Francis
Fulford
150th Anniversary
|
Tuesday,
July 25th 2000
|
Celebration evensong
at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal,
marking the 150th anniversary of the
consecration of Francis Fulford in Westminster Abbey to be the first Lord
Bishop of Montreal. |
| Part
of the anniversary sermon given by the
Rt Rev Andrew S. Hutchison, Bishop of Montreal. |
 |
The logo of the 150th anniversary celebrations in 2000
marking the consecration of Francis Fulford
as
Bishop
of Montreal. |
| "This
liturgy begins a year of 150th anniversary celebrations for the Diocese. |
| "We
are gathered today to celebrate and give thanks for a .... moment in our history.
150 years ago Francis Fulford was a priest of the English gentry, living in the
ancestral mansion near Exeter, which his family had occupied for more than 650
years. The Fulfords had been influential in the English court back to the time
of Richard I. Francis was appointed by Queen Victoria to be the first Lord Bishop
of Montreal. To the best of our knowledge he had never set foot outside England.
He was the last Bishop in Canada to be directly appointed by the Monarch. He was
consecrated on this very day in Westminster Abbey. |
| "Slightly
more than two months later Bishop Fulford was to arrive in Canada, where his new
Diocese awaited him, neither Bishop nor Diocese nor the wider community knowing
much about one another. The Bishop would know, of course that the Anglican Church
had had a significant presence in Montreal since the 1760's, that it had first
been ministered to by Bishop Inglis from Nova Scotia, and later was part of the
Diocese of Quebec. |
| "He would have held the letters
patent from Queen Victoria establishing the new Diocese of Montreal, and declaring
his See City to be the City of Montreal, and Christ Church to be his Cathedral.
According to English policy at the time, only centres that had a cathedral and
a bishop could be known as cities. |
| "He would have
been aware that early Anglican life in Montreal had a delightfully confusing and
decidedly ecumenical flavour to it. Its first Rector, David Chabrand Deslisle
had begun services in a Franciscan Recollect Fathers' Chapel, the only Anglican
place of worship in Montreal for more than 20 years. |
| "He
would know that from 1789 until the fire in 1806 Christ Church made its home in
the former Jesuit Church, on what is now the site of City Hall, the last Jesuit
having left Montreal in 1800. |
| "He was probably
told that Abbe Deslisle had reported back to the Missionary Society that most
of his early parishioners were in fact Presbyterians who had no Church of their
own. He would no doubt have heard that after the fire it was the Presbyterians
who welcomed the Anglicans to their own new Church. |
| "He
might also have been told of the petition to Bishop Inglis from 40 German-speaking
parishioners that he send them a German-speaking pastor, and of another asking
him to send an English pastor, because Abbe Deslisle's sermons could not easily
be understood by his English congregation. That the early confusion and ecumenical
goodwill continued into his time was signalled by the fact that his Roman Catholic
colleague was at the landing in St. Jean to greet Bishop Fulford on his arrival,
and a great friendship is said to have developed between them. |
| "It
is hard to imagine what might have been in the mind of Bishop Fulford standing
in Westminster Abbey 150 years ago. It is hard to imagine the apprehension of
a Diocese knowing nothing of the person who was about to come among them with
an authority that knew very few of the constitutional restrictions on that authority
that we now take for granted. A new Christ Church had been erected in 1814, and
was to serve as his first Cathedral until six years after his arrival, when it
too burned to the ground. |
| "For 18 years Bishop
Fulford exercised his episcopate with energy and vision, establishing churches,
clergy and institutions throughout an area somewhat larger than that now served
by the Diocese. Streets, institutions and even whole communities in Quebec bear
his name. A part of his legacy is this beautiful new cathedral built under his
watchful eye. |
 |
Rev Francis Fulford (1803-1868)
Lord Bishop of Montreal
Photographed in 1861. |
| "Bishop Fulford was the first Metropolitan
of the Province of Canada, and it was he who was instrumental in establishing
the synodical system of government for the Church, now emulated throughout the
Anglican Communion. Despite the heavy demands of the local Church, it was also
he who with other Canadian Bishops was instrumental in bringing about the first
Lambeth Conference, and led the first Canadian delegation to it in 1867, a year
before his death. The Lambeth Conference continues to bring together bishops from
throughout the Anglican Communion about every ten years. |
| "Bishop
Fulford died in a little house here on these grounds during a Synod in 1868. It
is reported that the bells of all the churches in the City, including those of
Notre Dame, tolled as the funeral procession made its way to the cemetery, which
he had consecrated, - Mount Royal. He is remembered forever in the striking monument,
erected beside the Cathedral in 1870, and now all but restored, thanks to a grant
from the Government of Quebec. It bears an inscription which I, as a successor
in the episcopate he established, read with humility and gratitude - "One man
soweth; another reapeth". Following the service, as an act of thanksgiving for
the courageous ministry of our first Bishop, the monument will be rededicated.
During the act of dedication I shall be holding, as nine others before me have
done, the simple wooden pastoral staff that was made for Bishop Fulford, and first
held by him. |
| "Francis Fulford was .... somewhat
larger than life. Leaving all that was familiar to him he gave the remainder of
his life to following the living Christ, and becoming a true fisher of men and
women in a new land. Because of his efforts we inherit a living faith for our
generation, reaping the spiritual and material harvest of what was sown under
his leadership." |
