St. James Episcopal Church (Richmond, Virginia)
| St. James Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | 1205 W. Franklin St., Richmond, Virginia 23220 |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | Episcopal |
| Churchmanship | Broad church |
| Website | http://www.doers.org |
| History | |
| Founded | 1835 |
| Founder(s) | Rev. Adam Empie |
| Dedication | St. James |
| Dedicated | 1918 |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Noland and Baskerville |
| Style | English renaissance |
| Years built | 1839, 1912 |
| Administration | |
| Parish | St. James Richmond |
| Diocese | Episcopal Diocese of Virginia |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | Randolph Marshall Hollerith |
St. James Episcopal Church is the third oldest Episcopal congregation in Richmond, Henrico County, Virginia. Only the older St. John's Episcopal Church on Church Hill also remains an active congregation.
The parish takes as its motto, emblazoned above the altar: "Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only," ascribed to early Christian bishop James the Just, James 1:22. However, its seal includes three scallop shells, traditional symbols of the pilgrim St. James the Greater. Other symbols on the parish's seal include: a star symbolizing Epiphany and the collect for the First Sunday after Epiphany ("Grant (O Lord) that we may both perceive and know what things (we) ought to do, and may also have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same"), a pelican pecking its breast (to symbolize Christ's sacrifice as well as the Eucharist), and a fish and loaf (both symbolizing Christ and the gospel story of the loaves and fishes of which at least St. James the Greater was witness). The parish is proud of its longstanding evangelistic outreach tradition.
In 1831, several Episcopalians petitioned bishop Richard Channing Moore to create a church on Shockoe Hill, since both of Richmond's existing Episcopal Churches were on the other side of the growing state capital. In 1835, the first year of the publication of the Southern Churchman, they bought at lot at 5th and Marshall Streets and soon erected a Sunday School building (one of the founders, John Williams, a devout Irish immigrant and merchant had been Monumental Church's Sunday School superintendent). In 1837, they called Rev. Adam Empie, formerly rector of Williamburg's Bruton Church and president of the College of William and Mary to become their rector, and he held the congregation's first services that November. On April 2, 1838 they laid the cornerstone for their new church, which Bishop Moore (also Monumental Church's rector) consecrated on June 23, 1839.
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