A Seed is Planted
The history of St. Francis begins with James Ingall Wedgwood, of the well-known Wedgwood pottery family in England. Originally a priest in The Anglican Church, he became the founding and first presiding bishop of The Liberal Catholic Church.
It was a church based on the foundation of intellectual freedom, sacramental grace, and the perennial wisdom. This wisdom, which endures the passage of time, looks beyond the set forms of religion and perceives within them the knowledge which reflects Universal Truth. This great truth transcends language, distance, and cultural barriers, and has the power to speak to people of every generation.
Consecrated by Bishop Frederick S. Willougby on February 13, 1916, Wedgwood traveled the world establishing churches and centers in many countries. In September of 1917, he came to Chicago and celebrated the Holy Eucharist in Besant Hall of The Theosophical Society, at 116 South Michigan Avenue. From the seventy-five people attending that service, two men went on to become the first priests of the church in Chicago: Dr. Edwin B. Beckwith and Edmund W. Sheehan.
At a Theosophical Convention in New York City, Bishop Wedgwood ordained Dr. Beckwith to the priesthood. A few weeks after Beckwith’s return to Chicago, he began to build his congregation. At a meeting attended by 30 people, he announced his plans to start a church and for that purpose a committee was formed
On November 3, 1917, the committee met to raise funds and make arrangements to use Besant Hall for church services. The first service was celebrated by Dr. Beckwith on November 11, 1917 at 11 a.m., assisted at the altar by Sheehan. It was a low celebration, without music.
The Church continued to grow slowly and in the latter part of January, 1918, it was recorded that 50 people attended a single service. William Sommer and William J. Fordyce came into the work in the early part of the winter, acting as servers. These two men strengthened the little group working at the altar. At that time the church was called The Sacramental Church of the Living Christ.
World War I
No organization can be properly viewed without considering the events that happened around it. The early days of the church began against the backdrop of World War I. It was the first war that involved nations (28) from around the world and is commonly called The Great War or The War to End All Wars.
Although the United States had firmly maintained neutrality when World War I began in 1914, it entered the war after German U-boats sank the Lusitania, a British ocean liner. On May 7, 1915, the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine/U-Boat. A second explosion followed shortly after, and the ship sank in only 18 minutes. Out of the 1,256 passengers the Lusitania carried on her last voyage 1,198 people died, including almost a hundred children.
WWI was different from previous wars because soldiers used weapons like machine guns, artillery, tanks and air force. Military operations began in three major areas in Europe - the western front (France/Belgium), the eastern front (Russia) and the southern front (Serbia). On the battlefields of France, arriving fresh American armed forces proved crucial in bolstering the war-weary Allied armies in the summer of 1918 as they turned back the powerful final German offensive. An estimated total of 7,996,888 soldiers died during the war.
The Church Grows: 1918
For Sunday services at Besant Hall, three servers would arrive at 10 a.m. and begin preparations for the Mass. First, a silk curtain and a picture of the Lord Christ were hung at the back of the altar. Then the altar, a folding wooden bench about 5 feet long and 18 inches wide, was set in place and dressed by volunteers. All the church equipment was kept in a small closet and considerable digging was required to get out the candle-sticks, missal stand and other pieces needed. While these preparations were going on, Fr. Beckwith vested himself and the thurifer began lighting the charcoal for the incense. People would take their seats at about 10:50 a.m. and candles on the altar were lit as incidental music was played on the piano. At 11:00 a.m. the clergy slowly filed in with the thurifer leading, followed by two acolytes and then the celebrant. The congregation averaged about thirty people.
Fr. Beckwith, wearing new white vestments, celebrated the first Easter service on March 31, 1918. Of the 45 people in the congregation, five people were baptized and $9.30 was collected.
On April 11, 1918, the church moved to the new quarters of the Theosophical Society; the Kimball Building on Wabash and Jackson in downtown Chicago. Two days later Edmund Sheehan presented his formal application for Holy Orders.
To avoid any conflict with the Theosophical Society and save themselves the weekly chore of setting up for the service, seventeen people met at Fr. Beckwith’s home on May 10th to discuss the possibility of moving into a building that was dedicated to the purposes of the church. The meeting adjourned with an agreement to continue these discussions in June.
The church’s first public social was held on Friday, May 24th. A vegetarian dinner was served at the Beckwith home with fifty people attending. The cost of the supper per person was 35 cents, enriching the church’s treasury by $19.50.
On June 30th Edmund Sheehan was appointed chairman of the committee that would secure office space in downtown Chicago. Services were discontinued until new quarters could be found.
Downtown Chicago, also referred to as The Loop, derives its name from the place where the strands powering cable cars turn around on a pulley in the center of the city. Completed in 1897, this concept was extended to the ring of elevated rail tracks for rapid transit lines connecting downtown with the surrounding neighborhoods. State Street's horsecars were replaced by cable cars in 1882, and these in turn yielded to electric trolleys in 1906. Citizens of Chicago had two neighborhoods: their particular residential area and downtown, a common destination for work, recreation, government, and shopping.
Sheehan called a meeting of the Moving Committee on July 26th and told them that he had found desirable quarters in the Barnheisel Building at 620 N. Michigan Ave. Fr. Beckwith and Mr. Sheehan signed a two year lease on August 1 with the understanding that they would share the cost of rent, if the church collections did not cover it. During this time, Bishop Wedgwood sent a cablegram from Australia to Fr. Beckwith saying that he would be in Chicago about the middle of August. Fr. Beckwith promised the Bishop that the new quarters would be ready by the time he arrived.
Policeman directing downtown Chicago traffic, ca. 1917 National Archives and Records Administration
Additional historical material provided by the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
