The American Cathedral in Paris (french: Cathédrale Américaine de Paris), formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is one of the oldest English-speaking churches in Paris. It is the gathering church for the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, and is part of the worldwide

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

. The church is located in central

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

between the Champs-Elysées and the River

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/ Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributa ...

at 23

avenue George V Avenue George V is a street in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It starts at Place de l'Alma, and ends at No. 99 avenue des Champs-Elysées. It marks the western limit of Paris's "golden triangle" (). Until 14 July 1918, the avenue was called ...

in the 8th arrondissement. The closest métro stations are Alma – Marceau Metro-M

and

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother ...

History

The origins of the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, an English-speaking Episcopal church in Paris, date back to the 1830s when American Episcopalians began to meet together for services in the garden pavilion of the

Hôtel Matignon The Hôtel Matignon or Hôtel de Matignon () is the official residence of the Prime Minister of France. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, at 57 Rue de Varenne. "Matignon" is often used as a metonym for the governmental action o ...

, now the official residence of the French prime minister, then the home of American expatriate Colonel Herman Thorn (1783–1859). In 1859, the formal establishment of a parish took place and in 1864 the first church building was consecrated on Rue Bayard. It was in the 1870s that John B. Morgan, who was a cousin of

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

, became the rector of Holy Trinity Parish. He decided that the congregation needed a larger church and began a fund-raising effort which was successful in raising the money needed. The site that was purchased for construction is on

Avenue George V Avenue George V is a street in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It starts at Place de l'Alma, and ends at No. 99 avenue des Champs-Elysées. It marks the western limit of Paris's "golden triangle" (). Until 14 July 1918, the avenue was called ...

(then called Avenue de l'Alma) and was originally part of the estate of the half-brother of Emperor

Napoléon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephe ...

, the

Duc de Morny Charles Auguste Louis Joseph de Morny, 1er Duc de Morny () (15–16 September 1811, Switzerland10 March 1865, Paris) was a French statesman. Biography Morny was born in Switzerland, and was the extra-marital son of Hortense de Beauharnais (the wi ...

. The plans were approved in October 1882 and construction was completed in less than four years. The church had its inaugural services in September 1886. Consecration of the church took place on

Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

, 25 November 1886, which coincided with the dedication of the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...

in New York. Holy Trinity became a cathedral in 1922, continuing as a parish church and also serving as the official seat of the bishop in charge of Episcopal churches in Europe. The cathedral appears in the painting ''Après l'Office à l'Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Noël 1890'' ("After the Service at Holy Trinity Church, Christmas 1890") by

Jean Béraud Jean Béraud (; January 12, 1849 – October 4, 1935) was a French painter renowned for his numerous paintings depicting the life of Paris, and the nightlife of Paris society. Pictures of the Champs Elysees, cafés, Montmartre and the banks of ...

. The original painting is on loan to the Musée Carnavalet in the 3rd arrondissement. During the

German occupation of France during World War II The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

(1940–44), the cathedral was taken over by the German military chaplaincy. The congregation of the American Cathedral is composed of around four hundred permanent parishioners supplemented by many students, tourists, and business travelers. The ministries of the church include parish life, Christian education, development, finance, mission and outreach, community outreach, stewardship, the 20s and 30s group, and music. The building hosts a bilingual

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

school, recovery groups such as AA, a weekly free concert series on Sundays sponsored by Les Arts George V, and many more community-based services.

Architecture

Holy Trinity American Episcopal Cathedral, Paris

The current building was designed by English architect

George Edmund Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccle ...

, who had also designed the

American Church in Rome St. Paul's Within the Walls ( it, San Paolo dentro le Mura), also known as the American Church in Rome, is a church of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe on Via Nazionale in Castro Pretorio, Rome. It was the first Protestant church t ...

, in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. He subscribed to what he called "ethical architecture," such that if something seems to be a column made of marble, then it should be an actual column, needed for a structural reason, made of marble. Street died in December 1881 before the finalization of plans and his son, Arthur E. Street, as well as

Arthur Blomfield Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...

, took over the work. While the chancel and aisles vaults are stone, the nave is vaulted in oak, perhaps due to the constrained site preventing the buttresses that would be required for the weight of a stone ceiling. The construction was accomplished by Henry Lovatt of Wolverhampton. While the main part of the church was completed by 1886, construction on the tower and other work continued for more than two decades. The stained-glass windows were designed by James Bell and constructed between 1883 and 1893. Forty-two in number, their theme is the words of the

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Ch ...

. The tower, at among the tallest in Paris, was dedicated on Easter Sunday in 1909.

Gallery

File:Paris (75) Cathédrale américaine 02.JPG, Nave and part of the organ File:P1020141 Paris VIII Avenue George-V reductwk.JPG,

with the American Cathedral in Paris in the background File:Paris (75) Cathédrale américaine 08.JPG, Baptismal font File:Paris (75) Cathédrale américaine 03.JPG, Altar

References

Sources

External links

Official website
{{Authority control

American Cathedral in Paris The American Cathedral in Paris (french: Cathédrale Américaine de Paris), formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is one of the oldest English-speaking churches in Paris. It is the gathering church for the Convocation of Epi ...