St Peter’s Anglican Church

Churchill Julius - September 23

Bishop & First Archbishop of New Zealand

Churchill Julius was bishop of Christchurch from 1890 to 1925 and the first “Archbishop of New Zealand” from 1922 to 1925.

Churchill Julius was born at Richmond in England in 1847 and was brought up in a strict evangelical household. He attended Blackheath Proprietary School, then run by Bishop Selwyn’s cousin, Edward Selwyn. After a bout of ill health, Churchill attended King’s College School in London and Worcester College, Oxford.

Oxford was still the centre of the Anglo-Catholic revival. Julius however came under the influence of Canon Christopher of St Aldate’s, the stronghold of evangelicalism in Oxford. He remained an evangelical, but with no antipathy to the Oxford Movement.Julius was warmed by Christopher’s devout and industrious life, especially during a cholera epidemic. He graduated in 1869, was ordained deacon in 1871 and priest in 1872. Read more...