in being wed in a distant land. They were forgiven for this, however, he assured them and were most heartily welcomed back to home and St. Paul’s.” Cody replied in equally felicitous terms, “thanking the congregation for this unexpected, but gratifying expression of their good will and affection.”23
After these happy beginnings to his further ministry at St. Paul’s, life for Cody settled down to the regular parish and college routine. Three years later, however, his career at St. Paul’s almost came to an end.
In 1897 Cody accepted an offer from the Church of the Redeemer (located further west at the corner of Bloor and Avenue Road) to be assistant minister. The appointment was confirmed by the rector, Septimus Jones, in a letter dated March 8, 1897.24 Jones recorded that Cody had met with a delegation from the Church of the Redeemer and subsequently had an interview with Jones when “the position of Assistant Minister of the Church of the Redeemer, was formally offered and accepted between us and the matter settled.” A memo was appended indicating that Cody’s salary would be $1,000 per annum (he was receiving $450 at St. Paul’s). Cody’s duties (preaching, supervising the Sunday School, sick visiting, funerals, etc.) were spelled out. It looked like a fairly onerous program, although not more than many curates performed. Subsequently, Cody accepted the appointment in writing.25
When it seemed that everything was settled, Cody began to have second thoughts. He wrote to Mr. Stinson, one of the Redeemer wardens, asking for time to reconsider this acceptance: “Some further factors in the case (including my health) have since been pressed home upon me very forcibly. The way does not seem as clear to me now as it did last week. I want a few days more to consider my acceptance.”
He said he was aware that his request would seem most unsatisfactory to Mr. Stinson, but continued: “My dear Mr. Stinson, it is also a matter of gravest concern to myself. It is for me a crisis in my life. My whole future seems to depend upon it and I feel I have not been sufficiently deliberate in deciding.”26
Cody also wrote to Jones repeating his request. Jones and his wardens were stunned at this sudden about-face. Stinson wrote protesting. Jones wrote two letters urging Cody to adhere to his commitment. He insisted that Cody’s agreement with the Church of the Redeemer was a binding contract. In his second letter he entreated, “Come, dear friend, redeem your promise, and throw off the agonizing burden of indecision.” Jones was willing to accept a compromise: “Try me for a year and if you find the work too heavy – or your position undesirable in other ways, then you will be able to make a change which though regretted will cast no possible reproach upon yourself.” But Cody resisted Jones’s appeal and withdrew from the Redeemer appointment.27
There seems no reason to doubt that Cody’s reasons for withdrawal were primarily reasons of health. His duties at the Redeemer would have been onerous in themselves. Taken in addition to his work at Wycliffe and with the Evangelical Churchman, the load would have been too much. In this period Cody was also doing some work for Maurice Hutton at University College, where he served as “Examiner in Classics” from 1893 to 1897. Cody wrote of this to Jones: “The work is great and important. The opportunities are large. But my doctor tells me that I am at present working up to the full extent of my powers and that additional strain would probably lead to a break-down through nervous prostration.” Clearly, Cody was in an exhausted state in the period. Sheraton was concerned about his health and had written to him in 1896: “Now my dear brother you are depressed. Do choke this off. Get a tonic and take more regular exercise ... Oh cheer up. Be strong and of good courage.”28 Cody’s depression in 1897 probably had an additional cause, worry during Florence’s pregnancy. Their son, Maurice, was born on July 4, 1897. There were good reasons for Cody’s withdrawal but one cannot help feeling uncomfortable about this incident with the Church of the Redeemer.
Cody’s future was decided by this decision. Two years later Cody was put in effective charge of St. Paul’s. At the Easter vestry meeting on April 17, 1899, he was offered the position of assistant rector, with a stipend of $1,500. Des Barres retained the rectorship nominally, but Cody was to carry the full responsibility for the parish. His fortunes would be linked to St. Paul’s for the next thirty-five years.
Chapter 6
Cody, the Coming Man, 1900–1905
The early years of the twentieth century were a buoyant time in the history of Canada. Trade was increasing, capital was flowing in, immigrants were arriving in the thousands. Sir Wilfrid Laurier seemed justified in his assertion that the twentieth century belonged to Canada. In this buoyant atmosphere Cody’s star was rising. An attractive young priest with an expanding congregation, supported by a band of devoted laymen and consulted by bishops, other clergy, academic colleagues, and students, he was indeed the coming man.
Cody’s correspondence and diaries give a picture of a busy urban church and of Cody’s place in it. St. Paul’s congregation for the most part consisted of comfortable, middle-class people living along Jarvis and the adjacent streets and in Rosedale, across the ravine. The names that recur in the diary are of business or professional people such as S.H. Blake, the Jarvises, the Larkins, R. Millichamp, W.R. Smallpeice, Strachan Johnson, and the Gooderhams. Cody’s diary includes many casual references to events at St. Paul’s: “Sept. 12, 1900 At church wedding of Mr. Skeats and Miss Chipman. Mr. Des Barres married them and I assisted, afterwards met Mr. and Mrs. Chipman, Mr. and Mrs. Hirschfelder, Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien ...” And a later entry for May 7, 1905: “175 communicants – Mrs. Bernard, the Ashworths, Lady Gzowski; Saw Mr. and Mrs. G. Gooderham.”
Cody was priest-in-charge from 1899, as Des Barres was still rector. But Cody was in virtual control, and his stipend was raised from $500 in 1898–99 to $1,500 in 1900–1901. He was assisted by an assistant rector (i.e., a curate), R.B. Patterson from 1900 to 1904 and E.A. McIntyre from 1904 to 1906. Cody did most of the preaching and a good deal of the pastoral work. Des Barres and the curate preached occasionally and Cody received some help from his old friend, George Wrong, at that time a professor of history at the University of Toronto. Occasionally a missionary or an evangelical bishop would also preach.
Cody was a hard worker. Although he had declined the appointment to the Church of the Redeemer in 1897 on the grounds that the work would be too onerous, his program at St. Paul’s was even heavier. Sundays were particularly tiring. Perhaps Cody’s performance on September 9, 1900, was a little more demanding than usual but not untypical: “a.m. Preached on Naaman’s cure 2 Kings 5:1–12. After church met a Mrs. Leith and Mrs. White fr. the south boarding 591 Jarvis St. & went into church with them. Before church met Mr. Millichamp Mr. Jno. Taylor. At S. S. met Miss Williams, Mrs. Copp. After S. S. called at the Thompsons: met Jno Jones & family preached at St. Paul’s [evening service] on ‘Greatest in Kingdom?’ after service met Mr. Scovil, Mrs. & Miss Grosvenor.”
Only one of the clergy or a member of a clergyman’s family could appreciate how unusual Cody’s Sunday was. Most parish clergy found the Sunday services sufficiently tiring without the additional social contacts and pastoral visiting Cody recorded. No matter how busy his Sunday he always put in an appearance at the afternoon Sunday School to encourage the teachers and staff.
Cody had one problem that became recurrent at St. Paul’s, his relations with the organist. This was not an unusual situation for Anglican rectors, particularly the evangelicals. Many Anglican churches had a tradition of a simple service in which congregational singing was a primary feature. The organist and choir, however, were often primarily concerned with the beauty of the singing, preferably by the choir alone. They resented the untrained participation of the congregation and sought to increase the part played by the choir, through anthems and the use of unfamiliar chants. There was resentment on both sides and friction between the rector and the organist. Cody had trouble with at least three of his organists.1 In this case, the organist, H.D. Phillips, wrote to Cody on March 21, 1905,
