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Cathedral Church of Redemption in Delhi, one
of the largest churches in the city, has members from all over the
Anglican community.
Church of Redemption |
Cathedral Church of Redemption in Delhi, a part of
the Church of North India (CNI), has a membership of over 600
communicant members from over 550 families. This extremely simple church
was built on a design based by Henry Medd, a British born architect. It
took around eight years to build the church, completed in the year 1933.
. The style and architecture resembles that of the Free Church in
Hampstead Garden Suburb. The church is marked by austere exteriors but
magnificent interiors. The outer side of the church is designed with red
sandstone roofing.
Location
Cathedral Church of Redemption is located on the church Road, between
Jaipur Column and Sansad Bhawan near Connaught Place
Interesting Facts
- The Cathedral Church of Redemption has an extremely rare copy of
a 1733 Cambridge Press published Bible bound in red leather.
- Lord Irwin presented the church a picture and a silver cross as
thanksgiving when he was saved from a train accident in 1929.
Architecture
The church is built in coursed rubble masonry with split red sandstone.
The church resembles the miniature (London’s) St Paul's Cathedral
and is inspired from Palladio's Church of Il Redentore in Venice. Though
the place cannot be called beautiful in the conventional sense, it has
small recessed openings with tinted glass which soften the hard sunlight
giving the interiors an ethereal glow. The spiritual aura of the church
is by a group of angels that look down from the curved roof above the
altar. The paneling has been done with hard dark wood which lends an
earthy feeling. The linear plain exteriors of the church contrast highly
with the high rounded arches inside.
All the Firsts
- Chaplain T.H. Dixon solemnised the earliest recorded wedding at
The Cathedral Church of the Redemption of Adelbert Vere and Mina
Monica (a widow) on 20 October 1926.
- The first Holy Communion service was held on 3 December 1922 at 8
am by Chaplain T.H. Dixon. The total number of communicant members
was six and the collection Rs 4. The first Christmas day service
held the same year had 65 communicants and a total collection of Rs
70, 4 annas and 1 paisa.
- The first baptism, according to the records was of baby David
Herbert, who was baptised by Chaplain Dixon on 4 March 1923.
- The first funeral service of 64 year old Mary Digoll took place
on 27 November 1925. The service was conducted by A.N. Till,
the Chaplain of Delhi.
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