On Sunday, January 23, 1910, H. A. Cody preached in St. James' Church for the first time. At the 11:00 a.m. service his text was from 1 Kings 17:12 - "A Little Oil" (a popular one from his Yukon days), and the 7:00 p.m. evensong he used St. Luke 19:13 - "Occupy Till I Come." [18] The Parish of St. James, located in the southern part of the city known as Lower Cove or the South End, was a wilderness before the coming of the Loyalists in 1783. The first church erected in the parish was a wooden structure situated on Main Street (now called Broad Street) with a view of the harbor. It was consecrated in 1851 by the Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt. Rev. John Medley. This was a residential section of Saint John, where many important businessmen had their homes, although it was on Main Street that the notorious Benedict Arnold had lived for a time. It was also a part of the city that was reserved for fortification, three to four hundred troops being moved from Fort Howe (situated in the North End of the city) and stationed at Barracks Square in the extreme south of the parish. This meant that St. James' was a Garrison Church, surrounded by a military compound (an armory still stands near the church), and that the appointed rector was the chaplain of the Imperial Forces. The military service at that time took place at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays and people came from all parts of the city to attend. The church was usually filled for this service, one half of the pews being free and the other half reserved for the troops of the garrison; members of the Artillery formed the choir. Later in the day, two other services were held for civilians, one at 11:00 a.m. and one at 3:00 p.m.; in the evening there was a service at the Marine Hospital, which was situated on the site of the present Turnbull Home. [19] During the Great Fire of 1877, nearly all the houses in the South End were destroyed and so was the Garrison Church of St. James. But the congregation set about immediately to rebuild (the Governor of the province, Sir Leonard Tilley, laying the cornerstone) and by 1879 the present St. James' Church, erected from limestone quarried near the city, was consecrated by Bishop Medley. It had a seating capacity for 500 people and was, for the most part, a free church, only a few seats reserved for the use of the Wiggins Orphanage and the Protestant Orphans Home (apparently there was no special provision for the troops). Also, there was no middle aisle in the church, this being the Congregational style and not Anglican. [20] As time went on, only the interior of St. James' changed: the original plaster ceiling was replaced by clear spruce, finished in its natural colour; the arches and cross pieces, as well as the seats and woodwork, were finished in oak, serving to set off the lighter colour of the ceiling; the chancel rail was straightened, leaving more room in the choir, and a new railing in the front of the choir was provided by a parishioner who also gave an oak lectern. The pulpit was of oak, given in memory of a son of one of the rectors. In 1881 the first organ was installed; in 1889 the Sunday school building was enlarged, the sexton's living quarters being located beneath; by 1909 the gas lights were replaced by the present electric system. In 1910 the only major item of importance that was missing was a bell for the belfry. [21] February 27, 1927, H. A. Cody was installed as Canon of Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton and Archdeacon of Saint John. [22] The induction service at the cathedral preceded the regular morning service. H. A. Cody, the Archdeacon-elect, walked with the procession of the choir and the clergy, the Dean and the Bishop, into the cathedral, the Chancellor also having a place in the procession. "The chancellor of the diocese, J. J. Fraser Winslow, K.C., wearing his gown of office, first read the proclamation from the chancel steps, this being the official notice of the appointment of Rev. Mr. Cody as archdeacon. Very Rev. Dean Neales then assigned the new archdeacon to his seat in the chancel and His Lordship Bishop Richardson then asked the blessing upon the new archdeacon. It was a most impressive and interesting, although brief, ceremony." Thirty years earlier Cody has been ordained a deacon in the same cathedral, and now on the evening of his second ordination he "gave an eloquent discourse to a large congregation in his first sermon as archdeacon," his text being from Zechariah 11:7 - "I took me two staves, the one I called Beauty, the other I called Bands." (The sermon was one that he had give three times before in Saint John - Trinity Church, June 19, 1921; St. James' Church, September 25, 1921; Stone Church, May 16, 1926 - and his notes for this particular sermon are still in existence) Cody's poem "Beauty and Bands," which concluded the sermon, was published later in Church Work (November, 1927). [23] The appointment of H. A. Cody as the Venerable Archdeacon of Saint John broke new ground in the parish of St. James'; it was the first time in its history of over seventy-five years that any one of it rectors had been selected for ecclesiastical honors, although Rev. George Osborne Troop and Rev. Charles John James had become Canons and Rev. A.D.A. Dewdney had become a Bishop after they had gone elsewhere. According to the press, Cody was "following in the footsteps of men of outstanding mark and ability in the Councils of the Church, chief among them being Archdeacon Brigstocke, Archdeacon Raymond and Archdeacon Crowfoot, his immediate predecessor. [24] Cody was now an officer of and an assistant to the Bishop, and whereas he was appointed by the Bishop under the Statutes of the Cathedral Chapter and held his commission from the Bishop, he was responsible, not to the Synod, but to the Bishop, to whom he would be making reports, in writing, at least twice each year, or as often as he would have important matters to communicate. His duties as archdeacon were outlined in The Bishop's Charge (1909). [25] H. A. Cody first tendered his resignation as rector of St. James' Church on Monday, January 5, 1920, but at a church meeting a week later "the Vestry would not listen to such a thing." Instead, H. A. Cody was offered a salary increase of $300 and a leave of absence for July, August, and September. He accepted, withdrawing his resignation. [26] Perhaps it was the Vestry's offer that also made it easier for Cody to send a negative reply to a telegram from his college classmate, H. I. Lynds, who had a church in Lockport, New York, at that time and who wired Cody about a vacancy in Newark. New Jersey, "salary $2400, nice stone rectory, cultured & wealthy people." This must have been appealing to Cody; he was the only Anglican rector in Saint John who did not live in a permanent rectory maintained by the church. The rent for the duplex at 252 St. James Street was paid for from his own personal finances, and on January 27th he receive word that there would be an increase of $100, making an annual rent of $458. Cody's reaction: "it is certainly an imposition!" [27] Archdeacon H. A. Cody had written his resignation on New Year's Day, 1943, the 112th anniversary of his father's birth date. It was not an easy task for him to do. Several weeks prior to the resignation he had been under a doctor's care, being continually confined to his bed for two and three days at a time, hoping to muster enough strength to carry through with each upcoming event. [28] It was early Monday evening, February 9th, 1948, when death came for the Archdeacon. He was in his 76th year. [29] In his priest's vestments, the body of H. A. Cody rested at Brenan's Funeral Home, 111 Paradise Row, until Thursday morning (February 12th) when, at 9 a.m., it was taken to St. James' Church to lie in State. "Service of the Holy Communion for the family and clergy of the Deanery of Saint John followed. The celebrant was Rev. H. Ploughman, present rector of St. James', and he was assisted by Rev. W. P. Haigh, rural dean of Saint John, and Rev. C. J. Markham, rural dean of Kingston. Mr. Markham acted as epistolary and Mr. Haigh as gospeler." [30] Entombment was at Fernhill Cemetery (East Saint John) beside Kenneth's grave. Eventually a large granite stone marked the gravesite and H. A. Cody was left to his peace, although the busy harbor of the old grey city of Saint John was but a short distance away. [31] In 1951 St. James' Church marked its 100th anniversary, and on October 22nd of that year Bishop Moorhead delivered the sermon at a special service held to honor the memory of the late rector. He began by saying: "To the glory of God and in loving memory of Hiram Alfred Cody, Archdeacon of Saint John, and rector of this parish for 33 years. We have dedicated a rich and beautiful Altar Rail erected by the parishioners and friends of your late rector, and also a very beautiful and suitably bound Prayer Book given by the clergy of the Archdeaconry of Saint John. We have come here tonight, in this anniversary week, to honor the memory of Archdeacon Cody in this sacred service, and to thank God for his life and work in the Parish of St. James." [32]
"When I first came to the Diocese I served as Eucharistic Minister at St. James. It was during the time of Rod Brant-Francis who was a Church Army Officer and therefore could not celebrate Holy Communion. I hear many stories of Archdeacon Cody from some of the older folks who were there at the time. It was a sad day for me when the church closed and I know the Vestry at the time wanted to discover ways in which the building could be used for the benefit of the community in the future. I became Archdeacon of Saint John shortly after the closure and along with the Bishop have worked to try to fulfill that desire. To that end over the last 4 years we have been working with a coalition of community organizations to develop a home for homeless youth on the site. Initially our hope was to re-purpose the old church building, but after a detailed study by an architect and a structural engineer it was decided that a new building on the site would be a better solution. The intention is to use some of the stone from the church building in the new construction. The only inhibitor might be the state of the material. In addition the Cody window has been saved and should be re-positioned at the front of the building. When it came to demolishing the building it was discovered that it was in much worse condition that was apparent. The roof trusses were very contaminated with dry rot and the mortar in the brick work had turned to sand. The demolition company had scheduled 3 days for their work, it was completed in less than a morning. The old hall was taken down several years ago and two low income housing units sit on that part of the site. With regard to the furnishings many of them were taken to the Church of the Resurrection in Grand Bay to be incorporated into a new building. These included the organ which has been included in their Nave. The Communion Table, as I understand it, will soon be taken to the Church of St. Augustine in Quispamsis, where it will replace the one they use at present. The wood from the pews was used for salvage. The stained glass windows were professionally removed and are currently safely wrapped and stored in the basement of Trinity Church along with the memorials. Most of the windows are of high quality. They were made by N.T. Lyon who made the windows for the Peace Tower in Ottawa. I cannot say what will ultimately happen to them, but I imagine they will be incorporated into another building at some point. Attempts were made through long standing congregation members to contact the descendants of people who had given memorials to the church and some were re-claimed by families. As I said the others are in Trinity. The bell is currently in storage in the yard of John Flood and Sons, the contractor for the youth house. It future is unclear. A local retreat house has asked for it, in addition the Bishop would like it to be placed in front of the new building. We await developments. I am unsure what happened to the pulpit. The one that was there at the end was only a partial pulpit, a three panel structure with a book rest on the top. The font is also in storage. It is the intention to have some form of recognition on the site re the former Broad Street St. James Church building. As yet the nature of it is not yet decided." [33] On Monday, March 16, 2015, Safe Harbour, the shelter located on Broad Street, which sits on the former site of St. James Anglican Church, which was donated by the Anglican Diocese, held at open house to the public officially opening its doors. Due to a lack of funding, the 1.2M Safe Harbour youth shelter closed its doors on Friday, January 29, 2016. The provincial government rejected a request for a loan guarantee to cover a capital shortfall of about $550,000. The loan is needed in order to have a lien filed by the contractor lifted. The government has also denied a funding request of about $200,000 — approximately half of the annual operating costs.
The New Brunswick Provincial Government announced November 23, 2016, that Safe Harbour Transitional Youth Services, will reopen in March, 2017. Safe Harbour Transitional Youth Services is operated by Partners for Youth, an organization dedicated to helping young people who are facing challenges. Comments are closed.
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