StC News

Students, faculty and staff lay wreath at Dr. Chamberlayne's grave

Saints mark 79th anniversary of founder's death in April of 1939.
On Monday, April 16, a group of students, faculty and staff visited the cemetery at Emmanuel Episcopal Church at Brook Hill in Richmond to lay a wreath at the grave of the Rev. Dr. Churchill Gibson Chamberlayne. The Rev. Joe Torrence, Lower School chaplain, led the group in opening prayer before historical marks from Head of School Mason Lecky. Middle and Upper School chaplains Durk Steed and Whitney Edwards also led the group in prayer during the ceremony.

An excerpt from Mr. Lecky's comments:

The grand journey began 107 years ago when "deep into the night of September 25, 1911, while most of Richmond slept, a single light emanated from a first floor window at 3311 Grove Avenue. Dr. Chamberlayne, his spirits too high for sleep, retreated to the solitude of his study. This was the eve of the fulfillment of his dream: a boys' school that would help raise gentlemen in every sense of the word, offering them an education made richer by their participation in languages, religious studies, athletics and the arts. Dr. Chamberlayne bowed his head and asked for God's grace on the students, teachers and the mission of the school to be."

Students from all three divisions of the school read prayers written by Mr. Steed including "A Prayer for Knowledge," "A Prayer for Honor," and "A Prayer for Community." 

Dr. Chamberlayne, in addition to being an administrator and an educator, was also an ordained Episcopal Priest of the Diocese of Virginia.

Nine years after Dr. Chamberlayne founded The Chamberlayne School, the Church Schools in the Diocese of Virginia purchased the school and changed its name to St. Christopher's. 
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