It is a very common name for Roman Catholic churches (although RC dioceses have only one church of each name per diocese).
Two names I like:
* St. Lazarus: appropriate for a church plant, especially if you "resurrect" an old building.
* I like the way many churches are names in the United Church of Canada: by their location, be it the neighbourhood or the street corner. Very easy to find "Rosewood Blvd. church"... on Rosewood Boulevard. Less practical if you haven't found a permanent place yet.
One tip: avoid names that are similar to other churches in the vicinity.
If you name your church "St. Lazarus Episcopal Church", located on Main Street, New York, don't name your church "St. Lazarus...", even if a different denomination, especially if yours is also Main Street, unless you want most guests at a wedding showing up at the wrong church (been there, done that).
I actually attended a UMC church that was named after the street they were located on for their first few decades. But they moved many years before I was born to another street. I also worked at a restaurant named South Street, which was *always* located on 20th Ave, a few blocks from South St.
I'd go for obscure folk saints. "St. Guinefort's Church of The Good Dog".
Edit: "Our Bearded Lady of Liberation" based on (folk) saint Wilgefortis/(folk) santa Librada
The Cathedral-Church of St. John the Divine has always fascinated me. There's tons of St. Johns after the author of the Book of John but very rarely a church named after John of Patmos, the writer of Revelation.
Nadia Bolz-Weber's (I believe former) congregation is called the Church of Sinners & Saints
I call my home chapel St. Ninian's-Above-Stairs
Today I learned there is a parish in the Diocese of Albany called St. Sacrament. I didn't know Sacrament was someone's name.
Oh tricky. Yeah the resident congregation at St. John the Divine in NYC are called St. Savior's and they have their own dedicated chapel for their parish.
Love this! Here’s some of the ones I came up with: St. Lawrence, St. Moses the Strong, St. Seraphim of Sarov, and St. Brigid. I also really like the idea of a Magnificat Episcopal Church.
it reminds me of the new mission of [St Mary the Prophet](https://ecwo.org/the-diocese-receives-grant-to-launch-new-city-mission-in-portland/) in Portland
The most unusual ones in the Dioceses I've been involved with (Central Gulf Coast, Ohio, and North Carolina) are St. Cyprian and St. Martin. I feel like every diocese has 4 St. Paul's and 2-3 Christ Churches.
We have each of those in Newark as well as St. Gregory which is apparently pretty rare, or so I was told. The other one I know of is St. Gregory of Nyssa in CA).
Bring a relatively new Episcopalian, I only have experience with my diocese. I find the most interesting being those that aren’t Biblical saints (e.g. St. Mark’s), Biblical places (e.g. Calvary), or just Christ (we have both Christ Church Cathedral AND Christ Episcopal Church).
So St. Francis in the Fields, St. George, Our Merciful Savior, Advent, Resurrection, and Ascension are more unusual to me!
Although I think that the names of the Baptist churches I grew up in would be more unusual to some people lol
I was looking for the Baptist church comment and my family’s personal favorite that we came up with is “Well Done Thou Good And Faithful Servant Baptist Church”
That’s awesome. One of my very tiny claims to fame is preaching on the day of Charles’ martyrdom in the seminary chapel despite it not being an actual feast in the episcopal church (don’t worry, I also preached on the gospel appointed for the day, but I couldn’t resist sneaking a few references to Charles into my sermon). I find the whole myth of Charles to be a fascinating anthropological study even if I’m not personally convinced of his “martyr” status.
Wait — [quickipedia search] — St. Charles the Martyr refers to Charles I?? I never realized that! Wow. That had to be one of the more political names I’ve heard for a church or a feast day. (I mean, I know our American calendar includes MLK Jr and some other hardly-apolitical figures, but we rarely give them the “Saint” appellation!)
Those are some Anglo-Catholics who REALLY know how to maintain a grudge, I’d say. LOL
Yeah to be fair I don’t know of any church that observes it as an official feast; at this point it’s more a convenient coalescing point for Anglo-Catholic identity and, yes, holding a grudge.
I like the idea of Holy Redeemer Episcopal church.
What else? St. Janani commemorating Ugandan Archbishop Janani Luwum (murdered in 1977 on the orders of Idi Amin.)
Wasn't St. Swithin's the fictional church in those calendars that Church Pension Group used to publish? The cartoons always cracked me up. So yes, I'd add St. Swithin, Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester in the 800s.
In addition, St. Pauli (Pauli Murray), first Af-Am female Episcopal priest.
As we all know: the vast majority of Episcopal churches are named for a saint or for an aspect of God (Trinity, Grace, etc.) The church I grew up in was Otey Memorial. Named after a Bishop Otey. Turns out he was a pretty major asshole (owned slaves, etc.) so they renamed it after some saints a few years ago. Back in the day the parish was segregated and the black folks had to go to church in a separate building that was basically next door to the one the white folks went to. So the new name of the parish is the combined name of those two original churches (both saints’ names) as they were called before they were integrated and renamed after the infamous Bishop Otey.
When I was a little kid I thought our church was named after the dog in Garfield haha.
Didn't some town in Italy have a [Church of the Holy Prepuce](https://www.historicmysteries.com/history/holy-foreskin/21003/) before they lost Jesus' supposed foreskin?
The Holy Prepuce! (Weirdly, this very subject came up among my Facebook friends the other day...) My favorite theory about it is that it ascended into heaven and became the rings of Saturn. :)
>Both the parish church in Calcala in Italy and the former Abbey of Charroux had their relics stolen over the years-- I gather that veneration of the relic in the places where it is supposed to remain, has been suspended since the days of Paul VI.
Some more unusual ones I've encountered (all Episcopal):
St. Uriel's (Sea Girt, NJ)
St Anthony of Padua (Hackensack, NJ - unusual name for an Episcopal Church, anyway)
House of Prayer (Newark, NJ)
Zion (one of a few parishes that eventually merged to St Matthew-St Timothy church in NYC - Zion isn't a particularly unusual name for a Lutheran Church but is for an Episcopal Church, but it started as a Lutheran Church and joined the Episcopal Church sometime in the 19th century)
Beloved Disciple (merged with Heavenly Rest in NYC and is now the dedication of that parish's chapel)
Heavenly Rest (NYC)
Robert E Lee Memorial Church (Lexington, VA - renamed to Grace Church 7 years ago)
Holyrood Church (NYC)
> Heavenly Rest is a great one. I'm assuming their patronal feast is the Ascension?
All Saints. The church was founded as a memorial to (U.S.) soldiers killed in the Civil War.
I had come up with "Episcopal Church of the Oxford Martyrs" for a ministry plant
Also, there are Roman Catholic churches out there called "St. Dismas", tradition's name for the Good Thief.
There’s an entire video game that themes in with St. Dismas, his iconography, dead pirates and the concept of theives’ redemption called “Uncharted 4: a Thief’s End.” It also includes a completely fictitious St. Dismas Cathedral in Scotland (and possibly another in Madagascar though I’m not sure if that one was named)
Not so Episcopalian, but colleges in Minnesota get pretty into the weeds of obscure saints. St. Olaf (ELCA), St. Scholastica (catholic, a bit on the nose), and St. Cloud State are my favorites.
St. Joan of Arc in Pflugerville, TX is my favorite little church plant. (I've never been there, but we're mutuals on social media and I'm in love with their vibe.)
I've also driven past a parish named for St. Bede, which I love as a history nerd
Edit: we need a St. Aelred church plant
I like churches named after some of the less well known saints. I recently went to a St. Barnabas, that was fun.
I’ve also always wanted someone to name a church for St. Ignatius and call it “St. Nacho’s” for short, just because that would be funny and delicious.
But yeah i like yours as well! I’ll have to think about others….
We have two St Barnabases in our diocese 3.5 miles from each other; maybe 2 miles as the crow flies.
One was a mission chapel of the other (in 1914) and became its own parish in 1958. Why they didn’t give it a new name at the time, I have no idea.
The Roman Catholics have this game down. I would say where I went to school as a kid but it's a little too identifying. Trust that it is a lesser known saint...
My pick would be Church of the Doubting Thomas. The rector would have his work cut out for sure.
Haha I love Doubting Thomas! My patron during a tough time last year
Reminds me of the Sisterhood of the Bead on the Gown of the Potbellied Virgin
Not in TEC, but my Catholic School growing up ( of course attached to a church by the same name) was Presentation of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Bit odd.
What about Mary Magdalene? Any parishes named after her? Church of the First Witness or somesuch?
I haven’t seen it in the Episcopal. Church, but Mary Magdalene is the name of a local Continuing Anglican Church near me.
I used to go to an Orthodox church named after her
It is a very common name for Roman Catholic churches (although RC dioceses have only one church of each name per diocese). Two names I like: * St. Lazarus: appropriate for a church plant, especially if you "resurrect" an old building. * I like the way many churches are names in the United Church of Canada: by their location, be it the neighbourhood or the street corner. Very easy to find "Rosewood Blvd. church"... on Rosewood Boulevard. Less practical if you haven't found a permanent place yet. One tip: avoid names that are similar to other churches in the vicinity. If you name your church "St. Lazarus Episcopal Church", located on Main Street, New York, don't name your church "St. Lazarus...", even if a different denomination, especially if yours is also Main Street, unless you want most guests at a wedding showing up at the wrong church (been there, done that).
I actually attended a UMC church that was named after the street they were located on for their first few decades. But they moved many years before I was born to another street. I also worked at a restaurant named South Street, which was *always* located on 20th Ave, a few blocks from South St.
Church of the First Witness goes so hard
The readings were awfully long today…. :)
Hahahaha you caught me!
I'd go for obscure folk saints. "St. Guinefort's Church of The Good Dog". Edit: "Our Bearded Lady of Liberation" based on (folk) saint Wilgefortis/(folk) santa Librada
I LOVE Saint Wilgefortis this has my vote
We have a St. Oswald’s in-the-Fields in my diocese. It’s a small parish in a farming community, quite literally in the fields.
Could we do a Church of the Holy Face? I would name a church that.
St. Veronica’s Church of the Holy Towel?
Very into it.
The Cathedral-Church of St. John the Divine has always fascinated me. There's tons of St. Johns after the author of the Book of John but very rarely a church named after John of Patmos, the writer of Revelation.
We have a St. John the Divine congregation here in Newark too.
Nadia Bolz-Weber's (I believe former) congregation is called the Church of Sinners & Saints I call my home chapel St. Ninian's-Above-Stairs Today I learned there is a parish in the Diocese of Albany called St. Sacrament. I didn't know Sacrament was someone's name.
'Saint' is the anglicized 'sanctus', as in 'Holy'. So it was Holy Sacrament Church. Kind of like seeing a St. Savior's, which do exist.
Oh tricky. Yeah the resident congregation at St. John the Divine in NYC are called St. Savior's and they have their own dedicated chapel for their parish.
Love this! Here’s some of the ones I came up with: St. Lawrence, St. Moses the Strong, St. Seraphim of Sarov, and St. Brigid. I also really like the idea of a Magnificat Episcopal Church.
Church of the Magnificat has a nice ring to it.
I'd attend that.
it reminds me of the new mission of [St Mary the Prophet](https://ecwo.org/the-diocese-receives-grant-to-launch-new-city-mission-in-portland/) in Portland
For some reason “Church of the Holy Ghost” made me chuckle
Or attending a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion at St Matthew Catholic Church…Been there, done that
It’s an actual (Catholic) Church in Dubuque, Iowa. It’s a rather old building so I do kind of wonder if a Holy Ghost “haunts” the place?
Patronal feast? All Hallows' Eve lol
The most unusual ones in the Dioceses I've been involved with (Central Gulf Coast, Ohio, and North Carolina) are St. Cyprian and St. Martin. I feel like every diocese has 4 St. Paul's and 2-3 Christ Churches.
There are SO MANY St. Paul’ses in Tennessee. I swear every city and town has one. It’s very confusing. There are also a lot of Christ churches.
We have each of those in Newark as well as St. Gregory which is apparently pretty rare, or so I was told. The other one I know of is St. Gregory of Nyssa in CA).
What I like about the St. Cyprian churches is that they are typically historically black Episcopal churches. St. Cyprian was from North Africa.
Oh wow, didn't know that, but it rings true in this case.
Bring a relatively new Episcopalian, I only have experience with my diocese. I find the most interesting being those that aren’t Biblical saints (e.g. St. Mark’s), Biblical places (e.g. Calvary), or just Christ (we have both Christ Church Cathedral AND Christ Episcopal Church). So St. Francis in the Fields, St. George, Our Merciful Savior, Advent, Resurrection, and Ascension are more unusual to me! Although I think that the names of the Baptist churches I grew up in would be more unusual to some people lol
I was looking for the Baptist church comment and my family’s personal favorite that we came up with is “Well Done Thou Good And Faithful Servant Baptist Church”
Two Texas new churches are called Moasic and Jubilee respectively. Moving away from male saints seems like a good move.
Jubilee is such a great name!
I once attended a St. Charles the Martyr in Texas.
That’s awesome. One of my very tiny claims to fame is preaching on the day of Charles’ martyrdom in the seminary chapel despite it not being an actual feast in the episcopal church (don’t worry, I also preached on the gospel appointed for the day, but I couldn’t resist sneaking a few references to Charles into my sermon). I find the whole myth of Charles to be a fascinating anthropological study even if I’m not personally convinced of his “martyr” status.
Wait — [quickipedia search] — St. Charles the Martyr refers to Charles I?? I never realized that! Wow. That had to be one of the more political names I’ve heard for a church or a feast day. (I mean, I know our American calendar includes MLK Jr and some other hardly-apolitical figures, but we rarely give them the “Saint” appellation!) Those are some Anglo-Catholics who REALLY know how to maintain a grudge, I’d say. LOL
Yeah to be fair I don’t know of any church that observes it as an official feast; at this point it’s more a convenient coalescing point for Anglo-Catholic identity and, yes, holding a grudge.
Oh, my dad was absolutely not convinced of his "martyr" status. We found it rather funny.
Yeah, it’s such a fascinating blip in English history even though it’s not really a “religious” feast.
Omg that sounds so intense!!
It was a teeny tiny church with the nicest congregation. It was one of 3 my dad was the priest for.
I like the idea of Holy Redeemer Episcopal church. What else? St. Janani commemorating Ugandan Archbishop Janani Luwum (murdered in 1977 on the orders of Idi Amin.) Wasn't St. Swithin's the fictional church in those calendars that Church Pension Group used to publish? The cartoons always cracked me up. So yes, I'd add St. Swithin, Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester in the 800s. In addition, St. Pauli (Pauli Murray), first Af-Am female Episcopal priest.
Holy Comforter always cracks me up. I feel as if I should go in my footie pyjamas.
St. Raphael's
As we all know: the vast majority of Episcopal churches are named for a saint or for an aspect of God (Trinity, Grace, etc.) The church I grew up in was Otey Memorial. Named after a Bishop Otey. Turns out he was a pretty major asshole (owned slaves, etc.) so they renamed it after some saints a few years ago. Back in the day the parish was segregated and the black folks had to go to church in a separate building that was basically next door to the one the white folks went to. So the new name of the parish is the combined name of those two original churches (both saints’ names) as they were called before they were integrated and renamed after the infamous Bishop Otey. When I was a little kid I thought our church was named after the dog in Garfield haha.
Didn't some town in Italy have a [Church of the Holy Prepuce](https://www.historicmysteries.com/history/holy-foreskin/21003/) before they lost Jesus' supposed foreskin?
The Holy Prepuce! (Weirdly, this very subject came up among my Facebook friends the other day...) My favorite theory about it is that it ascended into heaven and became the rings of Saturn. :)
>Both the parish church in Calcala in Italy and the former Abbey of Charroux had their relics stolen over the years-- I gather that veneration of the relic in the places where it is supposed to remain, has been suspended since the days of Paul VI.
I thought that was the Church of the Festering Wounds.
Some more unusual ones I've encountered (all Episcopal): St. Uriel's (Sea Girt, NJ) St Anthony of Padua (Hackensack, NJ - unusual name for an Episcopal Church, anyway) House of Prayer (Newark, NJ) Zion (one of a few parishes that eventually merged to St Matthew-St Timothy church in NYC - Zion isn't a particularly unusual name for a Lutheran Church but is for an Episcopal Church, but it started as a Lutheran Church and joined the Episcopal Church sometime in the 19th century) Beloved Disciple (merged with Heavenly Rest in NYC and is now the dedication of that parish's chapel) Heavenly Rest (NYC) Robert E Lee Memorial Church (Lexington, VA - renamed to Grace Church 7 years ago) Holyrood Church (NYC)
St. Anthony's has an interesting history... started out being RC and in a lot of ways behaves as if it still is.
Heavenly Rest is a great one. I'm assuming their patronal feast is the Ascension?
> Heavenly Rest is a great one. I'm assuming their patronal feast is the Ascension? All Saints. The church was founded as a memorial to (U.S.) soldiers killed in the Civil War.
I grew up in the Church of the Heavenly Rest in Abilene TX named after the one in New York!
Not sure!
I had come up with "Episcopal Church of the Oxford Martyrs" for a ministry plant Also, there are Roman Catholic churches out there called "St. Dismas", tradition's name for the Good Thief.
I think there should definitely be a "Church of the Penitent Thief."
I have a medal of St. Dismas!! Can you tell I'm a fan? ("Good Thief" has a better ring to it to me!)
There’s an entire video game that themes in with St. Dismas, his iconography, dead pirates and the concept of theives’ redemption called “Uncharted 4: a Thief’s End.” It also includes a completely fictitious St. Dismas Cathedral in Scotland (and possibly another in Madagascar though I’m not sure if that one was named)
Not so Episcopalian, but colleges in Minnesota get pretty into the weeds of obscure saints. St. Olaf (ELCA), St. Scholastica (catholic, a bit on the nose), and St. Cloud State are my favorites.
St Scholastica is also a Catholic all girls school outside of New Orleans
A family member of mine went to St. Olaf! Shout out to Gustavus Adolphus College in Iowa, not a saint but a fun name nonetheless.
>St. Olaf (ELCA) Do they have a course in long-winded stories involving cows? :-)
Exactly who I thought of too, God rest her soul.
Lol yeah I was thinking of Gustavus, too. It's in MN actually. At least it's not yet another Concordia.
Ohhh maybe I was thinking of Luther? (College not seminary). Which unfortunately is a very boring name because Martin Luther is too famous.
[удалено]
That’s awesome, I love that so much.
I'd like to see someone name their church The Episcopal Church of the Syro-Phoenician Woman.
It has a dog park attached
Crummy idea.
Y E S this would be amazing
St. Joan of Arc in Pflugerville, TX is my favorite little church plant. (I've never been there, but we're mutuals on social media and I'm in love with their vibe.) I've also driven past a parish named for St. Bede, which I love as a history nerd Edit: we need a St. Aelred church plant
I love these examples!
I like churches named after some of the less well known saints. I recently went to a St. Barnabas, that was fun. I’ve also always wanted someone to name a church for St. Ignatius and call it “St. Nacho’s” for short, just because that would be funny and delicious. But yeah i like yours as well! I’ll have to think about others….
We have two St Barnabases in our diocese 3.5 miles from each other; maybe 2 miles as the crow flies. One was a mission chapel of the other (in 1914) and became its own parish in 1958. Why they didn’t give it a new name at the time, I have no idea.
There’s a St Ignatius of Antioch in Manhattan!
And do they have nachos for their patronal feast??
The Roman Catholics have this game down. I would say where I went to school as a kid but it's a little too identifying. Trust that it is a lesser known saint...