St John's Cathedral (Hong Kong) Explained

St John's Cathedral
Fullname:The Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist
Native Name:聖約翰座堂
Native Name Lang:zh-Hant
Denomination:Anglican
Churchmanship:High church[1]
Dedication:St John the Evangelist
Consecrated Date:1852
Status:Cathedral
Style:Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking:1847
Completed Date:1849
Materials:stucco, wood
Diocese:Hong Kong Island
Diocese Start:1998
Province:Hong Kong & Macao
Archbishop:Andrew Chan
Bishop:Matthias Der
Dean:Chan Kwok-keung
Director:Felix Yeung
Organist:Jonathan Yip

The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Evangelist is the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Hong Kong Island, and mother church to the Province of Hong Kong and Macao. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Hong Kong and the Bishop of Hong Kong Island.

At Garden Road, Central, the cathedral is located in a prime central position, surrounded by the Bank of China Tower, Cheung Kong Center, HSBC Main Building, Court of Final Appeal Building, Former Central Government Offices, and the Former French Mission Building.

St John's Cathedral is one of the five cathedrals in Hong Kong. The others are Holy Trinity Cathedral (Anglican), All Saints’ Cathedral (Anglican), St Luke Orthodox Cathedral (Eastern Orthodox), and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Roman Catholic).

History

The congregation that would become the cathedral held its first Sunday service on Sunday, 11 March 1849, as "Hongkong Colonial Chapel", the founding church of the Diocese of Victoria.[2] [3] It was consecrated as St John's Cathedral by George Smith, bishop of Victoria, in 1852.[3]

On the morning of 8 December 1941, the day after their attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Japanese attacked Hong Kong. On Christmas morning 1941 Alaric Rose took the morning service in St John's with a congregation of one hundred, while shelling continued on the island.

During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the cathedral was converted into a club for the Japanese. Many of the original fittings were stripped out, including the original stained glass windows, which had been created by William Morris' firm.[4]

On 9 September 1945, the first service after the arrival of the Royal Navy was held in the cathedral.[5]

In 1981, Peter Kwong became the first Chinese bishop of Hong Kong,[6] who went on to become the first archbishop of Hong Kong when the province was established in 1998.

The site of St John's Cathedral is the only freehold land in Hong Kong, granted in fee simple pursuant to s. 6(1) of the Church of England Trust Ordinance (Cap. 1014) of 1930. All other land tenure in Hong Kong is leasehold in nature.[7]

On 5 June 2012, there was a service of thanksgiving at the cathedral in honour of the diamond jubilee of Elizabeth II.[8] [9]

Architecture

It is the oldest surviving Western ecclesiastical building in Hong Kong, and the oldest Anglican church in the Far East.[10]

The cathedral's architectural style is a plain, unadorned adaptation of 13th-century English and decorated Gothic, which was the popular revivalist style for churches at the time. Along the north wall is a memorial tablet to William Thornton Bate, who was killed in the battle on Canton in 1857. A similar tablet is found at St Ann's Church in Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire.[11]

The bell tower of the cathedral is decorated with a large "VR" on the west face, in commemoration of the institution's founding during the reign of Queen Victoria. The north and south faces of the tower are decorated with the coats-of-arms of two former governors of Hong Kong, John Francis Davis and George Bonham.

There were reports that the main doors of the cathedral are made with wood planks salvaged from, but according to a 2016 article published by the South China Morning Post, that is untrue.[12]

The first pew on the south side of the interior bears the royal arms, as it was formerly reserved for the governor or any member of the royal family visiting Hong Kong before the handover in 1997.

It was declared a monument of Hong Kong in 1996.[13]

War memorial

Next to the cathedral is a large memorial cross, unveiled by governor Reginald Edward Stubbs in 1921 in memory of the soldiers killed in the First World War. During the Japanese occupation the cross was reduced to a straight granite column. In 1952 it was replaced by a Celtic cross, with an inscription added to commemorate those who had died in both world wars. The original bronze tablet with the names of the First World War dead is held inside the cathedral, in St Michael's Chapel.

Every year ex-British Army members hold a memorial service at the memorial cross.

Beside the memorial cross is a tombstone covering the remains of Ronald Douglas Maxwell, who was killed in Wan Chai three days before the ceasefire. This is the only grave within the cathedral precinct, and is registered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.[14]

Clergy

width=Clerical positionwidth=Name[15]
Archbishop of Hong KongAndrew Chan
Archbishop emeritus of Hong Kong and bishop emeritus of Hong Kong IslandPeter Kwong
Paul Kwong
Bishop of Hong Kong IslandMatthias Der
DeanChan Kwok Keung (outreach ministry, and Discovery Bay Church)
Chaplains (ministries)William Newman (Christian Education, and St Stephen's Chapel Stanley)
Robert Martin (liturgy and spirituality, and Emmanuel Church Pokfulam)
Dwight dela Torre (Filipino congregation)
Sharon Langbis (Filipino congregation)
Peter Koon (Chinese ministry)
Amos Poon (Chinese ministry)
Honorary chaplainPhilip L. Wickeri
Polly Wong Heung-fong (deacon)

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Wang . David . Tsai . Freda . 2018 . Encountering Twelve of Asia's Greatest Churches . zh-tw . Taipei . China Times Publishing . 170 . 9789571376875 . Chinese: 聖約翰座堂因為保留和天主教相似的「高派」崇拜儀式,也成為望彌撒的最佳場所。[St John's Cathedral is also the best place to attend a Mass, because the congregation worships in the 'High Church' tradition, which is similar to that of the Catholic Church.].
  2. Book: Stuart., Wolfendale. Imperial to international: a history of St. John's Cathedral, Hong Kong. 2013. Hong Kong University Press. 978-9882208469. Hong Kong. 843532263.
  3. Book: Bard, Solomon. Voices from the Past: Hong Kong, 1842-1918. 2002. Hong Kong University Press. 9622095747. Hong Kong.
  4. Web site: St John's Cathedral – A Historical Tour. www.stjohnscathedral.org.hk. 2019-08-26.
  5. Web site: A Brief History of St John's Cathedral. St John's Cathedral. 23 May 2017.
  6. Web site: The Right Reverend Peter Kwong. anglicansonline.org. 2019-08-26.
  7. Book: Goo, S.H. . Land Law in Hong Kong (2nd Edn) . Alice Lee . 2003 . Lexis Nexis . Hong Kong . 978-967-962-535-6 . 3.
  8. Web site: Home. Government of the United Kingdom. 16 December 2017.
  9. Web site: Archived copy . 6 June 2012 . dead . http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121214231738/http%3A//ukinhongkong.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/644553582/jubilee%2Dst%2Djohn . 14 December 2012 .
  10. Web site: Hong Kong Tourism Board will organise some training programs preparing the Tour Guides. Hkia.net. 16 December 2017.
  11. Web site: Captain W T Bate, RN. Imperial War. Museums. Imperial War Museums. 16 December 2017.
  12. News: Davies. Stephen. All about the ship that gave Hong Kong's Tamar complex its name. 29 January 2018. South China Morning Post. 12 August 2016.
  13. Web site: St John's Cathedral, Garden Road, Central – Declared Monuments – Antiquities and Monuments Office. Government of Hong Kong. 29 December 2017. 31 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191031162925/http://www.amo.gov.hk/en/monuments_60.php. dead.
  14. Web site: CWGC Casualty Record.. Cwgc.org. 16 December 2017.
  15. Web site: St John's Cathedral – Cathedral Clergy. www.stjohnscathedral.org.hk. 2019-08-26.