History

The Anglican Chaplaincy in Caen

By 1830 there was a large British colony in Caen as a result of favourable exchange rates for those endowed with Pound Sterling and a direct sea link between Caen and London. 

 
Quai Vendeuvre in the days of the initial
Seamen's Mission in Caen

In his biography of Beau Brummel, who as you probably know was His majesty’s Consul in Caen before falling into madness and poverty - his tomb can be seen in the Protestant cemetery - Maurice-Charles Renard wrote that the rue des Chanoines was largely British with more than one hundred inhabitants and it is obvious that these families had a place of worship and surely a priest in residence. Caen’s disastrous fate in 1944 destroyed all documented proof and we can only make logical conjecture.

But in the 1960’s long established Caen residents remembered that there had been a chapel at the port on the Quai Vendeuvre, long before the war used by the Seamen’s Mission, a chaplaincy for transient sailors. The chapel, of course, was destroyed on D-Day and it was reported that, with the agreement of the British authorities, war damages allotted for this chapel were given for rebuilding the Temple of the Reform Church on rue Mélingue.


Chapelle de la Miséricorde in 1944,
which was to become our place of worship in 1970

During the early years of 1960 there were many English-speaking university students, seeking a place to worship in their native tongue, as well as British families of those working for The Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The question of having an Anglican Church was again brought to the forefront... The solution was found when Michael Jackson, son of a Canadian Archbishop, came to Caen to study French literature. Thanks to his efforts the first Anglican Church service took place at the Temple, rue Mélingue on September 20, 1964, with a priest from the Paris area officiating. Services were held monthly and in 1971 services took place every two weeks, and in 1973 they became weekly when once again Michael Jackson returned to Caen for advanced studies in French literature. He and the English-speaking group became rather well known, especially with the growth of ecumenism, warmly encouraged by Bishop Badré. It was he who authorised in 1970 that Anglican services might be held in the Chapel of the Miséricorde, with the hope that there would be regular contacts among the Christian religions in Caen resulting in better understanding.

When Michael Jackson returned to Canada at the end of 1975, he obtained the promise of the Anglican Commmunity to continue his work. Joan Boyer recalls: As I was the most longstanding –not to say “oldest” parishioner—and a permanent resident in Caen, Michael convinced me to replace him as the person in charge.


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Thanks to Joan and Jacques Boyer who compiled this history in 2002.

And for over 35 years Joan has kept her promise, devoting her time and energy to the Anglican Chaplaincy, liasoning with St. George’s in Paris, contacting the diocese in Bayeux and establishing the friendly relations we enjoy today with the Sisters. She has seen a change in the congregation—fewer and fewer students but more and more English speaking residents in and around Caen; she is confident in the future of the Chaplaincy.