Seventeen Years in Paris: A Chaplain's Story

by H. E. Noyes

CHAPTER XI.
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ON THE CONTINENT.

The position and work of the Church of England upon the Continent is not understood as it should be by British people in general. It is difficult to overcome old prejudices, and there is no doubt but that in former times (now happily gone by) there was a distinct prejudice against the Continental Chaplain. It was generally thought that he must either be on the Bishop’s “black list,” or have been guilty of some grievous fault to be found upon the Continent at all. And this prejudice was hardly to be wondered at. It is not very many years ago since no Bishop was found to be superintending the chaplains, and there were men ministering abroad who had left their country for their country’s good. The history of Episcopal supervision is briefly this. In the year 1663 “congregations of the Church of England in foreign countries” were placed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. This was in the reign of Charles I., and by an order of the King in council. And this order held good for 200 years. During this period there are little or no traces of any effectual Episcopal supervision, neither is there any record of any Assistant Bishop aiding the Bishop of London in this work. We may, however, assume that the number of British people travelling and resident upon the Continent was nothing like what it is now. In the old days people often took their carriage over the Channel and travelled with servants and Courier, so that trips abroad were only a luxury of the rich. And now the London Polytechnic, e.g., take people over by thousands, and offer a trip to “lovely Lucerne” with all the best excursions, etc., for £5 5s.! When taking the chaplaincy at Lucerne three years ago I was much interested in the arrival of these weekly parties, and in order to see how the excursions were managed went with a party to the end of the Lake, and by Goschenen to Andermatt, a lovely excursion; and I was indeed surprised how well everything was done. The lunch was plain but substantial, and all included in the five guineas for a week’s trip.

But to return to Church matters. In 1825 Bishop Luscombe was appointed to the Embassy Chaplaincy in Paris, and to superintend British congregations on the Continent. This could have been no sinecure, when it is remembered that there was then no Bishopric of Gibraltar, and that his appointment included superintendence of the Church of England congregations on the whole Continent, in Asia, and the North of Africa.

I endeavoured to ascertain if there were any records of Episcopal work done in these lands, but could find no trace. The Embassy Chaplaincy was less important then than it has since become, but my experience has been that the work in Paris is both onerous and constant, and that with all the chaplain may be able to accomplish there is necessarily much left undone. Twelve thousand English people scattered over a large city must involve, as it does, heavy work.

In the year 1842, the Bishopric of Gibraltar was founded; in this case a territorial title was available owing to our possession of the impregnable rock. Forty-two years afterwards, in 1884, a most important step was taken, and a Suffragan Bishop to the See of London appointed to take jurisdiction over the congregations in Northern and Central Europe. The first was Bishop Titcomb, a man greatly beloved by all who knew him, and one who never tired of doing all he could to help and cheer his chaplains, many of whom were in isolated posts and often very lonely. Unfortunately he was only a few years at work, when he was taken ill and died. His successor was the Right Rev. Bishop Wilkinson, formerly of Zululand, under whom I was privileged to serve during the whole of my chaplaincy. I usually arranged for the Bishop’s hospitality at the Embassy when he visited us for Confirmations, and while I fear he does not like Paris and big receptions, we were always pleased to see him and fully appreciated his work amongst us. The travelling in this (so-called) diocese is very fatiguing, as it reaches from Calais to St. Petersburg, and embraces Belgium, the North of France, Germany, Norway, and Sweden, etc.

Thus the work of the Church of England upon the Continent is within these two Dioceses—I use the term as being the most convenient—and can, I believe, be favourably compared with that in any English or Colonial Diocese.

In both Dioceses there are permanent and temporary chaplaincies. Permanent chaplaincies are usually in towns, where there is a resident and commercial colony, and where similar work is carried on to that of an English parish. The temporary chaplaincies are opened only in the season, and in places where the English congregate for health, holiday, and pleasure.

The appointments to these chaplaincies are chiefly in the hands of the two well-known societies, the Colonial and Continental Church Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. All licenses are issued by the Bishops of London and Gibraltar. Since my removal from Paris I have been a member of the Committee of the former Society, and I can testify to the care which is taken to select men suitable to the vacant positions.

In the chaplains, and especially in the case of those permanent, English travellers abroad will generally find a sympathetic friend, and one ready to give advice or help whenever needed.