History

Many important events in the just over 100-year history of this parish have occurred, on the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels, which among Anglicans is commonly called Michaelmas (September 29^th). On that day in 1890 our founding Vicar, The Reverend Canon Harry Watts was born in Enfield, Middlesex, England. The parish church which he attended while growing up in North London was dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. After graduating from the University of London, he emigrated to the United States, where he attended Seabury Divinity School in Minnesota, and was ordained in the Episcopal Church.

He arrived in Denver in 1917 and served as Rector of St. Peter’s Church on 2nd Avenue just west of Broadway. Early on, Canon Watts saw the need for a new church to serve the south Denver area, which was rapidly growing with many new homes but few churches. Although he persuaded the Trustees of the Diocese of Colorado to purchase land for a church in the 900 block of South Corona, nothing came of the project, and the land was sold.

In 1925, while Canon Watts was rector of Trinity Church, Greeley, The Very Rev. Benjamin Dagwell, Dean of the Cathedral of St. John in the Wilderness, invited him to return to Denver as a Canon of the Cathedral. Believing that “there is such a thing as getting into a rut, as becoming afraid of one’s job,” Canon Watts decided to leave Trinity Church and return to Denver. Canon Watts’ duties at this time were to establish a mission in the Washington Park area while also serving as Chaplain of St. Luke’s Hospital. On September 29^th, 1925, Canon Watts founded a Mission of St. John’s Cathedral, with the name of St. Michael and All Angels on the southeast corner of Arkansas Street and University Boulevard. Services were first held in a small abandoned concrete basement, where he and 10-15 communicants gathered for worship. Through the generosity of a good friend of Canon Watts, Juliet C. Smith, a Rectory (now used as the guild room) was constructed. Services were held in the basement until completion of the Cloister and Parish House (now the church offices), which was dedicated on Michaelmas 1926.

In 1928, having served three years as Vicar of St. Michael’s, Canon Watts left the mission, which had grown to some 150 communicants, to devote his full attention to other Cathedral matters. He was succeeded as Vicar by The Rev. Jerome Fritsche (1928-31). In 1929, the Cathedral released St. Michael’s Mission into the care of the Diocese of Colorado, which may have been prompted due to the Dean and Chapter’s uncomfortableness around the determination of the mission congregation to adhere to the principles of the Catholic Revival, also called the Oxford Movement, within Anglicanism. Father Fritsche was succeeded by The Rev. Albert Edward Martyr (1931-51), who became St. Michael and All Angels’ first Rector when the mission attained Parish [fully self-supporting] status in 1944. Canon Watts, who would remain interested in St. Michael’s until his death in 1986, described Father Martyr as “a faithful pastor to the people [at St. Michael’s] during the difficult years” of the Great Depression.

When Father Martyr retired due to ill health in 1951, The Reverend Leon Conkling King succeeded him as Rector of St. Michael and All Angels’ Church, in which office he would remain until his retirement in 1971. During this exceptional era of church life in the United States, the church grew to become one of the largest in the diocese. Father King was responsible for important additions to the fabric of the church building. In 1953 the cornerstone was laid for a new church building to be constructed next to the original building, with a small chapel and Sunday School rooms to be constructed in the undercroft. Reflecting the do-it-yourself spirit of the West, parishioners did much of the construction work. Although the first services were to have been celebrated in the almost completed building on Michaelmas 1954, they had to be postponed a week, due to the consecration of the new Bishop of Colorado, Joseph Summerville Minnis that same day. The following Sunday, Bishop Minnis’ first episcopal act was to dedicate and consecrate the already debt free building. Although, it was ready to be set apart for the worship of God forever, there were still no pews; so packing crates served as pews, and single light bulbs dangled from the church ceiling.

The woodcarvings on the north and south walls were installed during Father King’s time. He commissioned the statue of Christ the King or Christus Rex, (which is on the east wall of the sanctuary) and seventeen carvings, which were executed in three-quarter relief by a German Black Forest wood carver, known only as Herr Mussner. An article in The University Park News (1969) noted that Mussner was “in his seventies and it is something of a race against time for him to complete the works before he passes away.” In the end, he completed all but one of the carvings, including the Christus Rex and the carving of the Resurrection on the south side of the sanctuary. His son carved the Ascension on the north side. Father King had also investigated installing stained glass windows. However, that project was deferred for almost 30 years.

The Reverend Alexander Theodore Patience, who had served as Curate (assistant) under Father King, was elected St. Michael’s third Rector in 1971. Although Father Patience’s tenure was a short one, just three years (1971-1974), the third major building project in the parish complex was undertaken. A new parish hall, kitchen, and Sunday School rooms were constructed. This was dedicated on Michaelmas, 1974, even though the inside was not yet finished. Father Patience served at a time when there was considerable division in the Episcopal Church, and he decided to resign, leaving St. Michael’s in December 1974.

On the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, August 6^th, 1975, The Reverend Ralph Thomas Walker, was instituted as fifth Rector of St. Michael and All Angels’ Church. Father Walker would serve as Rector of the Parish until 2012. A Denver native, Father Walker received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Northern Colorado in 1966 and a Master of Divinity degree from Nashotah House Theological Seminary, Nashotah, Wisconsin, in 1969. In 1992 Nashotah House honored him with an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree, in recognition of his contributions to the Church in the field of Christian education and his service to the Church as a teacher and parish priest. He faithfully served in priestly and devotional guilds in the Anglican Communion, two of which were as Warden of the American Branch of the Guild of All Souls, and Master of the Province of the Americas of the Societas Sanctae Crucis (SSC).

During Father Walker’s incumbency St. Michael’s sound fiscal management was restored, making possible early retirement of the bonds which had been issued to pay for construction of the parish hall, in 1984. He established an ongoing Christian education program, especially for adults, and made St. Michael’s as a community centered in the Holy Eucharist, also called the Mass.

By the 1980’s it became apparent that the church building needed renovation. The Parish began its fourth major building program in 1985. Among the improvements were: the cinder block walls of the church were plastered over; beautiful stained-glass windows were installed; the organ was rebuilt; the Lady Chapel (where most weekday services take place) was constructed, and the office complex was completely renovated. The finished work was dedicated on Michaelmas 1985. With Father Walker’s encouragement, St. Clare’s Needlepoint Guild was founded and began to stitch the needlepoint that now adorns the pews, choir loft, altar rail, and chapel further beautifying this place. Presently, St. Clare’s Guild continues to create works of art in needlepoint and to beautify the building with them.

Father Walker retired in mid-2012, due to ill health. His death in November of that year was a great loss not just to St. Michael’s, but to the wider Church. This was attested to by the large congregation present not just at his Burial Requiem, but also at his year’s mind Requiem celebrated on the first anniversary of his death, November 19^th, 2013.

With the help of Father James Johnson, honorary assistant of St. Michael’s, and Father Warren Shoberg, who became interim Rector in October of 2012, the church began to search for a priest and pastor, the first time in almost forty years! The Vestry called The Reverend Richard Trent Fraser as the Fifth Rector of St. Michael and All Angels’ Church in May 2013. Father Fraser took up the living (a formal title when one assumes the responsibility of the incumbency) on August 1^st, 2013 and was formally Instituted as Rector on Michaelmas by The Right Reverend Robert J. O’Neill. Father Fraser has sought to build upon the work of his predecessor, whom he counted as a personal friend, since his arrival in Denver. He too serves the Catholic wing of the Church through a variety of devotional guilds, including the Guild of All Souls, the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, and as a Priest Associate of the Holy House of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Within a year of his arrival, the lawn area which was outside the cloister connecting the church with the parish hall building underwent a dramatic (and welcome!) change. In the place of two towering pine trees which had rendered the ground around them too acidic to sustain other plant life, a beautiful walled garden space with a brick patio was constructed. In addition, the west front of the church was renovated to provide a ramp for access to the church. This renovation has significantly improved the landscape facing University Boulevard. Other improvements since 2014 have included renovation of the Parish Hall, a new Kitchen, and refreshing of the washrooms. In 2017, two carved wooden Angels were given to the church in memory of Father Walker, by his family. Designed and executed by Demetz Studios in Italy, these Angels flank the Christus Rex on the east wall of the Sanctuary.

Although St. Michael and All Angels’ is not immune to the challenges facing the Church in the modern world, such as the declining membership of the Episcopal Church, we continue to have faith that what began one hundred years ago through the ministry of Canon Watts and his successors, will continue. St. Michael and All Angels’ Church is a place where God is worshipped and proclaimed through prayer and service. As such, St. Michael’s has come to be recognized throughout the Anglican Communion as a place where the Anglo-Catholic Faith is embraced, practiced, shared with all of God’s people.