This Year -2018
The Brick Church at Wambaw celebrates the Two-Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of its Consecration as the Parish Church of St. James-Santee Parish.
The Brick Church at Wambaw celebrates the Two-Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of its Consecration as the Parish Church of St. James-Santee Parish.
Prayer for the Consecration of a Church-1712
O Lord Almighty, King of heaven and earth, Who, in the day-time by a cloud, and in the night by fire, didst declare Thy presence by Thy moving tabernacle in the wilderness, and, by like sensible and glorious manifestations of Thyself, didst consecrate the Temple of Jerusalem for the place of Thy settled abode among Thy chosen people, vouchsafe, we beseech Thee, to encompass this Thy house, and all that are in it, with Thy gracious favour; inflame our hearts with that holy fire from heaven that may consume in us whatsoever is vile and earthy, and kindle in our souls a fervent and constant love of Thee; make us truly sensible how great an honour it is to be admitted into Thy Sanctuary, to present ourselves and our supplications before the throne of Thy grace, that so we may never presume to approach Thy house with hypocritical and cold devotions, drawing near unto Thee with our lips while our hearts are far from Thee. Let us always approach Thy holy courts with reverence and godly fear; let us behave ourselves in Thy sanctuary as mindful of Thine especial presence, so that we may depart thence endued with greater measures of Thy grace, and fulfilled with Thy heavenly benedictions; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with Thee, O Father, and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed, as is most due, all glory, might, and majesty, both now and evermore. Amen.
History Note: At the time the St. James-Santee Parish Church was completed (1768), the Anglican (later, Episcopal) Church in South Carolina was under the care of the Bishop of London and administered locally by a Commissary ( a priest especially commissioned by the Bishop of London). A resident diocesan bishop would not be in place until the Rt. Rev. Robert Smith, DD, was elected in 1795. Typically, new Church buildings are consecrated by the Bishop. In this case, however, the dedicatory prayers would have been led by their rector, The Rev. Samuel Fenner Warren who may have used prayers (or ones similar) from A FORM OF CONSECRATING CHURCHES, CHAPELS, AND CHURCHYARDS. This form was passed in the Lower House of Convocation, 1712, with a design to have it established among the Offices of the Liturgy, and compiled chiefly for the Consecration of the (50) new Churches. Based on one by by Lancelot Andrewes, this form was approved by Convocation in 1712, but never received the Royal Assent, and so never became an official service of the Church of England. Nevertheless, it, or forms based on it, were commonly used in the Church in succeeding years. The Episcopal Church in its early years, unlike the Church of England, was in an area which was expanding both geographically and numerically, and so had great need for a service for the Consecration of Churches. As this one was well-known to American clergy, it served as the basis for that adopted for the American Prayer Book in 1799. The text comes from a reprint: The Object, Importance, and Antiquity of the Rite of Consecration of Churches (1844) by EC Harington.
