Grace Church, Sheboygan
Encyclopedia
Grace Episcopal Church located at 1011 North 7th Street in Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
-Airport:Sheboygan is served by the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport, which is located several miles from the city.-Roads:Interstate 43 is the primary north-south transportation route into Sheboygan, and forms the west boundary of the city. U.S...

, is an Anglo-Catholic parish of the Episcopal Church, part of the Diocese of Fond du Lac
Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac
The Diocese of Fond du Lac is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing the northeastern third of Wisconsin. The diocese contains more than 6,000 baptized members worshipping in 36 locations. It is part of Province 5 . Diocesan offices are in Appleton, Wisconsin...

.

History

Early in 1847 a small lot was bought in Sheboygan on which a wood-frame church was built. The first service of the new Grace Episcopal Church was held on Christmas Day 1847, and two years later a new church was consecrated by the Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper
Jackson Kemper
Bishop Jackson Kemper was the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.Baptized David Jackson Kemper by Dr...

, missionary Bishop of the Northwest Territory.

Relics

Built within the structure of the church are several relics from the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...

. Inside the foundation are rocks from the Jordan River, and the chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 arch contains several small stones from Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...

. Inside the High Altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

 are pieces of olive wood from the Garden of Gethsemane, and five stones from under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Church of the Resurrection by Eastern Christians, is a church within the walled Old City of Jerusalem. It is a few steps away from the Muristan....

 in Jerusalem.

The Gardens

Grace Episcopal is well known in the area for its large and beautiful gardens. They contain many different varieties of flowers and plants including: Columbine
Aquilegia
Aquilegia is a genus of about 60-70 species of perennial plants that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals of their flowers.-Etymology:The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle , because...

, Daisies
Bellis perennis
Bellis perennis is a common European species of Daisy, often considered the archetypal species of that name. Many related plants also share the name "Daisy", so to distinguish this species from other daisies it is sometimes qualified as Common Daisy, Lawn Daisy or occasionally English daisy. It is...

, Hyssop
Hyssop
Hyssop is a genus of about 10-12 species of herbaceous or semi-woody plants in the family Lamiaceae, native from the east Mediterranean to central Asia. They are aromatic, with erect branched stems up to 60 cm long covered with fine hairs at the tips. The leaves are narrow oblong, 2–5 cm...

, Ivy
Ivy
Ivy, plural ivies is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan and Taiwan.-Description:On level ground they...

, Lady's Mantle, Lavender
Lavender
The lavenders are a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. An Old World genus, distributed from Macaronesia across Africa, the Mediterranean, South-West Asia, Arabia, Western Iran and South-East India...

, Lily of the Valley
Lily of the Valley
Convallaria majalis , commonly known as the lily-of-the-valley, is a poisonous woodland flowering plant native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe....

, Mint
Mentha
Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...

, Pansies, Periwinkle
Periwinkle
Periwinkle may refer to:In fauna:* Periwinkle, a common name for a number of gastropod molluscs in the family Littorinidae** Common periwinkle ** Blue periwinkle...

, Strawberries, and Violets.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham

The Lady Chapel
Lady chapel
A Lady chapel, also called Mary chapel or Marian chapel, is a traditional English term for a chapel inside a cathedral, basilica, or large church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary...

, on the west side of the transept, is considered to be the National Shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham
Our Lady of Walsingham
Our Lady of Walsingham is a title used for Mary, the mother of Jesus. The title derives from the belief that Mary appeared in a vision to Richeldis de Faverches, a devout Saxon noblewoman, in 1061 in the village of Walsingham in Norfolk, England...

 for the Episcopal Church. It was built in 1930 and consecrated in 1931. On the altar is the replica of the original statue of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk, England. It is believed to be the first shrine to Our Lady dedicated in any Anglican parish church in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Since 1980 the Lady Chapel has been the object of an annual Walsingham Pilgrimage.

In the middle of the floor is a small wedge-shaped stone brought from Glastonbury
Glastonbury
Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,784 in the 2001 census...

, England. The five paintings above the altar represent the Blessed Virgin Mary enthroned, attended by Saint Agnes
Saint Agnes
Agnes of Rome is a virgin–martyr, venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism. She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass...

, St. Cecilia and Angels. They were painted by T. Noyes Lewis of London.

The Windows

The stained-glass windows within the church in the nave are the work of a local Milwaukee glass company. Each portrays a different part in the life of Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

. All have been installed since 1968.

All Saints Chapel

In the late 1930s the Rev. A. Parker Curtis  began using a room at the Sharpe Resort, to offer Eucharist for Episcopalians on vacation at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Elkhart Lake is a village in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States, located within the northwestern part of the county within the Town of Rhine. The population was 1,021 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, during the summer months. Eventually it was decided that a chapel should be built in the area and Grace Church bought a small piece of land. In 1951 the chapel was completed and consecrated.

The chapel is constructed of native fieldstone
Fieldstone
Fieldstone is a building construction material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally...

. A wooden beamed ceiling is used throughout the chapel. The floor is a special slate used all over the area, and is also used in complement with the floor of the Walsingham Shrine in Grace Church.

Services

Grace Episcopal is an Anglo-Catholic parish and has a very rich heritage of elaborate services and festivals. On Sunday the main worship services are Low Mass
Low Mass
Low Mass is a Tridentine Mass defined officially in the Code of Rubrics included in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal as Mass in which the priest does not chant the parts that the rubrics assign to him...

 and a family Solemn Mass
Solemn Mass
Solemn Mass , sometimes also referred to as Solemn High Mass or simply High Mass, is, when used not merely as a description, the full ceremonial form of the Tridentine Mass, celebrated by a priest with a deacon and a subdeacon, requiring most of the parts of the Mass to be sung, and the use of...

. During the week Low Mass is offered along with Morning Prayer, and Evening Prayer
Evening Prayer (Anglican)
Evening Prayer is a liturgy in use in the Anglican Communion and celebrated in the late afternoon or evening...

, followed by the Rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...

 in the Lady Chapel. Confession
Confession
This article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...

s are heard every Saturday, and a Healing
Healing
Physiological healing is the restoration of damaged living tissue, organs and biological system to normal function. It is the process by which the cells in the body regenerate and repair to reduce the size of a damaged or necrotic area....

 Mass is offered every Monday night.

See also


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK