French Hugonaught

History

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HUGUENOT CHURCH AND ORGAN

from The Huguenot Hymal

A major force contributing to the evolution of the European Protestant Revolution in the sixteenth century was the Huguenot, or French Protestant, movement.The harsh persecution of Protestants by the French Catholic Court resulted in migrations of the former to foreign lands in Europe, South Africa, and the Americas.

By the late 17th Century, Huguenots had settled in New York, Philadelphia and other eastern coastal areas. These early groups were greatly augmented when in 1685 Louis XIV caused the Edict of Nantes to be revoked, thereby divesting French Protestants of all religious and political prerogatives. The English were happy to encourage settlement of the colonies by these refugees, most of whom were representative of France's prosperous merchant and professional classes. About four hundred and fifty Huguenots had settled in the Low Country of South Carolina by 1700.

The French Protestant Church of Charleston was founded in approximately 1681. The first Huguenot Church was built on the present site about 1687, but, in 1796 was destroyed in an attempt to stop the spread of fire which had burned a large surrounding area. The replacement for the original building was completed in 1800 and dismantled in 1844 to make way for the present Gothic Revival edifice, designed by Edward Brickell White and dedicated in 1845. The church was damaged by shellfire during the long bombardment of downtown Charleston in the War Between the States and was nearly demolished in the severe earthquake of 1886.

When the building was completed in 1845, the church also purchased and installed a tracker organ carved in the style and shape of a Gothic chapel. Its keys are connected with the pipe valves by a wooden "tracker" or mechanical linkage which responds to the organist's touch faster than any modern mechanism allows.  Its tone is similar to the Baroque organs for which Bach and Handel composed. It was built by the leading American organ builder of the first half of the nineteenth century, Henry Erben.  After the fall of Charleston in 1865, federal soldiers dismantled the organ and were loading it on a New York-bound ship when the pleas of the organist, Mr. T.P. O'Neale, and some influential friends saved it.

The French Protestant Church of Charleston -- the only remaining independent Huguenot congregation in America - worships in accord with a liturgy that has been in use for over two hundred and fifty years. In 1838 an English translation of the liturgy was published since most of the congregation no longer used the French language. Since 1950, an annual service in French has been celebrated in the spring.

References

• 📚 Genevan Psalter

• 📚 The Huguenot Hymnal, The  French Protestant (Huguenot) Church; Charleston, South Carolina

• 📚 The  Liturgy, or Forms of Divine Service, of The French Protestant Church, of Charleston, S. C.; Translated From The Liturgy Of The Churches Of Neufchatel And Vallangin: Editions Of 1737 And 1772 - With Some Additional Praters, Carefully Selected; The Whole Adapted To Public Worship In The United States Of America

• 📚 PSEA VMES MIS EN RIME FRAN PAR CLEMENT MAROT ET Theodore de Beze, MIS EN MUSIQUE A QUATRE parties par Claude Goudmel