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The Cathedral Church of St Cyprian the Martyr, Kimberley, is the seat of the Bishop of the Kimberley and Kuruman, Anglican Church of Southern Africa. The building was dedicated in 1908, becoming a Cathedral when the Synod of Bishops mandated formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in October 1911. The first Bishop, the Rt Revd Wilfrid Gore Browne, was enthroned there on 30 June 1912.〔''Diamond Fields Advertiser'', Monday 1 Jul 1912, pg 5, Col C & D Bishop of Kimberley – Consecration at Bloemfontein – A stately ceremonial; ''Diamond Fields Advertiser'', Tuesday 2 Jul 1912, pg 5, Col E Bishop Enthroned – Impressive ceremony in the Cathedral Church – Sermon by the Bishop of Bloemfontein〕 The Parish of St Cyprian dates back to 1871 when a chapelry of the Parish of All Saints, Du Toit's Pan, Diocese of Bloemfontein, at first met in a tent in the nearby New Rush, on the Diamond Fields, a place later renamed Kimberley.〔Morris, D. 2007. A Cathedral Centenary: the background to the building of St Cyprian’s Cathedral a hundred years ago, and the first years of its history. ''Now and Then'' 15(1):1-3.〕〔(Early St Cyprian's - worship in a tent )〕 ==Beginnings== Churches in diggers' camps on the South African Diamond Fields met initially in tents in 1870-71. The first Anglican Church to be built was St Mary’s in Barkly West. The nascent St Cyprian's congregation gathered later in a metal-roofed building, the Odd Fellows' Hall near the Market Square and, from 1880 to 1908, in Jones Street, in a prefabricated wood and iron building which had been imported from England.〔Morris, D. 2007. A Cathedral Centenary: the background to the building of St Cyprian’s Cathedral a hundred years ago, and the first years of its history. ''Now and Then'' 15(1):1-3.〕 The first rector was Fr John Witherston Rickards, previously a curate at St Cyprian's, Marylebone, London. He was appointed by the Bishop of Bloemfontein, the Rt Revd Allan Webb, being diverted from Modderpoort to the Diamond Fields when he arrived in 1871. The writer J. W. Matthews recalled the "primitive state of things existing" in church matters when he reached the Diamond Fields in November 1871: worshippers gathered in a canvas tent billiard-room: “On entering I beheld a full-robed clergyman officiating at one end of a billiard-table, which served for his reading desk, whilst a large and attentive crowd sat around the other end, some on rude benches which were fixed along the walls, others perched upon gin cases, buckets reversed, or any other make-shift that came to hand. The congregation behaved with suitable decorum, but I confess it was not easy to keep the mind from wandering to the incongruity of the surroundings. ..When the parson was praying or the people singing, it was not particularly edifying to be interrupted by the lively chaff and occasional bursts of blasphemy, which we could plainly hear through the canvas party-walls, which separated us from the adjoining bar and its half tipsy occupants.” Rickards promoted the cause of education in Kimberley (three schools originated from this work). A Mission School, later called Perseverance, was established in his day, as were a school for boys and one for girls.〔Lekhela, E.P. 1970. ''The origin, development and role of missionary teacher-training institutions for the Africans of the North-Western Cape (an historical-critical survey of the period 1850-1954)''. PhD dissertation, UNISA.〕 St Cyprian’s Boys’ School – known also as St Cyprian's Grammar School - under headmaster Thomas McLaren was established in March 1876: "For several years this was one of the best schools in Kimberley."〔Moult, L. 1987 ''K.H.Story: a history of the Kimberley Boys’ High School'', p 13, 14.〕 The Revd C.B. Maude, a later rector of the parish, related that: "We have a canvas house for our sitting room and a wooden one for our bedroom. The floors are made of brick dried in the sun, but the legs of beds or tables make holes in them... The church floor is of mud and so is very dusty. It is a low building with an iron roof and when it rains we have to give up the service as we cannot be heard!"〔Morris, D. 2007. A Cathedral Centenary: the background to the building of St Cyprian’s Cathedral a hundred years ago, and the first years of its history. ''Now and Then'' 15(1):1-3.〕 During Maude's incumbency a prefabricated church building was imported from England. The foundation stone was laid in 1879 by Sir Charles Warren.〔''Diamond News'' 2 September 1879〕 As its erection neared completion, it was blown to the ground by a whirlwind; but on Low Sunday 1880 Bishop Webb of Bloemfontein dedicated the re-erected building and instituted C.B. Maude as Rector of Kimberley. In August 1884 the Vicar General of the Diocese of Bloemfontein, Archdeacon D.G. Croghan, appointed Canon William Thomas Gaul as Rector of St Cyprian’s Kimberley.〔Williams, Alpheus F. 1948. ''Some dreams come true''.〕 In Gaul's appointment, Croghan noted, St Cyprian’s assumed first place among the Anglican parishes in Kimberley.〔''Griqualand West Church Magazine'', Feb 1885.〕 Gaul subsequently became Rural Dean of Griqualand West and Archdeacon of Kimberley, and served the parish until 1895 when he was elected to succeed George Wyndham Knight-Bruce as second Bishop of Mashonaland. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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