BriefHistory - The Church of the Saviour

Bishop's Pro-Cathedral

Cram's Redesign

Brief History

This parish was organized as St. James Church on August 14, 1848, the same year the City of Syracuse was formed. St. James Church was completely destroyed by fire March 15,1891. The corner stone of the present edifice was laid August 26, 1891, and the opening service was held February 2, 1892. The brownstone from the ruins of the old church was salvaged and used, including its front entrance which is now the east portal. On November 22, 1898, Bishop Huntington consecrated it as the Church of the Saviour as his pro-cathedral. On the morning of January 7,1912, fire struck again and the interior was destroyed.

The Interior Design

After the fire, an architect, Ralph Adams Cram of Boston, Mass., who became widely known for Saint Thomas Church in New York City and the Catheral of St. John the Divine, also undertook the redesign and completion of Saviour. The first service in the reconstructed church was on Easter Sunday, March 23,1913.

Kirchmayer's Crowned Crucifixion

The Rood Beam

During that year the rood beam was carved by Iohannes Kirchmayer of Boston, the foremost wood carver of his day who had done other work in Cram's churches. The rood beam has a magnificent carving representing a crowned Christ on the cross with the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist on either side. The inscription, written in Latin, proclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world."

The Organ

The organ was designed in 1962 by Ernest F. White (1901-1980) and built by the M.P. Moeller Company. This unusual Moeller organ has 3 manuals, 33 ranks, 47 stops, and contains 2,000 pipes and weighs 15 tons. It was dedicated January 15, 1963. The organ and the choir are mastered by the world renowned Mr. George Decker, who has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Paris and Germany.

Servicemen's Chapel

Memorial Columbarium

This church has a memorial columbarium dedicated in memory of our fallen soldiers. The Columbarium is an area set aside for the interment of the cremated remains of the dead. It is an arrangement of niches for the recepticals or urns containing the ashes. In times past each parish had a churchyard for the burial of its members. The graveyard adjacent to the church was a reminder of the cycle of life and death, of the Christian belief in the community of saints, and of the ongoing vitality of the parish generation after generation. A Columbarium allows the modern urban church to recapture that same visible sense of continuity and reality. The Columbariums votive light is lit monthly in remembrance of our deceased love ones.