www.stpaulsmonaco.com/history.htm -
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Published on: 2/7/2009
Last Visited: 7/7/2009
In 1888, Mr. Edward Smith, Monaco Banker, British Vice-Consul and devout churchman, bought a plot of land and erected a wooden church in the neighbouring French commune of Beausoleil.
This was known as the Église Anglo-Americaine.
Bishop Sandford, Church of England Bishop in Gibraltar at that time, and responsible for chaplaincies in southern Europe, did not approve of the initiative.
Unlike France, where church and state are separate, the Roman Catholic Church in Monaco is the Established Church of the Principality.
Introducing a chapel of the English Established Church was a diplomatic issue.
The Anglophone expatriate community however, embraced then, as now, several nationalities, and denominations.
Confident in his mission, Smith went ahead and appointed a pastor without episcopal authorisation.