Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America
Encyclopedia
The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America was an Anglican Christian denomination
Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...

 which existed from 1861 to 1865. It formed from parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...

 during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. When the Southern states seceded from the Union
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and established the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

, it was not unusual for Christian churches to split along national lines also. The Episcopalians were different as their separation was made only after the Confederacy was created and ended within six months of the South's surrender when southern Episcopalians reunited with their counterparts in the North.

History

As Southern states began to secede from the Union, beginning with South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 in December 1860, diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

s struggled over the issue of their status in the Episcopal Church. The first diocese to separate was that of Louisiana
Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana
The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the eastern part of the state of Louisiana. The see city is New Orleans.-History:...

, whose bishop Leonidas Polk
Leonidas Polk
Leonidas Polk was a Confederate general in the American Civil War who was once a planter in Maury County, Tennessee, and a second cousin of President James K. Polk...

 issued a proclamation on 30 January 1861, stating, "The State of Louisiana having, by a formal ordinance, through her Delegates in Convention assembled, withdrawn herself from all further connection with the United States of America, and constituted herself a separate Sovereignty, has, by that act, removed our Diocese from within the pale of 'The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States'". While other bishops disagreed with Polk's view that a diocese's relationship with the wider church was automatically severed by the actions of the civil authorities, they agreed that there was a separation but not a division. The bishops also maintained that this was a separation forced upon them by the changing political realities.

On March 23, 1861, as the two senior bishops, Polk and Stephen Elliott
Stephen Elliott (bishop)
The Right Reverend Stephen Elliott was the 37th bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He was the first Bishop of Georgia and Provisional Bishop of Florida...

 of Georgia requested the Confederate dioceses send representatives to Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

, for a meeting on July 3. All invited dioceses were represented except Texas. Virginia and North Carolina dioceses were not represented as their states had not seceded at the time the meeting was called. At this meeting, a committee was chosen to write a draft constitution and canons
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...

. This meeting ended with a resolution stating: "That the secession of the States ... from the United States, and the formation by them of a new government, called the Confederate States of America, renders it necessary and expedient that the Dioceses within those States should form among themselves an independent organization."

From October 16–20, a convention was held at Trinity Church in Columbia
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...

, South Carolina, which recommended the proposed constitution to the dioceses for ratification. The constitution was essentially the same as that of the Episcopal Church in the United States. It differed in that it introduced a provincial structure (the Episcopal Church USA would later create provinces as well), and the diocesan and General Conventions were renamed diocesan councils and General Council respectively. By November 1862, most dioceses had ratified the constitution. The Dioceses of Tennessee and Louisiana were not able to hold diocesan conventions until after the war and were never officially a part of the Confederate church. The first General Council was held November 12–22 in Saint Paul's Church, Augusta, Georgia. A meeting of the Southern bishops was held there on September 27, 1865, and a second and final General Council was held there on November 8–10, 1865.

After the South's defeat, the Southern dioceses rejoined the Episcopal Church in the United States at its 1865 General Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

.

Dioceses

  • Diocese of Alabama
    Episcopal Diocese of Alabama
    The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama is located in Province IV of The Episcopal Church and serves the State of Alabama with the exception of the extreme southern region, including Mobile, which forms part of the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast....

  • Diocese of Arkansas
    Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas
    The Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas is part of the larger Episcopal Church in the United States and the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Diocese is organized into 56 congregations, with its diocesan office in Little Rock. The seat of the Bishop of Arkansas is , Little Rock.-List of bishops of...

  • Diocese of Florida
    Episcopal Diocese of Florida
    The Episcopal Diocese of Florida is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America . It originally comprised the whole state of Florida, but is now bounded on the west by the Apalachicola River, on the north by the Georgia state line, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the...

  • Diocese of Georgia
    Episcopal Diocese of Georgia
    The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, USA is one of 20 dioceses that comprise Province IV of the US Episcopal Church, and is a diocese within the worldwide Anglican Communion. The current bishop is the Rt. Rev. Scott Anson Benhase who succeeded the Rt. Rev. Henry I. Louttit, Jr...

  • Diocese of Mississippi
    Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi
    The Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, created in 1850, is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over the entire state of Mississippi. It is in Province 4 and its cathedral, St...

  • Diocese of North Carolina
    Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina
    The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, founded in 1817, roughly corresponds to the segment of the U.S. state of North Carolina between I-77 in the west and I-95 in the east, including the most populous area of the state. Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Raleigh, Cary, and Durham are the...

  • Diocese of South Carolina
    Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina
    The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America covering an area of 24 counties in the eastern part of the state of South Carolina. Its see city is Charleston, home to the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul and Diocesan House. There are...

  • Diocese of Texas
    Episcopal Diocese of Texas
    The Episcopal Diocese of Texas is one of the largest dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The diocese consists of all ECUSA congregations in the southeastern quartile of Texas, including the cities of Austin, Beaumont, Galveston, Houston and Waco.The 153 congregations...

  • Diocese of Virginia
    Episcopal Diocese of Virginia
    The Diocese of Virginia is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America encompassing 38 counties in the northern and central parts of the state of Virginia. The diocese was organized in 1785 and is one of the Episcopal Church's nine original dioceses. However, the diocese has...

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