit CotA for ... a couple of decades, I think.
General Convention eventually passed a rule requiring bishops to visit every church in their respective dioceses at least once every three years, partly for the specific purpose of making him finally visit the Advent, already.

As for the cross and candles... well, Eastburn lost that fight even MORE comprehensively. They became normal: first in the Anglican communion, then in...well, actually, most of the rest of the Protestant world. (The Church of the Advent had to find new ways to be weird and extreme.)
And the cross is still there, now framed in the said screen.

So: historical exhibit, or the ultimate in taunting your defeated adversary? You decide.

* The last of our recently-retired rector's various pet projects. And yes, Rogues' Gallery was his phrase.
** I kinda get objecting to the cross--I mean, ok when you put it in those words it sounds absolutely absurd for a bishop to object to the cross--but I remember what a live-wire issue crosses on communion tables were in the reign of Elizabeth I. But candles?!?


Also, this.

Also, there were wild turkeys walking the Freedom Trail as we walked back down Salem Street yesterday. I'd seen three toms showing off to passers-by from the windows of my bus earlier, which was a little more explicable, but in the North End??

Comments

[squigamunk]

So who's in the other photograph?

[choco_frosh]

< emails Deacon Daphne >
'It's Dr George C. Shattuck -- "prominent physician, Episcopal layman and philanthropist" and a member of the Original Corporation*.'

* Corporation: here=the (former) governing body of the Church of the Advent.

[lauradi7dw]

It was my impression that a Bishop had to be present for people to be confirmed, although that might be based on a series of filthy limericks about the Bishop of Birmingham (which rhymes with confirming 'em). Would every three years be often enough for a confirmation service?

Do you suppose anybody would want us to ring for the visit of the *presiding* bishop (of royal wedding fame)? the ON e-newsletter keeps mentioning the weekend. I don't think one can hear the Advent bells from the Common
https://www.diomass.org/pb-visit

[tree_and_leaf]

A bishop has to be present. It doesn't have to be the diocesan bishop. Retireds are perfectly acceptable.

[choco_frosh]

Re: How did you get confirmed at the Advent in the 1840s and '50s?
In the nineteenth century, people tended to get confirmed in batches ANYWAY. (Heck, before 1811, Episcopal visitations weren't even a thing: you went where the Bishop was or you did without. And if you think about it, NO ONE in what was going to be the US got confirmed before 1785).
Re: the Advent in particular: In the initial years, I have a feeling they just didn't bother. Then they had a retired bishop as rector from 1852-6.

[lauradi7dw]

>>And if you think about it, NO ONE in what was going to be the US got confirmed before 1785<<
What would I need to have known to figure this out? ON had a congregation by 1723. Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg has had an Anglican congregation since the 17th century. (have I been in the belfry? Of course I have, but long enough ago that I don't remember anything about the bell).
Are you saying that there was no resident Anglican bishop in North America, or that confirmation is a modern(ish) thing?

[choco_frosh]

Derp, right, sorry: MORE things you don't necessarily know unless you're a history- and Episcopalianism geek! No, there were no CoE bishops in North America during the colonial period. (Clergy had to go to England to be ordained.) The first US Bishop was consecrated in 1784.

[choco_frosh]

PS: Life Before Nag reports that "the present church has a single Whitechapel bell dating from the 1750s."

[choco_frosh]

Re: Ringing for +Michael Curry
Excellent idea! No we probably won't be audible from the Common, but heck with it. Uh...put it to the list and/or the Diocese of Mass., I guess. Or we can just dedicate one of Sundays quarters...