An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church

Trinity Church, Boston, Massachusetts

The third Episcopal parish in Boston, it was founded on Oct. 17, 1733, by a group of fourteen men who met in a tavern. In 1829 a stone Gothic Revival building was erected on the original site of the church. Phillips Brooks, Trinity’s most famous pastor, became the rector in 1869. A new church was built under Brooks’s leadership. It was consecrated on Feb. 9, 1877. Henry Hobson Richardson was the architect for this building. It is considered by many to be a masterpiece of church architecture in the United States. The chancel was dedicated on Dec. 18, 1938. A statue of Brooks by Augustus Saint Gaudens stands outside the North Transept of the church. See Brooks, Phillips.

Glossary definitions provided courtesy of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY,(All Rights reserved) from “An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians,” Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, editors.