Lutterworth, England If Wittenberg in Germany is the place where the Protestant Reformation was born, than the small town of Lutterworth in Central England was the place where it was conceived. It was here in the mid-14th century that the theologian John Wycliffe offered the first serious challenge to the authority of the Catholic Church, which many in Europe saw as having … [Read more...]
DOWN CATHEDRAL
Downpatrick, Ireland The tradition of the missionary Patrick in Ireland represents one of the greatest relationships between any nation or people and their patron saint. Patrick is as beloved in Ireland as virtually any other saint is anywhere else in the world. His feast day is among the most celebrated in the world. After his monastic training, Patrick was primarily … [Read more...]
WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL
Washington, DC The Washington National Cathedral, also known by its more ponderous, official name, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, is the defacto national church, at least from an honorary standpoint. It is one of the largest church buildings in the world, possibly the largest non-Roman Catholic, as well as one of the … [Read more...]
ST. MARY’S EPISCOPAL CATHEDRAL
Memphis, Tennessee St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral is perhaps the most historic Episcopal Church founded after the American Revolution. The first full-fledged, traditional Episcopal Cathedral in the South, it is famous for two important events in its history. The first was an epidemic of Yellow Fever which struck in 1878, in which priests and nuns from several Memphis … [Read more...]
CHRIST CHURCH
Savannah, Georgia Christ Church, sometimes called the Mother Church of Georgia, is arguably the most historic colonial church of the southern colonies. Established in the 1730s, it boasts two of America’s most storied religious figures among its ministers: George Whitefield, and John Wesley. Although an Episcopal Church since its founding, Christ Church of Savannah is … [Read more...]
HISTORIC EPISCOPAL CHURCHES OF NEW YORK
New York, New York If there is such a thing as a church capital of the United States, then New York City would undoubtedly be the leading contender for the title. No other city in America, if not the entire Western Hemisphere, boasts such an amazing collection of churches from across the spectrum of Christian denominations (not to mention synagogues). Of these, there are two … [Read more...]
OLD NORTH CHURCH
Boston, Massachusetts The Old North Church in Boston is among America’s most historic churches in the actual “historic” sense, as it played a direct and crucial role in one of the most important battles in American history. One of Boston’s tallest and most prominent colonial era churches, its steeple was chosen as the signal point to warn the nearby American militia units … [Read more...]
CHRIST CHURCH
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Christ Church of Philadelphia is one of the oldest churches of the Anglican Communion still standing in the United States, and is considered to be the birthplace of the American Episcopal Church. At the time of its founding in the late 1600s, it was among the first congregations of the Church of England in the colonies. For years the church … [Read more...]
CHURCH OF ST. LUKE
Smithfield, Virginia St. Luke’s Church in Smithfield, Virginia is generally recognized as the oldest Protestant church in the United States and, by extension, the New World. Erected in the early- to mid-1600s, it outlasted the handful of churches that preceeded it in the first English colonies of Massachusetts and Virginia. Only the San Miguel Mission in New Mexico is … [Read more...]
MEGACHURCHES OF HOUSTON
Houston, Texas Over the last few decades, Protestant Christianity has seen the development of a new phenomenon, especially in the United States: the Megachurch. These Megachurches are exactly what they sound like: huge community churches with very large, regularly attending congregations. At last count, there were over one thousand such churches in the United States. Not … [Read more...]
