 "US President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump arrive for a service at St. John's Church on Inauguration Day. Reuters")
It’s inauguration day.
Which means Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.
In keeping with tradition, Trump will attend the St John’s Episcopal Church this morning in Washington’s Lafayette Square.
But what do we know about the Church of the Presidents? When did it become tradition for the President-elect to attend?
Let’s take a closer look:
1. According to its website, the church was established in 1815. It was designed by famed architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who also worked on White House porticoes and drew up plans for the US Capitol.
2. Latrobe designed the church in the design of a Greek cross. The church’s cornerstone was laid on September 14, 1815, while the first service was conducted on October 27, 1816.
3. The church was consecrated on December 26, 1816. In 1822, the church got a portico and bell tower containing a bell cast by the son of the famous US war hero Paul Revere.
4. James Madison (1809-1817) was the first US president to worship at the St John’s Episcopal Church. The church invited Madison, who was at the time president, a free pew. The church would rent out its pews to parishioners Madison responded by paying the annual rent out of his own pocket.
5. Madison, by choosing pew no 28 (now 54), kicked off the tradition of American presidents worshipping at St John’s. By the time Abraham Lincoln was sworn into office, the place of worship had well established its reputation as “the Church of the Presidents.”
6. This was largely due to its location – in sight of the White House and merely two blocks away — and because the rich and powerful including several presidents becoming its members and frequenting its pews.
7. Indeed, by now a visit to the church from the president-elect was considered mandatory. Lincoln, who was President-elect, first attended the church on February 24, 1861 – the day after he arrived in Washington. Lincoln visited the church with William Seward, who would serve as secretary of state in his admiration.
8. Interestingly, Lincoln did not use the presidential pew. Instead, he sat in pew no 1 with Seward. Lincoln, unlike other presidents, did also not become a member of St John’s. Though he rented a pew for his family at the nearby New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Lincoln was seen slipping in and out of a pew in the last row during service – unnoticed by others.
9. The church was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. The church became embroiled in controversy in June 2020 after police tear gassed protesters in Lafayette Square after Trump wanted to walk to the church from the White House. The action against non-violent protesters was seen by many as a stain on America’s history. Afterwards, Trump stopped outside the church and held up a Bible – upside down as many people noted – and proclaimed that America was ‘the greatest country in the world.’
10. Reverend Robert Fisher, the rector at St. John’s laid out his plans for the ceremony. “This service is intentionally different from what the rest of the day is going to be,” Fisher told WTOP. “What we offer is a time that’s actually a meditative time, a reflective time. It’ll be just the people in the room, having a time where they can breathe. “One of my goals and hopes for a service like this is for us to provide a space so that people can be brought in touch with, as Lincoln said, the better angels of their nature.”
With inputs from agencies