Introduction to Epiphany Chapel and Church House

An Introduction to Epiphany Chapel and Church House

Discovering Epiphany Chapel and Church House is like finding a valuable coin mixed in the jar of pennies you'd almost forgotten.

To the casual eye, the little church appears to be a quaint cottage of yesterday. The front stoop is worn where so many feet have passed, the center floor beam is weighed down with memories, and a discernible spirit of hospitality shines like the patina on the old oak furniture.

Epiphany Chapel and Church House is worn, but far from worn out. It's an ordinary little church with an extra-ordinary history and an important role for the future of military chaplaincy. The Chapel's astounding story of commitment and faith has emerged from many pages of news articles, reports, letters, photographs, and detailed daily schedules.

It is a story about difficult times and extra-ordinary people.

The project was supported by members of the Church War Commission from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington and by two women from Washington, D.C. , who gave $11,000 for its construction. A well-known architect from Baltimore gave the design, gratis. A clergy staff, under the leadership of a young and dynamic chaplain, the Rev. S. Tagart Steele, Jr., was pulled together. The operation was up and running in 60 days. Young soldiers were welcomed with worship services, dinners, dances and counseling. Family members were invited to spend the night in the accommodations on the second floor, to spend time together and to say "good-bye."

Tradition tells the story about a deacon, St. Laurence (d. 258), who, in response to a command from the prefect of Rome to deliver up the church's treasure, assembled thousands of ordinary people -- the poor, children, widows, orphans, rich and poor, and presented them to the prefect saying, "These are the treasure of the Church."

Today, the preservation of Epiphany Chapel and Church House and the establishment of a Peace Garden is just such an offering—an acknowledgment and tribute to the ordinary men and women who gave all they had for the well-being, safety, and freedom of others.

These are the extra-ordinary treasure of Epiphany Chapel and Church House.

The Rev. Phebe L. McPherson, Rector

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News story from the Baltimore Sun, May 23, 1918

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Excerpts from the July 1918 Maryland Churchman

Epiphany Chapel and Church House in 1918

With regard to the Chapel and the House, they both stand for something unique in Camp life. With all the religious equipment there is no sanctuary set apart for religion.The sight of the Chapel alone makes its impression and suggests the thought of worship.

The nave of the chapel as seen from the church house living room.

The House stands for the Home, so far as an entirely masculine domicile can be so called. Again it is different from anything in the Camp or in the neighborhood. Of course its attraction must be for individuals, not for the crowd, for those who search it out or chance upon it. They all like it and feel at home in it. One week day eight officers and men dropped in, and all kinds of visitors find welcome, Camp Pastors, Roman Catholics, Jews, newspaper correspondents, etc. The Military Police particularly have discovered it as a homelike place. There is always tobacco for those who want it, and the men sit down and talk with those who are present and go when they please.

Next to the influence of the Chapel we feel that the strong point of our establishment is the quiet hospitality that can be offered. We have already entertained at meals singly or in small numbers a number of officers and men or others connected with the Camp life. We are also proposing to do this more officially. We have arranged for a dinner for the Camp Chaplains for next week, and a similar affair for the Executive Staff of the Y.M.C.A. the week following. The Possibilities of such hospitality are witnessed in the informal reception we gave on Monday evening, the 9th, to the Nurses at the Army Hospital and some of the medical staff, along with some Church people from Baltimore. Our guests greatly enjoyed themselves with music and dancing, and we had light refreshments. We hear that they are most desirous of a repetition of the event, which we take as an official demand.

In the week the House has become a centre to many military wives. Their organization, entitled the Service Club, meets every Thursday for Red Cross work, and we have been able to help them get started. They are eager to be of service in the community, and last Monday afternoon they gave a reception to the women of the neighborhood, which was attended by about fifty women. One of these ladies has started a Kindergarten class for the children of the neighborhood. For these little ones we have established a Sunday School, almost entirely attended by children of the Army. The same women are proposing a dance here next Saturday evening for themselves and their husbands. We have also given the use of our quarters to a Girls' League, started by an agent of the Y.W.C.A., in a programme of protecting the girls about the Camp.

The Rev. Dr. James A. Montgomery, 1918

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Why preserve Epiphany Chapel and Church House

to honor World War I Chaplains?

	There are 2,929 good reasons
	The Peace Garden honoring the 2,929 military chaplains who served in World War I was dedicated June 2, 2002 in ceremonies led by The Rt. Rev. David K. Leighton, retired bishop of Maryland, (center) and Brigadier David Hicks, deputy chief of chaplains for the U.S. Army.

Welcoming all to Epiphany Chapel and Church House, the only World War I Chapel in the United States, is a Peace Garden with plaques and park benches located under shade trees by the front door. The Garden is a crowing tribute to the faith and courage of almost 3,000 chaplains who served in World War I. More than 100,000 men and women passed through what was then Camp Meade on their way to the trenches in France. Many of them found solace, comfort and some social life at Epiphany. The names of each chaplain who served here, along with the name of every World War I chaplain, are included on bronze plaques donated by the Hardesty's Memorials, Inc.

A young boy
surveys the names of
World War I chaplains,
looking perhaps,
for an ancestor.

A young boy scans the names of chaplains inscriped on a bronze plaque.

According to Historian W.J. Hourihan, "a blue flag with a white Latin cross to mark the chaplain's tent was the only equipment they were issued." Yet they went with the soldiers and sailors into danger and took care of everyone, "often reading a psalm to a Protestant, holding a crucifix to a Catholic's lips and leading a Jewish soldier in the Hebrew confession of faith." The 2,929 chaplains serving in World War I included 108 African Americans and 25 Rabbis: 2,765 of the 2,929 chaplains served in the Army; 164 served in the Navy.

Epiphany Chapel and Church House was a first step in providing care for everyone. It was built with warmth and charm as a home-away-from-home for military personnel, their families, and friends. It had a fireplace in the living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and bedrooms on the second floor. The families of those going overseas were invited to visit and to spend the night. Dances were held. Dinners were served. Good-byes were spoken. Prayers were offered.

Upon completion of the chapel and church house, Brigadier General William J. Nicholson wrote, "You could not have done a better thing. Any man in the Camp shall be free to visit you on Sunday; and your workers will be welcomed amongst us." The "home fires" of love and support were kept burning.

Tom MacNemar, recalling the announcement of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, said, "I was four years old. The train whistles blew, the church bell rang. My mother took me by the hand and we ran down Odenton Road. We ran right into the church, up to the front pew and got on our knees to thank God that it was over, and that my father would be coming home.”

The Preservation of Epiphany Chapel and Church House honors the past and supports the on-going work and ministry of United States Military Chaplains throughout the world. Funds are still being received for the interior renovation of the chapel and the parish museum.

If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep
Though poppies grow in Flander's Field.

John McCrae 1872-1918

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