The growing congregation worshipped in one another’s homes for five years as work on their little church went slowly, using handmade bricks fired in kilns on the Rev. Green’s property. On October 19, 1848, Bishop Levi Silliman Ives consecrated the new church — complete with a wooden gallery for slaves — “The Chapel of the Holy Cross.” He accurately described the scale of the building by calling it a chapel, but declared, “We’ll name it for the deed and not the doctrine.” The parish had twenty-two communicants, five of whom were University students.

The Chapel of the Cross has persistently survived hard times because of its devoted lay leadership. During the Civil War, one such leader was Mary Ruffin Smith. Her practicality and generosity are represented by a durable gift — the Chapel’s slate roof, which is still sound. It cost the magnificent sum of $100 in 1875.

By 1921 the parish had outgrown its first church. The Vestry, under the leadership of the Rev. Alfred Lawrence (rector 1921–1944) asked the distinguished church architect Hobart B. Upjohn to design a new building to be connected to “the old chapel” by a cloister. Major funding for the church was provided by a gift from the Durham mill owner and philanthropist William A. Erwin in memory of his grandfather, William Rainey Holt, a classmate of William Mercer Green in the class of 1818. The new building was consecrated on May 14, 1925.

The Chapel of the Cross has not been untouched by the moral and political turmoil of the twentieth century. The Rev. David Yates (rector 1945-1959) insisted that a Christian community was obligated to pray for the enemy and respect the rights of conscientious objectors, however difficult, during World War II. He ensured that black people were welcomed in the parish, long before most Southern institutions were integrated. Later, on February 13, 1977, the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, the first black woman ordained to the Episcopal priesthood, celebrated her first Eucharist and also became the first woman to celebrate the Eucharist at The Chapel of the Cross. She presided in the same chapel where her grandmother, Cornelia, a slave child belonging to Mary Ruffin Smith, was baptized in 1854.

The Rev. Thomas Thrasher (rector 1960-1970) continued the abiding interest in social ministries and deepened the parish’s commitment to the ministry of music.

The Rev. Peter James Lee (rector 1971-1984) led the parish toward understanding and acceptance of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and opened the pulpit and altar t o women priests. In 1980, extensive reno-vation and restoration of parish buildings were completed. Mr. Lee was consecrated Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Virginia on May 19, 1984, and became Bishop of Virginia the next year.

On July 1, 1985, the Rev. Stephen J. Elkins-Williams, then Associate for Parish Ministry, became the twenty-seventh rector of The Chapel of the Cross. His tenure has been marked by an intentional focus on expanding the outreach ministry of the parish and its role in the community as exemplified in the development of a Sister Parish Covenant with St. Paul AME Church, a student-parish Habitat for Humanity partnership, continued strong campus ministry, and increased outreach funding. Christian Education and Youth Ministry programs have been expanded, and a more intentional Elder Ministry is in the process of development. The staff has been increased to keep up with expanding ministry, including the Assistant for Pastoral Ministry, full-time Organist-Choirmaster and Christian Education Director positions, and increased administrative and maintenance support.

Recently, the Johnson Intern Program was established — blending social ministry, intellectual inquiry and Christian community living into a post-baccalaureate year that fosters spiritual growth and development in the context of Christian service and fellowship.

Having grown from a modest beginning of fifteen communicants to well over fifteen hundred, The Chapel of the Cross is bursting at the seams as the region and University grow. In cooperation with the two other Episcopal parishes in Orange County — the Church of the Holy Family in Chapel Hill and St. Matthew’s, Hillsborough — the parish has called a missioner whose charge is to establish a fourth congregation in the county.