St James the Deacon - the church
The parish of St James the Deacon began as a mission district in
1952, with its base in Thanet Road where a combined church/hall and
later a vicarage were built.
The current site
was purchased in 1966 to build a church
which would be more central to the growing population in the area.
The current church, designed by George Pace, was consecrated by
the Dr Coggan, the Archbishop of York, on 2nd of July
1971. While
contemporary of the time, the building incorporates many interesting
from older churches in York.
In the Narthex (entrance hall), there is 12th
century Norman Arch from the now demolished church of St Maurice in
Lord Mayors walk.
The
15th century font came from St Sampson’s church in the
Centre of York, while the stone altar and spectacular baldachino
(canopy) were made in the 1950
’s for the chapel at St John’s College
(now York St John University) also in Lord Mayors Walk.
In the side chapel, dedicated to St Maurice, the altar slab, originally sited in the chapel of the Vicars Choral in York Minster, was dedicated in 1393. The reredos behind the altar is in the form of a triptych and came from St Sampson’s was dedicated in 1906.
St James the Deacon - the man
James was an Italian and was deacon to Paulinus, one of the first missionaries sent to England by Pope Gregory the great at the beginning of the 7th century. Paulinus became chaplain to Princess Ethelburga of Kent, and he and James came to York with her when she married King Edwin of Northumbria here in AD 625. Two years later, Edwin and his chiefs accepted Christianity and was baptised on the spot where York Minster was later built. Six years later Edwin was killed in battle by the violently anti-Christian warlord Cadwallon, and Ethelburga and Paulinus fled back to Kent.
James, heroically, stayed on in Yorkshire and,
despite great personal danger, encouraged and supported the new
Christian communities here.
The work of James during this period is graphically described
by the venerable Bede.
He tells us "Paulinus had
left behind him in his Church at York, James the Deacon, a holy
ecclesiastic, who continuing long after in that church, by teaching
and baptizing, rescued much prey from the power of the old enemy of
mankind; from whom the village, where he mostly resided, near
Catterick, has his name to this day. He was extraordinarily skilful
in singing, and when the province was afterwards restored to peace,
and the number of the faithful increased, he began to teach many of
the church to sing, according to the custom of the Romans, or of the
Cantuarians (viz. plainsong and Gregorian chant)"
James lived on, honoured and respected, for many years.
He is recorded as having attended the Synod of Whitby (AD
664)