THE HISTORY OF ST. PAUL'S
AND ITS MAGNIFICENT ASCENSION WINDOW
This year in December, St. Paul's Episcopal Church will celebrate its 170th birthday.
Located today in Lakeview at the corner of Canal Boulevard and Harrison Avenue, St. Paul's is the third oldest Protestant congregation in Louisiana. Christ Church Cathedral is the oldest followed by Grace Episcopal Church, St. Francisville.
On December 20, 1836, the Vestry of Christ Church, then located downtown on Canal Street, voted to establish a mission station. Under the direction of the Rev. John Wheat from Ohio, services were held first in a warehouse on Julia Street and later at a school on Clio Street. There were 31 members.
The fledgling St. Paul's congregation soon built a small wooden church at the corner of Camp and Gaiennie Streets and this church was consecrated by Bishop Leonidas Polk on March 29, 1840. (The original certificate of consecration handwritten by Bishop Polk was in the church's archives which were destroyed in the 2005 flood. Polk was the first Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana, Chancellor of the University of the South and during the Civil War was a Lt. General in the Army of Tennessee.)
In 1854 the original church was replaced on the same site by a new and larger building to better serve the growing congregation.
During the Civil War when occupied New Orleans was under the military rule of Union Gen. Benjamin Butler, Major George C. Strong of the general's staff attended services at St. Paul's and noted that the Rev. Charles Goodrich omitted the Book of Common Prayer's prayer for the President of the United States. Strong stood up and angrily ordered that the service end immediately, saying "This house will be shut within ten minutes." Rev. Goodrich explained that in an effort to remain neutral he did not offer a prayer for either the President of the United States or for the President of the Confederate States. When told of this incident, General Butler retaliated by keeping the church closed, sending Rev. Goodrich to prison in New York and using the marble-floored church as a place to stable the Union troops' horses.
Major Strong is remembered unfavorably in the city's history not only for his stance at St. Paul's but as a signer, along with Gen. Butler, of the notorious "General Order No. 28" on May 15, 1862 which stated that " ...when any female shall by word, gesture or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation."
After Gen. Butler was replaced by Union Gen. Nathaniel Banks, the Rev. Goodrich was returned to New Orleans. The church was cleaned and repaired after which regular services were once again held. (The portrait of Rev, Goodrich which hung in the church office was destroyed by the 2005 flood.)
A fire in 1891 destroyed the second St. Paul's but some artifacts and furnishings were saved. During the 18 months that the church was being rebuilt, services were held first in the Ames Methodist Church at the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Calliope Street and later at Temple Sinai, a Jewish synagogue on Carondelet Street. The first services at the third St. Paul's were held on April 16, 1893.
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It was in this church that the massive and magnificent "Ascension Window," 29 feet high and 16 1/2 feet across, was installed and then dedicated on March 16, 1903. Made by Mayer and Company of Munich, Germany, the window was a gift of Edith Stone Baker in memory of her mother, Mary Lynch Adams Stone.
More than a century after Bishop Polk consecrated the original St. Paul's, the Mississippi River Bridge Authority announced that a proposed up-ramp for the new bridge across the river would require the demolition on St. Paul's.
The cornerstone of the fourth St. Paul's in Lakeview was laid in 1957 and the new building incorporated the stained glass windows and many church furnishings from the second and third churches. The "Ascension Window" was prominently situated in the wall behind the marble altar and was lit from within at night, a beautiful religious multi-colored jewel which was a reminder of hope to all Christians who drove past.
In its new neighborhood, the church established St. Paul's Episcopal School for students from Pre-Kindergarten through Eighth Grade. The academically superb school today serves an ethnically diverse student body and was designated as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the United States Department of Education.
During Hurricane Betsy in 1965, the top portion of the "Ascension Window" blew out and shattered. Church member Claudia Verlander rescued the largest piece still intact - the head of Christ. The German company that had made the window 62 years before was still in business and, using photographs and the original head of Christ, rebuilt the top of the window.
The winds of Hurricane Katrina last year did not seriously harm the church and did no harm to the dozen historic stained glass windows. The long canvas awning on the Canal Boulevard side from the church doors to the sidewalk wasn't even torn. But the flooding from breached canal levees filled the church with eight or more feet of water for more than two weeks. Despite long pews floating around in this foul water within the church, miraculously none rammed and shattered any of the church's beautiful stained glass windows.
Today St. Paul's congregation under the direction of The Rev. Will Hood meets for Sunday services in the chapel of St. Martin's Episcopal School on Airline Drive but is making plans to return to its Lakeview location. Rev. Hood, undaunted by the heavy task before him, courageously came to St. Paul's after the flood and with energy and enthusiasm is leading the church and its congregation toward returning home to Lakeview.
The school will return to its original Canal Boulevard and Harrison Avenue campus for the fall semester.
And all of Lakeview looks forward to the nights when the meaningful and beautiful "Ascension Window" will once again be lit.
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