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EARLY HISTORY
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October 1863, the Proprietor of the Bellevue Hotel applied to S.P.G. for a Chaplain which was granted. From this date services were held in the hotel.
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June 1869, the Proprietor offered to build a small Chapel in his grounds. This was not carried out.
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December 1882, the Proprietor asks S.P.G. to accept a stained glass window given by subscribers, placed in the Hotel Chapel. S.P.G. accepts
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November 1883, the Bishop of Gibraltar points out the inadequate size of the hotel Chapel.
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September 1885, proposed separate Church: no site can be found.
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September 1889, S.P.G. accepts Hotel Proprietor’s offer to give a site; this was not carried out.
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April 1888 - Presented to S.P.G.for use in the Chapel in Cadenabbia by Mr. Heathcote-Long (from Service Register)
- 2 Altar Cloths and Frontal
- Brass Cross and Candlesticks
- 2 Small Brass Vases
- Altar desk and Hangings. Lectern..
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December 1889, S.P.G. accepts the offer of a site from Mr. A. Heathcote Long
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January 1890, land sold to S.P.G..The Conveyance was signed in May 1891.
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The “Strong Room File (S.P.G.)”, No.134 contains a deed “Introductory Record” signed at Menaggio 19th June 1890.
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A little known wartime appreciation of the Church of the Ascension, Cadenabbia.
I served as a Signaler with s South African regiment with their 6th Division, first seeing action at Monte Cassino in 1944.
We were now with the American Fifth Army and swept up central Italy stopping for the winter in the mountains between Florence and Bologna.
When the war ended, we found ourselves in the slums of Milan and enjoyed a week’s leave at Santa Margherita Ligure, before being sent to Courmayeur to “guard” the Italia, Swiss and French border.
Meanwhile our Chaplains (who were very good) had not been inactive and indeed I had spent my first Retreat with a few others at Saint Mark’s, Florence, in Holy Week 1945 just before our final battles. The conductor was Fr. Martin Knight S.S.M.
But with the inactivity that descends on troops - volunteers - all waiting now to get back home - the Chaplains sought some remedy for the boredom by taking a couple of hotels at Cadenabbia. One (the Bellevue) ran courses for men from any unit for one or two weeks called, I think, Home and Family Life in an attempt to get some thinking about what civilian life might be like. A new career? A plan for marriage? A relocation of family? Etc.
The other hotel, the Belle Isole, was occupied by about 8 men who had Ordination in their sight and were allowed to continue here for months. The priest in charge was Fr. Patrick Barron, who later became Dean of Johannesburg and Bishop of George, South Africa. One of the first jobs was to clean up the Church which then became the centre of daily devotions. A stray bomb had blown in the stained glass on the road side and we picked all that up and packed it away.
The weekly routine followed the normal seminary pattern of those days with lectures in Philosophy, Church History, Doctrine etc. and at the end of September, we even had a term’s examination. We called ourselves the Pro-College of Saint Paul, as that was the dedication of the Theological College in South Africa, at Grahamstown.
We had a visit from the Bishop of Ely, Edward Wynne, which was much appreciated and once a week we met up with the group on course at the other hotel. Sundays were free and we used to aqua-plane on the lake. We aldo had two trips away for short breaks: one to the Dolomites and one to Rome. At least four of us eventually arrived at Grahamstown early the next year to begin serious study, but this introduction was greatly appreciated.
With the cooler weather in October, the “College” moved to the coast of Rapallo where there was another fine Anglican church. It was there, however, that my number came up to begin repatriation and I returned to Egypt to the South African Base Camp and finally home before Christmas 1945.
The Rev. Claude Eric Hampson
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